# 'Fish of the Month - Flathead'



## justcrusin (Oct 1, 2006)

Name/UserName: Justcrusin / Dave Hedge

Where I fish: Brisbane Waters and Lake Macquarie

Area I fish: For flathead drop offs, holes, and creek mouths / junctions.

Local knowledge for flatties is always great but thinking about the way they hunt is just as important. You can pick up flatties in any east coast river or esturary. Around here I look for channels and drop offs just off shallow weed beds and i cast onto the weed beds an bounce the plastic back out. If you have a creek etc running out into a small channel in the flats even better. The flatties will wait at the creeks mouth for bait to be washed out with the tide.

The flatties will also hunt right up on the flats, particulary if it has weed and sand patch's. I caught a 60cm flatty in 4 inch's of water last year on a PX45 surface lure. Theres nothing better than seeing 1/2 a metre plus of fish leap out of the water and have that big mouth engulf your lure.










Rod/Reel I use:
2-6lb Graphite Usa with shimano stradic 1000 reel loaded with berkley fireline 4 and 6 lb crystal and sunline vhard 5lb leader

Hard Body Lure/Soft Plastic: 
Flathead would undoubtable be the best fish to start to learn soft plasics / lure fishing with. They will readily take just about any lure. The first thing i look for is what type of bait is around, my home turf of brisbane waters has an abundunce of prawns along with some small baitfish, so the first goto lures in this area are the squidgy lobby's or the gulp prawns. Both work equally well and i just try to match the colour to the water. Eg: clear water banana prawns or dusk lobby, greeny coloured water i go for a wasabi lobby or peppered prawn.

Flatties are bottom feeders so a heavier weight jig head can be used i generally use a 1/24 in calm water and up to 1/8 in fast current. Just enough to get it to the bottom. They are also quite partial to taking a blade worked in much the same way as a soft plastic

For hard bodies any of the minnow style lures work well eg: Strike Pro Pygmy, Ecogear SX40 and 48 etc










Bait I use: Haven't used bait for a long time but local stuff is always best, if there chompin on prawns, get a prawn out there. If theres white bait about you get the idea. I found a drifted bait over similar areas to above always worked better for flatties than anchoring

Technique: Soft plastics, the continous bounce retrieve. Let your placcy sink to the bottom, as the line goes slack give it two jerks upwards and take up the slack as the lure sinks to the bottom again, repeat the process and work all the way to the edge of the yak . Remember to try to work the lure out of some structure our down a bank as flatties are an ambush predator and strike after the lure has past them.

Hard body's a slow steady retrieve, just to get the lures action happening without over working it. Try to pick a lure that will run up to half but best well under half a metre from the bottom










My hot tip: 
NO 1. Look for deep holes off the edge of flats or rocks with current forming an eddie behind it. Cast into the eddie

NO 2. Flatties are also super easy to fillet and go great when caught fresh an cooked in beer batter

NO 3. Flatties have a nasty spine above there gills, if they get you with it rub the cut on the flatheads belly. The belly slime takes the sting out of the wound

NO 4. Flatties over 60cm are best released, they are the breeders but are also old and dry an taste like sh*t

Cheers Dave Hedge


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## theclick (Jun 25, 2007)

Name/UserName: Theclick / Andy R

Where I fish: Southern Moreton Bay areas

Area I fish: Sand Banks, Drop offs, rocky and other structure in local creeks. Flatties love isolated rocks.

My general tactics are to target areas between 1 and 2m of water near sandbanks and channels. Basically, if the tide is coming out, I will look for a bottleneck of water, which is closest to the largest bank closest to being completely drained. The logic in this is that the flathead sit there, waiting for all the bait fish to come off the bank, and hit em in the bottleneck area.

On an incoming tide, it is more difficult, and I tend to target deeper holes and channels. Some of my best catches have come on an incoming or high tide, though it is more inconsistent. Always look for rocky/weedy areas.

Rod/Reel I use:
1-3lb Berkley Drop shot 1pc, with 8lb fireline and 8lb leader. This should knock most of them over when using plastics because you often get them in the lip, and they dont get the chance to wear away at the line.

