Why not frozen?

frozen falls off the hook to easy, and whiting are notorious for being bait stealers. now if you want to use frozen for cost efficiency, get the smallest bluegill / crappie hooks you can find and put a little tiny piece of shrimp on it, maybe the size of a corn kernel, the whiting will eat it whole every time and not try to pick off little pieces like they do with whole shrimp. i usually do this with ultralight spinning gear, quite a blast if you catch a ~ 18" one, was amazed the hook held up

Good to know thanks

Also to note is the fact that these are not considered game fish, so the ones too small for the cooler make great live or cut bait for reds and other predators.

I usually bring a small pack of peeled dead shrimp from the grocery store and put on one of those little hooks to catch small ones for bait if I cant castnet anything, which is usually the case this time of year.

Good article

Want to catch a big whiting ????? In Jan-March go to Galveston Beach using a long skinny worm hook thread a long piece of white squid on it . Use a redfish rig , throw out in surf and wait . The biggest I ever caught was 3 lbs 08 oz. and 22 inches long .Almost a state record . Remember their are 2 kinds of (king) whitings in Texas before someone starts yelling .

Frozen shrimp are not as durable and smell stinky. Fresh will allmost always out fish frozen. Sometimes I buy live shrimp and use them cut up instead of using frozen. Few $$ more but worth it.

man thanks guys for all this great info! yeah im def gonna try that trick to land a huge whiting while im wade fishing for other fish. for the gentleman that asked about waders, nah, you dont really need them. just get a pair of those cheap water shoes from walmart and your golden. Ive fished the waters of ohio (actually only twice, lol) without waders and the water was barely above freezing. i didnt stay long, lol, but in the gulf coast, its dooable (i know thats not even a word). to h4rdcore, man how much does a kayak like that cost and is that safe to use in galveston bay? i have a float tube that i use out here in lakes in ohio but a kayak like that would be awesome!

the one in that pic is the cheapest fishing ready kayak on the market, got it used for $200 off craigslist, new they go for $375 - $400, but trust me, its no where near the quality of the nice ones. If you want to try I would recommend on of these, Pelican Castaway, in either the 10 ft or 11'5" variety, if you buy it used off craigslist you can always get your money back if you dont like it. If you buy new you will lose about half your money if you resell it, theres a great market for em down here. Just for an idea, the TOP of the line models sell for around $3000 new, but you can get a used nice one for around $600, wont be the best on the water but there is a huge jump in quality from the cheapos to the medium range, and not as much of a jump from medium to top of the line.

As for safety, I take that kayak out all the time at San Luis Pass and Clear Lake with no problems, You just have to watch the weather and tides and check out the surf cams before you go out, It will take 1 trip where you dont look to realize its important. I dont go out unless its at or below 15 MPH winds and a slighty choppy or better forecast for waves

yeah def and thanks man! im checking out craigslist now! ill be in texas in 2 weeks and it would be nice to have one of those out there! im still kind of nervous about going out in open water but i could check the reports and what not and i could just think of it as a huge pond or something.

If you look in the 500-600 dollar range that will get you a damn nice yak. If you are a bigger guy like me, Im 6'2" 215, then I would recommend something with at least a 33" beam (width of yak) Just an inch makes a ton of difference. I can manage in my Pelican with its 30" beam, but its very rocky at times, mostly when reaching back for some piece of gear. In the WS Ride 135 which I paid $550 for I can stand up and throw a castnet which is a huge advantage, but I technically bought it for my soon to be wife, so I dont get to use it when she comes along lol, she can actually hang 10 on it which just looks silly, but shes only like 5'7" and 120. We can both stand up and paddle for a standing position but its not really as effective, nice to be able to stand and sight cast at tailing reds in the summer though.

If you ask in the kayak section of the forums they can give you much more info than me, I just got mine in september and have only been out in it like 10 times.