Flathead fishing

[Sheehan]

I havent been fishing for years but my mate who is a pom has asked to take him fishing. Years ago I found a comfortable rock beside the river under the trees and it was a shallow sandy bottom. I put on a lure and cast out and just kept retrieving it. Suddenly I got hit by something big which bit me off. I am sure it was a large flathead.
I think I will give that spot a go again and adopt the same method. Has anyone got any suggestions for a good rig for casting and retrieving a lure.
By the way the other attraction of this spot is that it is about 20 metres from the sports club so if there is no luck in fishing we can go and have a few beers. The perfect spot I thought
'

[Luc]

A couple of bikini clad young things to fetch the beer from the club

Luc

[Sheehan]

I am 62 and I think they would be harder to catch than the flathead

[Chamelion]

Hugh Heffner seems to go alright.. Perhaps the trick is to go everywhere in some silky pyjamas?

[struktcha_man]

bit of viagra mate

[RayDeR]

bit of viagra mate

When he said flathead I thought he meant fish....

Maybe he meant on his beer.. what were you thinking ?

Ray de R

[struktcha_man]

When he said flathead I thought he meant fish....

Maybe he meant on his beer.. what were you thinking ?

Ray de R

I dunno but it works for Hugh

cheers

[Sheehan]

Now that we have got rid of the sex and booze does anyone have a good rig for a fishing situation where I will be on a bank and casting out about 30 metres with a plastic and slowly retrieving it. I googled this and got one where there is a bit of lead shot put about thirty cms from the book and in between the hook and the swivel. Would that keep the plastic lure close to the bottom

[struktcha_man]

I use lure clipps and flurocarbon leader tied to the braid with an albright knot.
Some people dont use the clips and use a certain knot for tying off lures.

You shouldnt need much more.

no lead needed, just tie a flurocarbon leader onto your braid with an albright knot (about 4 foot leader).

It more just trial and error, most don't bother with sinkers as most lures come in either deep or shallow option, just get a deep one if you want to get close to the bottom.

flatties will need a 10-12lb fluro leader and bigger ones will need 15-20 lb leader.

rememder if the water your is is shallow then go a shallow, they still dropp 1 meter or so, if it is very deep like 2 meters, then go the deep lure.


cheers

[oldboot]

Hmmm busted off by something big near a rock and a tree......hmmmm.
There is a posibility of a mangrove jack too.......never can tell till you have it in the bag .
Either way...I am sure this requires some investigation

cheers

[OB1]

G'day Sheehan,

I would suggest using soft plastic lures. They can be worked slow or fast and will give you good connection with the bottom. Easiest way to rig them is with jigheads (this is a hook and sinker system combined) - for flathead a jighead of 1/4 ounce is a good start. If you have braided fishing line then you will need a leader of either fluro-carbon or mono (10lb max in shallow water) or if you have mono main line you can tie the jighead straight on. Good flathead soft plastics include Squidgy Fish 70 and 80mm in drop bear and silver fox colours; and Gulp minnows (4inch) in chartuesse. There are thousands of lures that will work but these are a couple of good ones to get started on.

Cheers

[rockfisho]

A great bait method for flatties is to set a pilchard. At the spot i catch flatties i drift a pilchard in the current. Its very easy fishing too and often accounts for some quality fish. As im not much of a lure man, that topic is best left to someone else.

Owen

[Luc]

My best flathead lure is a Rios prawn medium size in honey colour.

Remove the middle treble and change the rear one to a size 1 single hook rigged with the point riding up.

Fairly snagless, casts well and with the single hook easy to remove.

I haven't noticed in reduction in catch rate using this set up compared with the lure as purchased.

Luc

[PNG1M]

When he said flathead I thought he meant fish....

Maybe he meant on his beer.. what were you thinking ?

Ray de R

Ummm...back to the idea of the beer waitress...

Maybe if she does have a flathead you can put your beer on it while she.....!!**??


Did I say that? What I meant was you could try using white pilchards on a two hook gang (the upper most hook through the pilchards eye) and casting out with as light a sinker as you can manage according to the conditions. I've caught some good flathead on white pillies in the past, as long as the bottom isn't rocky otherwise its snag time. They're also good to use on a slow drift.

I've caught a few flathead using the old 'fork tail' soft plastics in yellow & fluero green colours. Haven't done any flattie fishing for a while so am a bit rusty.

Sounds like you've got a good possie sussed...

[myangle]

I have been fishing Gulp 2 inch green banana prawn soft plastics. No special rig, just 10lb line, cast out and slowly retrieve by twitching the rod up and reeling on the down stroke. I am no expert so when I do catch fish I am quite surprised. This method has worked every time I have been out targeting flathead recently. It has also jagged me a few bream.