Hard Body Lure/Soft Plastic:

Plastics. Primarily flick baits. I've found 3 great colours/styles that work. 3' powerbait in pearl watermellon is great for clearer and deeper waters, and will catch any size of fish. 3' Berkley realstix in the black colour is great for working across the bottom of small channels in murky water. 4' Berkley Powerbait in Pumpkin Seed is my most successful lure, suiting all conditions, but particularly dirty water. This lure will pick up the monsters.

Technique: I have two styles. The first which I use in deeper water is to just throw at a target, and retrieve slowly using a twitch and sink motion. Usually looking between 5 and 10 seconds between each twitch, and it needs to be a fast twitch, but not too big. The works great in 60% of instances.

The other technique I use when fishing shallow channels and rocky areas is to just throw to the other side, and work it back with the lure dragging across the bottom with a shaking motion of the right hand, and a slow but constant wind of the left hand. This is great for coastal streams. Once in Northern NSW, I picked up 4 legal flatties in 20 minutes using this technique on a coastal outlet.

My hot tip:

1) Don't bother getting up early. They fish just as well during the day
2) Where there is one, there is usually many more
3) With the spines, if you intend on keeping the fish, cut them off with your braid scissors and it will make handling the fish post-dead alot nicer.

I'll post some piccies in a few.

Biggest so far has been 80cm up near donnybrook, but was unable to take a photo due to it needing to be released.

I have several 70cm models, and I have lost count of the 60cms.

Cheers

Andy


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## LoboLoco (Feb 1, 2008)

Name/UserName: LoboLoco

Where I fish: vic waters

Area I fish: mainly sandy bottoms and some estuaries like inverloch

The basics have been covered, so I'll try not to repeat much. I have had a lot of success just dragging a large 5inch (eaco gear minnow works really well) plastic around with a heavy jig head and a stinger hook. It should be dragged along the bottom which suits many places like carrum, frankston, mornington, mt martha..... since there aren't really any snags to get caught on. This can be done when fishing another plastic or even fishing for squid. I found that the stinger hook really increases the hook up rate with the large plastic on the troll. I often get the bigger flatties really close to any rocks in these areas.









Otherwise a squidgy fish or wriggler with a heavy jig head (2-11gm) works really well. Just a simple double twitch making sure contact with the bottom is made each time. Or the 'burn and kill' technique which involves winding the handle 1-4 times quickly (with the lure initially on the bottom) then stop..... let it hit the bottom and repeat, this technique works really well for me in most situations.

Rod/Reel: My new 4-8lb 6ft10 samiki zing rod with the shimano stradic loaded with 10lb braid and 10lb leader for some heavy fishing. Otherwise a berkley dropshot 2-4lb with 2500 shimano symetre and 6lb braid and leader.

Hardbody: A slowly trolled hard body that is very close to, or even bumping the bottom can be deadly!










Hot tip: They make some excellent bait for snapper, gummies, more flatties...... they stay on the hook well due to their tough skin.


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## Barra (Aug 31, 2007)

Name/UserName: Michael/Barra

Where I fish: South Coast, Narooma, Tuross, Clyde, Burril.

Area I fish: Sand Flats, Drop offs, Weedbeds and deep holes.

I have a few general tactics these are 1) target areas between 2 and 6m of water preferably where a weed bed or sand bank drops off into a sand or mud bottom, 2)find the bait schools (usually in deeper water) or 3) target the shallow water over flats, or in the oyster racks especially when there are weed patches around.

If the tide is on the runout, I will look for a sandbank, weedbed or channel where the water will be draining off and with it all the prawns and baitfish. Hopefully the flathead will be sitting on the edge of these areas waiting for the food. On an incoming tide, i tend to fish the sandflats or the deep water looking for bait concentrations.

Rod/Reel I use:
2-5 kg Rack Raider, 6"8, 2pc couple with a shimano stradic 2500 spooled with 6lb fireline and 8lb leader. This is used almost exclusively with soft plastics. I also have a wilson live fibre 5"10, 1pc, 1-3kg matched with a daiwa exceller 1500, 4lb crystal fireline and 6lb leader that I use if the fish are a bit shutdown or when flicking around ligthly weighted plastics or surface lures.

