SP's for Flathead in Surf Gutters

[Jackson 53]

I usually fish for Flathead in estuaries with soft plastics and wanted to try using them at the beach. I recently experimented with various sizes/colours until I tried an 80mm Squidgy Fish (Killer Tomato colour) and a 1/2 oz 3/0 Berkley Nitro Salt Water jighead. I was rewarded with a 70cm Flatty which nearly tore my plastic in half. Seeing that pink was the colour that seemed to work I bought a pack of 3" Zman MinnowZ in Pink Glow and using the same jighead caught a 65cm Flatty as well as another one at 54cm. The water was very clear and the skies were sunny.

I was interested in what other members have used with success in beach gutters for Flathead and other species usually found at the beach i.e. Tailor, Bream, Dart and Mulloway.

Any input would be much appreciated. By the way I was using my spin outfit that I usually use for Barra, a 6' 10" Berkley Tournament Pro 6-8kg and a 4000 Stradic FI spooled with 20lb Tuff Line. Leader was 14lb Nitlon F/C.

Cheers

[Jackson 53]

Nothing? If you listen closely you can hear the sound of crickets chirping and a dog barking way off in the distance. Is no one out there prepared to share their experience? I would have thought that many of you are having some success with plastics at the beach.

[robfish 1]

I'll share what I know, mate. Down here, south of the border, we don't get too many frogs in the surf areas, save for some smaller sandies. Most of our flatties are estuary-bound, and luuurve Gulp 4" turtleback worms, particularly in the colour poo. Damn - shouldn't have let that cat out of the bag! However, on my sojourns north of the border, I've successfully used a number of sp's, for flatties, bream and salmon in the surf gutters.
1. Flathead. Usually a larger paddletail for strong action. The brighter the better, around 10cm, with a head of around 20g for casting weight. Squidgy fish seem to work well.
2. Bream. From fleabay, I bought some Crappie tubes, about 1.5 ins long, in a blacky/brown and orange colour. In my mind, they looked a bit like a drifting piece of mussel meat. Originally for chasing chinese fish, (whi ting) from the boat. Tandem rigged with size 6 long shanked hooks, on an extended paternoster rig of 6kg fluorocarbon, with a 28gm bomb sinker, they've worked well around rock and reef areas, as I've not yet had much success pulling bream from surf gutters.
3. Salmon. Stickbaits of around 8 to 15cm work well, and in any colour, so long as it's white. 15-20gm heads, and a flatout retrieve.

Tackle? An 8ft graphite stick I built up years ago, coupled with a Nasci 3000, spooled with 10lb powerpro.
Hope this helps get rid of them crickets!

[Jackson 53]

Hey, thanks for taking the time to reply to my post, Rob. I forgot about Gulp Turtle Back Worms, I'll give them a go next time out. I always appreciate hearing from other members about what they have tried with success which is what I believe is an important part of this forum - to share information with others. Lots of Bream and Dart were hitting my plastics but I guess the hooks were too big for them. I've bought some 3/8 oz Jigheads with smaller/finer hooks that I'm going to try out with pink ZMan curly tail grubs for species that don't have the bucket mouth of a flatty.

[robfish 1]

Ahhhh...we all like a bit of pink, don't we?
I haven't tried the t/backs in the surf yet, as their action dictates a way too light jighead, and I find them best in slow water, estuary-type situations.
If you find that you're not getting the casting distance with the lighter weights, try as I did, a paternoster rig. That way you can safely use a heavier casting weight without sacrificing plastic action. Either that, or go down substantially in braid b/s - 10lb breaks way over that anyway, and is substantially thinner. I'm currently using a cheap Sufix Lazer braid from Big W - ultra thin and 12 bucks for 110mtrs! Hasn't let me down yet, but it's colour is a bummer - dark green. Still, it's not as if you need a bright indicator line in the surf, do you?

[Jackson 53]

Thanks again, Rob. I mainly use the 4" Zman Curly Tailz (Motor Oil works well for me) rigged on 1/4 oz Jigheads in estuaries and I've caught everything from Bream to Flatties, Tailor and Mulloway on them. Where I fish I used to have my soft plastics cut in two by small Tailor but the Zmans tend to be strong enough to cope with their teeth. I tried various weights from 3/8 to 5/8 oz in the surf and found that I had most success on the 1/2 oz for the 3" Minnowz. Most of my soft plastics experience has been simple trial and error which means I now own an embarrassingly extensive range of lures. My other "go to" SP in the estuaries is the 100/120 mm Squidgy Wrigglers in Bloodworm colour. For trolling for Flatties I have caught a lot of fish on Manns Stretch 5+ which are like Flatty magnets but they are getting hard to come by in the shops these days and I've lost a few to snags over time. If the wind is favourable (none or mainly from the West) at the beach and allows casting of lightweight hardbodies I will give these a try next time out.

[morphias]

On the odd accession I do surf fish, I run two hooks with a running sinker above. I run bait on the bottom hook and a 2" Gulp bloodworm on the second hook. I have caught Dart, Flounder and small flathead (20-40cm) on the plastic.

You message has inspired me to give bigger plastics a go next time.

Ben.

[Justin Rossiter]

Hi JacksonWhen I did chase flatties off the beach down here in Tas I would use 3/8 oz or 1/4oz jighead and the best plastic was a 4 inch gulp in watermelon pearl, also caught the odd Aus Salmon as well. I also had success on any curl tail plastic you care to mention, as for colours, bright for bright days and clear water and dark colours for murky water/clouds days.
When fishing plastics on the boat I now only use the football head style jig heads, they disturb more sand when they hit the bottom and get more interest.

[Stik-ugly]

The zmans may be a good option just in case there are a few Tailor lurking about that may rip other plastics to bits.

[robfish 1]

sounds like I'd better get some Zmans!