To strike or not to strike

[devocean]

With the jacks and barra shutting down over winter I have turned my attention to the humble flathead as a target species. I have predomintely been using soft plastics. I have been trialing different strike techniques to hook the fish but have come up with some pretty inconclusive results in terms of hooking the fish.

After two months this is the data I have come up:

62 fish caught when striking the moment I have felt the bite.

52 fish caught when leaving the fish to bite then strike on its own.

Anyone want to share their thoughts here on their technique. All fish mostly caught on berkly grubs and snapbacks.

[Noelm]

not too sure the old Flathead requires anything special to hook them, they usually take any lure/bait very quickly and sort of "gulp" the object into their mouth, and that hooks them automaticaly (kind of) I guess in a way, you do strike, simply because when working the lure, if it gets taken, you will just keep lifting/winding and in so doing are striking. I have had plenty of takes while the lure is stationary on the bottom and when lifting to give the lure a bit of action, a Flatty was already on.

[yakka]

where are you fishing?

[wags on the water]

All the flathead I have caught have hooked themselves. Now that I think of it....all fish caught on SP's have hooked themselves. I am using 1/8, 1/12 or 1/16 oz jigheads combined with Gulp 2" shrimp in Natural or Molting.

Cheers,
Wags

[Deadstick]

For me it varies depending on how you are fishing. On the flats quite often you will feel a hit after the jig on slack line. In this case i generally slowly feel for weight & if there is any strike straight away.

In the deeper water you can feel your jighead bouncing on the bottom but when a fish hits it is very distinctive & i strike straight away. I quite often fish with only 8lb leader & stay right over the top of the lure to help get it down with lighter weights. The benifit is the feel you have to detect the bite quickly & 90% of the time they are hooked cleanly in the corner of the mouth so you dont loose many. With the lighter line you can get to the bottom in 50ft with 1/2 oz once you get the hang of it.

Hope this helps.

[Damned67]

I'd say the data would be more valuable if it included what you considered 'lost' hookups into the equation.
For me, when I was chasing flathead in the shallows, I always tended to 'strike' for the hook up. That said, I also missed plenty of fish.
Either way, it looks about 50/50 (or near enough) from your records.
Cheers!

[004dam]

very interesting topic as im chasing flatties at the moment. I have heard some people stop and let the flathead swallow as they like to "stun" there prey. I have tried using this suggestion and it works sometimes othertimes they hooked em selves when i dont feel a bit and i continue retrieve i feel a slight bump and im hooked up.

[devocean]

I am fishing in North Queensland. I am currently running at about 50% in terms of fish bites and hooking up which is pretty poor. I often get the flatties hook up themseelves but I also get a lot of bites and follows all the way to the boat. I tend to scare them away when I strike and don't hook up

[Noelm]

OK, if fish are just following your lure, then you need a change of speed/technique/lure, Flathead will rarely be "scared" away, they may miss the lure once, but next cast in the same spot will often result in a take from a fish that has "woken up" take your time and work your lure, some day will be an ultra slow and "hop" style retrieve, next day it is a bit faster, fool about with it, it is good fun.

[devocean]

Cheers mate

[GBC]

If I'm getting follows I'll slow it right down - 1 hop in 10 secs sort of thing. Drives the flatty mad because it doesn't go away so they bite it for the sake of it. Different part of the country though.
Bait fishing - I never strike. Work the bait until I get the first hit - drop the rod and let the line go loose - count to 20 slowly then take up the strain and strike if need be.
The more patient you are with flatties the better your success will be.

[southcoasthunter]

OK, if fish are just following your lure, then you need a change of speed/technique/lure, Flathead will rarely be "scared" away, they may miss the lure once, but next cast in the same spot will often result in a take from a fish that has "woken up" take your time and work your lure, some day will be an ultra slow and "hop" style retrieve, next day it is a bit faster, fool about with it, it is good fun.

I agree mix it up untill you find a technique thats working stick with for a while.Then if strikes slow down try different technique.Does not mean same technique will work next time you go fishing

[Falz87]

very interesting topic as im chasing flatties at the moment. I have heard some people stop and let the flathead swallow as they like to "stun" there prey. I have tried using this suggestion and it works sometimes othertimes they hooked em selves when i dont feel a bit and i continue retrieve i feel a slight bump and im hooked up.

I run on the same idea,, If i feel a bump or strike, i pause , then continue a slow retrieve. i find they usually hook themselves. there have been many times when ive worked the shallows in my kayak and seen this work. They hit,, then when i start the slow retrieve ive seen them stalk the plastic before taking it on. the key i think, is the slow retrieve, too fast and they seem to turn away, especially when the plastic starts to rise off the bottom.

[Horse]

With the sharp hooks on most jigheads there is little need to strike on fish like Flattys. Hard boney mouths like snapper need a bit more force to seat a hook properly. An early strike will often destroy or at least ruin the presentation of a plastic

[Daintreeboy]

crikey with over a 100 flathead caught in 2 months you must be doing alright. stick with what you are currently doing, don't change a thing!!