Soft Plastic:

Favourites are the squdigy fish 65mm in hopper, juro 80mm longtail firebait in the green, berkley gulp 2"shrimp in natural or molting, gulp 3" dropshot minnow in pumpkinseed or watermelon pearl and the berkley minnow grub in pumpkinseed or watermelon.

Technique: Cast out and let the plastic sink on slack line watching for any twitches in the line. Wind in the slack so line is tight, after it goes slack again (meaning it is on the bottom), give the rod 2 sharp twitches (the rod should go from being horizontal with the water to pointing straight up. Wind in the slack while dropping the rod down. Any twitches in the line while it is tight or being wound in strike up as soon as possible. Most hits will come after the plastic has been bounced off the bottom.

Tips:

1) Look out for the spine behind the gill, can be quite painful
2) Any twitch in the line during a retrieve is worth striking at.
3) No water is to shallow for flathead
4) Try to release anything over 65cm


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## RedPhoenix (Jun 13, 2006)

Unfortunately, due to the change in ownership of this web site and the lack of response by the owners to my requests to remove my email address from all administrative-level notifications and functionality, I have decided to remove my posts on AKFF. Thank you for the great times, the fantastic learning experiences and the many many fish. If you are desperate for the old content of this particular post, it is available below base64 encoded and bzip2 compressed.

Red.

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## dru (Dec 13, 2008)

It's surprising that there isnt much more of a response to possibly the most popular target species in Aus. I'm too new to this game to offer much advice but something that I dont think really has been highlighted yet is drifting technique for frogs which is perfectly suited to yaks, and a real pleasure.

In most esturine waters one week I'll fish either side of the high tide, not for flatties; and the next week will be either side of low tide hunting the frogs. This way I'll have the tide with me on the way out, and with me on the way back.  Yes they bite whenever, but habits die hard and I prefer conditions when the tide turn is close-ish to sun up.

The spots have been mentioned, I want the last third of a run out tide, say 90 mins before the tide turn. I'll start reasonably up stream and set a drift pattern, but paddle zig zag style to which ever side of the river has the next creek mouth or bar/bank opportunities. I'll normally leave a speculator line out the back - usually a 4-6kg rod with 15lb braid, towing preferably the local gun bait (entirely happy with frozen) on a double hook arrangement for pillies single for prawns/squid, otherwise a larger SP (scented), weighted and bouncing the bottom, or even an HB. Just let it float behind and igore it. I'd usually set the drag very light a) because I really want to hear the zzzz (it needs to interrupt my attention from the rod I'm actually working) and b) because it will regularly hook the bottom and I dont want it set deep when that happens.

Surprising how often the speculator has worked for frogs.

Then I will work either SPs or sometimes blades on my light rig. 2-4kg with 6lb braid. I might try 10-12 lb leader if I think there is a good shot at by-catch. If I'm really after frogs I want heavier leader - 20lb. And I bring replacement leader with me, because those frogs really chew it up. I use a Snappper technique of flicking in front of the yak. It's a stealth technique, but the real advantage is that I want to keep my flicking well away from my speculator out the back. I use a lift and drop technique. Sharp lifts, smaller as it closer to the yak. I am not patient, I try to time the drops at 10s, but really what is needed is enough to get to the bottom, and usually I'm in shallow water for frogs.

If I feel I need to stretch my legs I'll get out on a sandbank with a tow line from yak to my belt and work the drop off or try some sight casting.

For the working rig I tend to 3" Berkely minnow style in pumpkinseed. Jig head as light as I can, 1/20Oz, only up to 1/12 if the wind is troubling. Heavier if I have to for the wind, but I expect the hit rate to plummet. The sepculator will be 5" paddle tail, probably a different colour to cover the bases. nuke chook maybe. 1/8 jig head or heavier. Try to rig up weedless, otherwise just deal with the snags.

On the dift, when I hook up, once I've landed, I'll back up over the same area at least once. If I like the look of it, I'll revisit the drift a half dozen times or more.

