Australia’s Greatest Table Fish – King George Whiting

By Dr Corey Fisher | January 16, 2009

The King George Whiting, first officially named Sillago punctata in 1929 by Cuvier and finally designated a name lectotype in 1985 by McKay. The fish has a number of frequently used names including spotted whiting in reference to its positioned bars of brown spots but the most commonly used name “King George Whiting”.

The King George whiting is the largest in its group and is quite easy to destinguish. It has an elongated, slightly compressed body with a tapered head and a terminal mouth to assist with bottom feeding.

The King George whiting is found throughout South Australian coastal waters but is most abundant in the waters of the Gulfs and Investigator Strait, and in the sheltered bays of the west coast of South Australia.

The fish themselves freeze very well, and the fish are very easy to scale and fillet. King George Whiting can be caught all year round, winter usually seeing the largest congregation of them in the gulf waters, while early summer can land you a catch off lower Yorke peninsula.

King george spawn in offshore waters from late summer to winter. The eggs are buoyant and the larvae move inshore, with the aid of prevailing breezes and currents, where they remain for two to three years. At this age they are around 28cm, but they do not mature until they are three to four years old.

There are a number of locations around the coastline where whiting may be caught from beaches. The beaches facing the ocean frequently produce fish weighing in at better than two to the kilogram. When fishing for whiting from the beach, baits do need to be secure. While firm baits like squid may survive a powerful cast, softer baits like craytail, pipi, and the flesh of other bivalve molluscs may fly off the hook. For this reason it is wise to use hosiery elastic, sold in leading fishing tackle outlets as Bait Mate, to bind the bait to the hook so it does not fly off.

Complementary flavourings for whiting are the herbs dill, basil, chives, parsley and tarragon. When whiting is grilled or barbecued, a salad of grapefruit, orange, lime and lemon, with a citrus and olive oil dressing, will complement the flavour wonderfully. Other suitable sauces and condiments are lemon and herbed butters or buerre blanc. Crusts of cumin, coriander and ground turmeric are also tasty.

In 2005, the number of small juvenile whiting was the strongest recorded since monitoring began in the mid 1990s.

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