SP's for lizards

[Borumba_boy]

Well for a while now i have been wanting to catch a lizard on a soft plastic and as yet have been unsuccesful but i still have the will to try.I have been chucking around dropshots and berkley mini mullet in the noosa and maroochy rivers to no avail however the lizards are there because on numerouse occasions i have wacked on a poltergeist after casting the sp's for an hour or more and will catch a lizard within 15 minutes. Is it just that i dont have the right sp's? Or is it something else
Thanks Nathan

[blaze]

Hi Nathan
Not a sp man myself (love the smell of bait), playing around with a sp one day and as i jig it back up a flattie of 650mm (measured and tagged) nearly come outa the water chasing it, dropped it back in the water and before it had sunk a foot the flattie had engulfed it. It was a paddle tail and pink about 4 inches long.
keep at it it will happen.
cheers
blaze

[Jeremy]

make sure you are going dead slow with the plastic. just keep it shuffling or hopping along the bottom. I like the 2" and 3" dropshots myself. Maybe a change of colour might help?

Jeremy

[Gutsy]

I caught 6 flathead best was 47cms and a tailor at the Noosa mouth last weekend on berkley 3" dropshot pearl olive just make sure you are using the dead stick bait retrieve.

[JT]

Hey Nathan,

I only catch flatties on SP's, most sucessful for me is 80 or 100mm Squidgy Fish in Neon or Killer Tomato. I cast out and let the lure sink then give three sharp rod lifts then let the lure sink back down. Just keep repeating this back to you. You should find that most times the flathead takes the lure on the drop, so next time you go to raise the rod you are on.
Best to date is pictured at left, went 84cm
Hope this helps.

Cheers

John

[basserman]

AGGHHHH not flathead
the curse of the bream fisherman
yeh a few things will increse you catch rate
1 as everyone has said slow the retrive down and make sure your within range of the bottom where the flathead live
2 make sure your casting to places that will hold flathead and not just out to open water my tip here is to cast right to the waters edge (thats where most of my flatties have come from and even a thumper 95cm that was only in less than 30cm of water and no more than 1 meter from the bank
also cast around the edges of weedbeds and in the eddys that are formed for the current going around bends
3rd try to put some action onto the plastics by shakeing the rod tip when retriveing
and last of all try to borrow the squidgies vhs/dvd mainly the first part as bushy and starfish go into the how to and technices used on falthead a fair bit
hope all this works and you can start to catch them and teach them not to touch my lures

[theone]

I agree with basserman, grab the squidgy dvd/videos and they explain to you in the first one how to fish for flatties with SP in general. From there you can adjust the techniques to suit yourself and find out what method catches them best for you.

Cheers, Brett

[Borumba_boy]

Thanks alot fellas im definately gunna get that squidgy dvd and ill try out a few more different colours and sizes etc
Thanks again
Nathan

[mini696]

I cast out and let the lure sink then give three sharp rod lifts then let the lure sink back down. Just keep repeating this back to you. You should find that most times the flathead takes the lure on the drop, so next time you go to raise the rod you are on.

This has been my style ever since I began targeting flatties on SP's (about 4 months - but only 2 trips).

To date, my PB is 81cm, and all have been caught on one type of SP - Sterlo and Bushies Squidgies (70mm Jelly prawn colour). I used 3g spherical jig heads (el cheapo).

I haven't ever felt a "bite" as such when catching a flathead. It feels almost like a snag initally untill it starts swimming away from you!! [smiley=2thumbsup.gif]

[mini696]

I never got a touch on an SP, until I bought a new rod... Most of mine were compromises (sic) between shore river fishing, and boat reef fishing. So neither had very much finesse. So I got a graphite rod (3kg) and never looked back.

Oh and the creek I refered to in my PM is actually called Eudlo Creek.

Mick

[basserman]

I haven't ever felt a "bite" as such when catching a flathead. It feels almost like a snag initally untill it starts swimming away from you!! [smiley=2thumbsup.gif]

you don't know what your missing out on then!
some of the flatheads takes are very aggresive and i have had more than my fair share that will hit the lure and peel 10 meters or so of 6lb fireline off then start to jump and dance on the water !

yeh most of the times the flathead will take it where it lands and just sit on it and other can make your day

[NIZ]

Yep I have found that the bigger ones put up a hell of a fight once they know their hooked. My fav lure for flathead is the 3" atomic fat grub in brown crawdad.

[Fisheasy]

We've had some of the best sessions walking the banks and casting 2" or 3" Ecogear Grass Minnows. Their new colour (can't remember the colour # but it's a silvery/grey coluration) is awesome.
Check out cover of the April edition of Modern Fishing.
96cm caught on 2" Grass Minnow - walking the bank!
Like everyone has said, work the plastic along the bottom - allow it time to sink!
Wind in slowly and use the rod tip to add about three small "jerks" to the retrieve - works a treat usually
Don't give up, once you nail a few, plastics will be the ONLY way you target flathead in the future.
The method is deadly