It is truly one of the most pleaseurable forms of fishing and totally made for yaks. 8) 8)


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## Revo (Aug 3, 2008)

Thanks for the above posts - some great experience shared there. Flatties are the easiest fish to catch ... and a great fish to target when everything else seems to have shut down.

Name/UserName: Brent/Revo

Where I fish for flathead: NSW South Coast estuaries (eg Durras Lake, Tuross, Lake), Clyde River, or offshore sand flats near Batemans Bay

Area I fish: Drop offs, weedbeds or junctions in estuaries and rivers; sandflats offshore

Rod/Reel I use:
Various, but most of the larger flatties I've caught in estuaries/rivers have had a trip to the net courtesy of (a) 6'10" G-Loomis DSR 4-8lb, Daiwa Heartland XA 2500, 6lb TD-Sensor braid, 10lb leader; or (b) 6'6" Nitro Ultralight Spin Finesse 1-3kg, Daiwa Luvias 2500, 4lb Nitlon braid, 10lb leader. When fishing for flatties in estuaries, there's every chance of catching bream or whiting too, so the biggest decision for me is what leader will I tie on. If I'm after a larger flattie, then I'll usually use at least 10lb leader. One day offshore , I caught a lot of flatties from a depth of 20 meters using a 7' Nitro Viper 6-8kg, Daiwa Sol 4000, 20lb Nitlon, 30lb Nitlon leader - a bit of overkill that  , but I was rigged up for larger fish when I discovered that the flatties were keen on what I was offering!

Bait/lure: Mainly Gulp soft plastics. 3" minnow in pumpkinseed has been the most prolific for me in estuaries and rivers. But I also enjoy using hard bodies (eg subsurface - Ecogear SX40 and many others; or surface poppers such as a 45mm Strike Pro Rack Popper in colour XBBO)

Technique: Estuaries/rivers - I occasionally pick up flatties by slow trolling in the deeper part of a drop off especially in the middle of the day or if there's not much tidal flow, but mostly I retrieve the cast line in the direction of an outgoing tide across the drop off. I find a slow retrieve works best so that the lure bounces along the bottom with just the occasional twitch, and that's enough to attract the flatties. With surface lures over shallow weedbeds, a medium speed retrieve with occasional horizontal movement of the rod tip and very short pauses works well. Most of my estuary catches have been in depths of only 1-3 metres. Offshore sand flats - I use larger jigheads to get SP lures to the bottom as quickly as possible (otherwise leatherjackets, etc might clean up the SP before it reaches the bottom. Plenty of twitches along or close to the bottom during a slow to medium retrieve will ensure a quick hook-up.


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## spectrum (Aug 22, 2007)

Hi Guys,

I pretty much fish the same haunts for flathead but instead i chase them on fly. They are a great introductory species for saltwater fly. They are under estimated as a sport fish, and definitely fight hard on fly. I usually catch and release, and occasionally keep one or two for my wife and myself.

Regards
Jeff


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## Physhopath (Jun 21, 2007)

Most of the important facts have been posted above. 

My Hot Tip
Get out on the flats at low tide, grab ya lunch stretch your legs and look for these,








Have a good look where they are facing then look behind you 'cause they still there. :shock:









They do leave a bigger footprint than they actually are, I'm 6 foot with a 9-10 foot boot,  
Just measured my foot goes 37 cm's :lol:


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## justcrusin (Oct 1, 2006)

Thats first one sthe best flattie lye I have ever seen, usually round here they are more like the bottom one but still less defined.

Cheers Dave


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## Saltiga5 (May 15, 2009)

This is a flathead I caught in 1 foot of water over in Yalata, Far West Coast on a live mullet.

When we first saw the fish we were fishing with cockle. It inhaled the bait and spat it back out.
I ended up tying on a 3/0 hook and using a live mullet I had just caught on as bait. I dropped it in front of it's head and it pounced on it.

As you can see by the background the flathead blended perfectly with its surroundings, if we didn't look closely we wouldn't have even noticed it.

*Tackle -*

Rod: Bream Finese Shimano Raider
Reel: Shimano Symetre
Line: 6lb Fireline
Leader: 6lb Berkley Vanish


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