Question for the Dark Side

[castlemaine]

So I left all the stinky bait at home and a mate and I waded ankle deep in mud and knee deep in water casting curly tails for flathead for the very first time.
Both of us very much bait fishos, so first time.
To my surprise a flathead hit my mate's plastic 3 times and even chased it to his feet before taking off.
No way it would take another after another half hour of casting in the same area.
My question is ... if you stop retrieving the plastic would sit on the bottom but if you keep retrieving the flathead will chase it but not get to catch it. What is the best thing to do?
1/4oz jighead + 3 inch curly tail minnow.
Anyway it was very exciting. How stupid are flathead ie. how much nutrition can you get from a piece of plastic?
Cheers

[Gon Fishun]

Mullet gut in a small plastic container and dip the lure in the juices. Yum.

[Blythy]

Hey mate there are heaps of different techniques that people use, personally I would use a smaller jig head ie. 1/8th, and I will normally retrive using 2 sharp twitches of the rod followed by a 2-3 sec pause, welcome and good luck.

[Scalem]

If you stop winding occasionally leaving it sit, even the smallest amount of tidal flow will make the tail of the lure flutter. That's your answer! Good luck.

Scalem

[castlemaine]

If you stop winding occasionally leaving it sit, even the smallest amount of tidal flow will make the tail of the lure flutter. That's your answer! Good luck.

Scalem

Thanks Scalem, that sounds feasible.

Best part was no clean up afterwards except for a hose down of the rod and reel. I might like this!

Blythy, I'll try a smaller jighead next time. I did think 1/4 oz was overkill in 2m of water.

[Jarrah Jack]

Not even the best lures and techniques will make the plastic look like reel fish. The thing is to make it look like a wounded fish. Its why so many get taken on the drop whether its squid jigs or barra lures. If a predator sees a wounded, even strange looking prey, there's a natural response to grab it at its weakest.

[castlemaine]

Not even the best lures and techniques will make the plastic look like reel fish. The thing is to make it look like a wounded fish. Its why so many get taken on the drop whether its squid jigs or barra lures. If a predator sees a wounded, even strange looking prey, there's a natural response to grab it at its weakest.

Nature's funny. The Kookaburras and Magpies around my place will not touch a dead presentation. I've smack a mice with a shovel as he ran pass me and threw it to the Kooka but not interested. Whereas a flathead would have taken it. Cheers.

[Scalem]

Not even the best lures and techniques will make the plastic look like reel fish.

There are those like Dayoo and I who go to a lot of effort to make the jighead look as close to "real" as possible. Dayoo supplies many on here with the Walley which include 3D eyes, powder coated colours to blend or to contrast the plastic. Mossy, DT, Davo, and many others will testify to the effectiveness of these Jigheads. This one took a PB for a mate of mine. 3 x Upgrades in one session is pretty good going - we like to believe the effort in the work to make these is well rewarded.You can still see the teeth marks the 70cm Snap left on the shank.



Scalem

[MudRiverDan]

If you have ever seen underwater footage of a flathead chasing a plastic you will know that if they want it they can go quite fast and will catch the bait if you keep retrieving with a steady lift and drop.

If you get a hit and the flathead missed, stop for 1 second and give a few smaller flicks, let it drop etc etc, many times the flatty will go it again.

For me the idea is fast short flicks to lift the plastic up off the bottom and make it visible and catch the flatheads eye as a distressed bait fish, but let it drop as if dying or slowing down (remember they are on the bottom looking upwards, so get some good clearance on the lift).

Your jig head weight will determine the speed of the drop and you have to negotiate jig head weight with casting weight and the plastic size you want to fish with.

With most jig heads I always lift the rod tip high to make sure it gets a decent drop.

You will notice for example squidgy minnows have a fluttering tail action on the drop while Berkley minnows have a darting/dying bait-fish action on the drop.

A Berkley minnow style plastic will drop faster though if you lighten up the lead they can make a very attractive drop, as will a squidgy minnow style plastic with a lighter lead, you just have to compromise with cast distance and depth.

In saying that I am a big fan of sliced fish bait.
A slab of greasy mackerel or fresh mullet strip on a 2/0 or 3/0 Mustad bait holder hook will do wonders for those who want to sit down and take in the scenery.

Dan

[Jarrah Jack]

There are those like Dayoo and I who go to a lot of effort to make the jighead look as close to "real" as possible. Dayoo supplies many on here with the Walley which include 3D eyes, powder coated colours to blend or to contrast the plastic. Mossy, DT, Davo, and many others will testify to the effectiveness of these Jigheads. This one took a PB for a mate of mine. 3 x Upgrades in one session is pretty good going - we like to believe the effort in the work to make these is well rewarded.Scalem

I think that goes with what I said Scalem about making them look like a wounded fish.

[Scalem]

Yep - a real wounded fish is the best combo you can put in front of your target species. Wasn't too sure what you meant so my post was neutral, only to see we are on the same page

Scalem

[finga]

So I left all the stinky bait at home and a mate and I waded ankle deep in mud and knee deep in water casting curly tails for flathead for the very first time. What is the best thing to do?
Cheers

The best thing to do by far is Don't forget the bloody stinky bait you dopey dill.
why make a plastic look like a dead fish if you can use the real thing??

[castlemaine]

The best thing to do by far is Don't forget the bloody stinky bait you dopey dill.
why make a plastic look like a dead fish if you can use the real thing??

Shows you've lived with the French too long. Next thing you'd like me to lace dead fish with dopey parsley.

By the way, just came back from a great holiday in France, love the country. If it wasn't so far away I'd go again.

[tunaticer]

I ignore the flathead i see scurrying away, I just concentrate on working the plastics in a continual pattern cast after cast. Flathead will jump on with almost any retrieve if you get that plastic in the strike zone when they are in feeding moods. There are no set rules for flathead.