Fishing for flatdogs

I love hitting the water for a fish early in summer, well before the sun gets too hot and the holiday season boat traffic drives you nuts. Flathead are one of Australia's number one summer target species, there usually plentiful in most coastal estuary systems at this time of the year and tend to be almost suicidal if you bounce a softy past their nose.



Brian Perry with a healthy summer Flathead, caught on a Lime Tiger 4 inch Minnow


WHERE TO FIND THEM

Catching Flathead on soft plastics is not a hard task, in fact I would go as far to say they are one of the easiest species to catch consistently on lures. I like to work the last half of the run out tide along the weedy edges off drop offs, channel's and areas where sand meets rocks or weed. These weedy fringes offer Flathead a perfect spot to ambush any unsuspecting food source that is pushed past their nose as the tide recedes. Its then a simple task of setting up a good drift so you can pepper all the best looking spots with a barrage of casts. If you have a good sounder in your boat you can also work little weedy bumps in depths of 5 to 10 metres, these deeper areas can produce much bigger fish, just remember the big ones are females and should be released.

Electric motors are a huge advantage when it comes to positioning yourself for a cast at the best looking spots. Our Berkley Gulp Alive Prize boats are fitted with the latest Minkota RT55SP/FP Rip Tide bow mount, its an absolute ripper

FAVOURITE BAITS

3 inch Shaky Shads and 4 inch minnows have been stand out performers for me this summer on a range of different water ways. I've been using more natural colours such as "Smelt" in clearer conditions and brighter colours like Chartreuse and Lime Tiger as the tide bottoms out and the water starts to get dirty, but to be honest I think I have caught Flathead on nearly every colour in the Gulp range. Personally I place more importance on where you put your soft bait and what you do with it once it's in front of the fish.

JIG HEADS

One of the most important parts of your tackle system when targeting Flathead is a good sharp hook. Some fish will only bite once while others will hit your lure several times before hooking up. Either way you want to make sure each bite counts and the fish stays pinned, fine sharp hooks are a huge advantage when it comes to penetrating the hard top jaw of a Flathead. Matt Fraser's new range off Berkley Nitro Pogy heads are perfect for this application and feature beautifully finished recessed painted heads with razor sharp chemically sharpened fine hooks and bait keepers that wont let your favourite Gulp get ripped off. My bite to hook up rate has dramatically improved this summer since I stuck a handful in my tackle box. I like to use the 1/4 ounce models in the shallows then move up to a 3/8 0r 1/2 ounce in deeper water or areas where the tide has a bit of flow.

Berkley Nitro POGY HEADS are the "Ducks Nuts" for catching Flathead

RETRIEVES

When it comes to retrieves the most important thing to remember is to let your soft plastic sink back to the bottom, its no secret this is where Flathead live. When your lure hits the water let it sink, keep an eye on your line as your lure is sinking, it will go slack when it hits the bottom. Then give the rod tip a couple of quick sharp jigs to make your lure jump erratically off the bottom, let it sink back to the bottom, wind in any slack line then repeat the process until your lure arrives back at the boat.

Brian Perry releasing a magnificent mid north coast monster, fish for the future

LINE AND LEADER

I find 4 pound Crystal Fireline suits most of my estuary fishing needs these days, it casts really well, sinks fast and has great knot strength as well as having the advantage of being reasonably transparent under water. I use Trilene fluorocarbon leaders that range from 4 to to 10 pound depending on the area I am fishing in and the size of the fish I think I may encounter. Flathead are fitted with a couple of sharp top teeth and some nasty barbs on the side of the head that can make short work of light leaders at times. I generally prefer around a rod length of leader connected via a 30 turn Bimini double and a 5 turn surgeons knot. If your not sure on how to tie any of these knots you can grab a copy of one of our Berkley DVDs that feature step by step tutorials with "Mad Dog".

Trilene Fluorocarbon is soft, has awsome knot strength and fantastic abrasion resistance.

Flathead are great sport on light tackle and taste fantastic cooked in a lite beer batter. I'll be out there on the weekend putting in a few casts, hopefully the fish will bite, then again they cant help themselves with Gulp.