Lures for Flathead

[rhinoauk]

i was reading a book and saw the biggest flathead that had been caught on one of these sort of lures below.

i have only ever caught flatties on bait and a silver slice lure.

what other fish take these lures as im interested to try them out (although they are expensive)

what size, colours and cast-retrieval techniques work well?

Rhinoauk

[saphire]

Rhino,
What is the brandname for the lure?

[rhinoauk]

i got the pic off the net(its not the specific ones im looking at purchasing) but i think they are rapala's.

[rhinoauk]

all im wondering is if they are good fun to fish with? will fish bite more than bait and which species of fish. oha nd also some techniques as ive never used them b4.

Cheers

[davo]

That lure is a Tilsan Bass.

[morty103]

Tilsan bass are great little lures, but your pretty limited in casting distance as they are quite small, although they are great for trolling. If your flicking around for flatties, try soft plastics, anything in the berkley range will get ya there in the estury/river. I used a rio prawn in 'golf fleck' on the flattie for ages, that was before soft plastics took over with their evergrowing popularity.
Morty

[rhinoauk]

thanks morty. i wanst actually assking about that lure though. im talking in general about the whole plastic lure range. im yet to try soft plastics but i heard powerbaits and gulps are pretty good. so the general plastic lure........how do they compare to soft platics and bait when fishing in saltwater bays?

[basserman]

lures will catch alot of diffrent fish and sometimes outfish bait however it is a case of matching the hatch and what that means is that you need to be useing the right lure and right size for the fish you are going to target and then you have all the diffent type of retrive
really a fair bit to lure fishing than tossing our a lure and winding it in
but if you want to really do it then i sugest reading up on lure fishing with bokks like bushies and starlos bream on lures

[Franco]

Tilsan Bass
- proven & gold standard flathead killer
- great for trolling in 10-15 ft, just change to chemical sharpened hooks
- BUT unless you're trolling from a boat I agree with Morty, don't bother with em
- If you ARE trolling then buy at least 3 of them!!

For deep trolling, these and green bombers are my first choice.

[jimmybob]

if ya on the flats...TASSIE DEVILS! they loove em!

[jimmybob]

just workem as slow as ya can and BOOF!

[softplastictravey]

Ive heard double tailed soft plastic grubs work a treat. Flatties love em. I just recently bought a saltwater soft plastics snack pack, supplied me with plenty of double tail grubs.Eager to give them a whirl to see whether the rumour is true????

[MickEddy]

g'day
i agree with morty. rio prawns in the 5g and 13g are great for flatties while fishing on the flats and drop offs.
mick

[cuzzamundi]

prawnsatrs jnrs go well off the banks or near structure. get some good by-catches on these things too!

cuzza

[softplastictravey]

I was recently browsing a magazine and saw a few pictures much the same. Pic was of a guy fishin in a bay knee deep in crystal clear water holding a monster flatty with one of those bug lookin lures hangin out its mouth. Said the pic was taken somewhere in queensland, had a whole article on it. Several pics, all flatties, all big, all caught on wat looked to be a tilsan bass or similar. I noticed franco said unless on a boat dont bother. Obviously, considering they can only be cast 15 or so feet. Just wondering wether you can make the line heavier (ie attaching sinker or alike) without losing/ruining action of the lure????? Can those lures get any heavier, is it possible the blokes in the mag i saw caught them flatties from 15 feet away??? Curious to try if so!!!!
Cheers Travey