Flathead questions answered . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . by Sean Conlon

WELL, it’s been another great month of fishing, with fish definitely being on the chew and a little run of reasonable weather.

Anybody who reads my articles knows I love catching flathead and this year has so far been an exceptional flatty season.

I haven’t seen this many fish and as widespread as they are at the moment for a few years.

Basically, fish have been caught all through the bay and right through the broadwater, and reports of fishos catching rather large numbers every time they go out.

What we’ve been seeing are lots of fish ranging from 43-70cm plus, and in good numbers.

Let’s hope that if they get to do their thing before too many of them are caught, we see the benefits of all these fish breeding plenty more fish for the next three to five years, which for this species is fantastic, it being one of Australia’s primary bread and butter species.

We’ve had a few customers out and many of them have been wanting to learn how to catch flatties on soft plastics, which has been great.

It reminds me that new people are coming into the sport – or people who have bait fished all their lives – wanting to know more about catching fish on lures.

Zach caught his first-ever fish on a soft plastic, a good-sized southern bay flathead.

So, in this article I’ll go through a few of the frequently asked questions.

One of the most consistently asked questions is why do we need to use a graphite or carbon rod with braided line and fluorocarbon leader, instead of a standard glass rod with monoline that is used for bait fishing?

Now, there are probably more technical terms to explain this but I prefer to keep things as simple as possible.

Your carbon or graphite rod in its simplest form goes from being bent back to being straight quicker.

So when you make a lift on the plastic, the rod bends over but it wants to come back quickly, which puts more action on to your lure.

As the rod is absorbing less of the action, you basically impart a better action on the lure with your graphite rod.

The next question is why do we use the braid?

The answer is very simple – it has no to very minimal stretch, so that when you make those little lifts with the rod tip, instead of the line absorbing some of that action, it doesn’t, and you get plenty of action on the lure.

The last is why do we need a fluorocarbon leader?

In its most basic form, it has some stretch which helps you to not pull hooks on your fish and it’s also ‘the invisible bit’, so the fish can’t see it, plus it’s quite abrasion-resistant if you’re fishing around structure.

Another question that’s asked a lot is, ‘Can I put a swivel from my braid to my fluorocarbon leader?’

The short answer to that is, no.

What you need to do is go on to YouTube and watch some videos of people tying knots, find one you prefer and can tie well and use that.

A few squire will be around in the coming months, such as this one caught on a Zerek Fish Trap.

There is no point using the best knot in the world if you can’t tie it properly, as obviously if it’s not done properly, it will come undone.

Another query regarding knots often asked is what knot should be used?

My answer to that question is, find one that you can tie well and use.

Find one that you can understand and tie well, is my advice.

A very common question that’s asked frequently is what colour lure should be used?

My answer is, on average – if you’re fishing in darker coloured water, use darker colours such as browns and dark greens.

If you’re fishing crystal-clear water with nice white sand, use clear lures with a bit of gold or red fleck or bright colours such as chartreuse or bright pink.

If fishing in water that’s in between, look at pumpkin seed or gold colours, which are good to start with.

The other thing that makes people a little unsure is the jig head weight.

Now, this is going to vary depending on the size of the fish you’re targeting and the depth of water that you’re fishing.

The author was lucky enough to pick up a decent 69cm southern bay flathead on a Mustad Z-Tail Minnow.

On average, for someone getting into soft plastics, for most of the fish you’re going to target a 3/0 hook will do the job, and then you want those 3/0 hooks with the jig head weights of 1/8, 1/4, 3/8 and 1/2oz.

The 3/0 hooks with those different weights will get you started.

Then obviously if you’re targeting bigger fish, you may want to go up to a 4/0 or 5/0, and if targeting smaller fish such as bream, a 1/0 or 2/0.

Another frequently asked question is what kind of rod, reel and line setup is needed to start?

To answer that, let’s look at flathead.

Always a good fish to start lure fishing for, flatties are quite willing to take a lure and the setup for them is a 2-4kg 7’ rod paired with a 2000-2500 spin reel.

Put some 8lb braid on it and a 12lb fluorocarbon leader.

This is a good setup and will work well casting 1/8 and 1/4oz jig heads.

The next is obviously a rod and reel setup for bay squire and assorted reef fish.

You want to see if you can find something around a 3-6kg 7’ rod, put a 3000 spin reel on it and then pair that with some 15lb braid and a 15-20lb leader.

Now, this outfit will be great for casting 1/4oz up to about 3/8 and 1/2oz jig heads.

Also, this outfit could be used for chasing flathead in deeper water, when you’ll need to use those slightly heavier jig heads.

Matt with a 64cm flathead caught on a Zerek Flash Wriggly. www.bnbfishing.com.au

So, hopefully this information will help.

These are a few of the more frequently asked questions for those first starting out.

A note on the fishing front – it’s definitely been on fire in the bay and a few squire, plenty of bream and heaps of flatties are around.

I’ve had a few great flathead sessions this month.

One was when I took Nick out, one of my regulars.

I told him in the morning it would be very slow, and it was, but we fished down to an afternoon low tide and chased a few flathead.

Ashley caught this decent flathead on a Mustad Z-Tail Minnow.

Nick’s first was 76cm and then for about the next 40-60 minutes, it was almost a fish each Nick’s first was 76cm and then for about the next 40-60 minutes, it was almost a fish each cast, with plenty of fish in the 60cm plus range coming over the side.

It was one of those sessions when each time you cast the lure in the water, the fish belted it.

And, most of the fish were caught in about 0.5m of water, so great fishing.

They were some of the best-conditioned flathead I’ve ever seen, and I haven’t before seen them so fat.

Nick was very happy with this 76cm southern bay flathead caught on a Zerek Flash Wriggly.

That was one fantastic little flathead session. The action was so fast, we actually lost count after 15 in a short period of time. I’ve had a few good sessions since.

Another was with Ron and his son Zack. They hadn’t caught fish on soft plastics before, so we went out to teach them, and Ron was lucky enough to pick up quite a few nice flatties on plastics.

Zack also caught some decent bream and his first flatty on a plastic too, so needless to say they were rapt. We had a few more charters that were a little slow in the morning, but those when we were fishing into the afternoon and a low tide chasing flatties in the shallows were awesome.

Ron came out to learn how to catch flathead on soft plastics and picked up a few excellent fish.

Well, let’s hope the weather continues to play the game and the fish stay on the chew, and that we have another great month of fishing.

As we all know, with our jobs and our lives we are time poor, so if you can learn more to optimise your time on the water, then why not?

Remember, knowledge is key.

Until next month, stay safe on the water and, if you’re interested in any of our tuition classes or you want to do a fishing charter, give me a call on 0432 386 307 or send me an email at seanconlons fishing@hotmail.com, or check out the Facebook page Seano’s Inshore Fishing Charters and Tuition.