Fishing Victoria Forum

barra mick wrote:

Nude up wrote:There is plenty of big flatties in the bay

they are cracking flaties there nude up !!!

bm

x 2!
Also very surprised no mention of 'light beers'! Lift your game bm!

Flatheads elude me. Soaking bait in PPB I've caught snapper, AU salmon, leatherjacket and mullet but never a flathead. I'm dying to catch one!

Headed to Port Phillip Island for Queens Birthday, really hoping to get my first there. Any recommendations for general areas where I can get a line in landbased? Thanks in advance for any suggestions.

Rod Bender wrote:

barra mick wrote:

Nude up wrote:There is plenty of big flatties in the bay

they are cracking flaties there nude up !!!

bm

x 2!
Also very surprised no mention of 'light beers'! Lift your game bm!

it goes without saying rodbender that they were washed down with a few lights.

CanuckDownUnder wrote:Flatheads elude me. Soaking bait in PPB I've caught snapper, AU salmon, leatherjacket and mullet but never a flathead. I'm dying to catch one!

Headed to Port Phillip Island for Queens Birthday, really hoping to get my first there. Any recommendations for general areas where I can get a line in landbased? Thanks in advance for any suggestions.

What rig are you using? To target flathead, your bait must be close to to bottom. My experience for targeting flathead is using a running sinker rig, and occasionally winding it every minute or 2. I tend to find Flatheads likes little movement.

seephil wrote:

CanuckDownUnder wrote:Flatheads elude me. Soaking bait in PPB I've caught snapper, AU salmon, leatherjacket and mullet but never a flathead. I'm dying to catch one!

Headed to Port Phillip Island for Queens Birthday, really hoping to get my first there. Any recommendations for general areas where I can get a line in landbased? Thanks in advance for any suggestions.

What rig are you using? To target flathead, your bait must be close to to bottom. My experience for targeting flathead is using a running sinker rig, and occasionally winding it every minute or 2. I tend to find Flatheads likes little movement.

Hey thanks seephil! That's a great tip - I almost exclusively use a paternoster rig. Every once in a while I throw on an ezy rig and go running sinker but measuring results made me stop - the bites almost always came on paternoster but that was other species. If flathead like bait right at the bottom, maybe I should do a combination - weight above and below the bait so it's guaranteed to not float up? I love experimenting with fishing technique so I'll definitely be trying this soon.

Winding every minute or 2 - NEVER would have thought of that! My experience with bait fishing (back in Canada) is that movement can scare off a fish that's sniffing around. That's great to know and hopefully will help me on my way to my first flatty. Thanks again!

Canuk,

Flathead are predatory fish, which mean they ambush! Jump on Youtube and watch some footage of how flathead behave. You will notice that they love sandy areas and they will lay or bury themselves .. waiting. They also love very shallow water; you can catch them in ankle deep water.

They are more aggressive on a run outtide. They will sit facing the current passing over them and ambush. The easiest method is as Sephil mentions, try using a worm style profile bait\worm. If your using bait, just cut up a strip of chicken and use a single hook (anything between 4 to 2/0) size. Every couple of minutes move wind in your bait, this will get the attention of the flathead and will attack it once its stopped moving.

When Softplastic'ing, alot of people use the Turtleback pumpkin seed coloured plastic. Use a 1/8 jigg head and cast it out. Let it sink, wait for about 10secs and give it 2 hard whips, so the worm darts up the water column that attracts any FH near the water. I like doing aggresive whips as fish all around can see it whip as the angle is higher.

Sometimes they smash the lure but most times you will notice them on when you do the next whip.

Good luck and catch one of them 1m flatheads thats swimming around our bays!

CanuckDownUnder wrote:Winding every minute or 2 - NEVER would have thought of that! My experience with bait fishing (back in Canada) is that movement can scare off a fish that's sniffing around. That's great to know and hopefully will help me on my way to my first flatty. Thanks again!

another option is HB lures but what ever HB you use you wont it to be hitting the bottom and puffing up sand

we had a day when the wind was less that frendly so launch our kayaks at mornington ( mothers beach )
it was protected from the southerly
we fished in maybe 1.2 meters and would have been casting distance from the beach
using 2 rods one with a SP and one with a HB

drifting down the beach I used a SP just letting it sit on the bottom and soon as the line went tight gave it a couple of flicks then drift till it got tight again
on the way back to the drift mark I would change rods and troll a HB that would hit the bottom a bit on the way back

each method pulled Flatties and they were to 40 cm

now that was using a kayak however I bet the same results could have happened just walking along the beach casting into the shallows

CanuckDownUnder wrote:

seephil wrote:

CanuckDownUnder wrote:Flatheads elude me. Soaking bait in PPB I've caught snapper, AU salmon, leatherjacket and mullet but never a flathead. I'm dying to catch one!

Headed to Port Phillip Island for Queens Birthday, really hoping to get my first there. Any recommendations for general areas where I can get a line in landbased? Thanks in advance for any suggestions.

What rig are you using? To target flathead, your bait must be close to to bottom. My experience for targeting flathead is using a running sinker rig, and occasionally winding it every minute or 2. I tend to find Flatheads likes little movement.

Hey thanks seephil! That's a great tip - I almost exclusively use a paternoster rig. Every once in a while I throw on an ezy rig and go running sinker but measuring results made me stop - the bites almost always came on paternoster but that was other species. If flathead like bait right at the bottom, maybe I should do a combination - weight above and below the bait so it's guaranteed to not float up? I love experimenting with fishing technique so I'll definitely be trying this soon.

Winding every minute or 2 - NEVER would have thought of that! My experience with bait fishing (back in Canada) is that movement can scare off a fish that's sniffing around. That's great to know and hopefully will help me on my way to my first flatty. Thanks again!

You can still use a paternoster, but a combination of both will only be increase your chances. :thumbsup:
If you are on a boat, drift around and not anchor up. As the boat moves, the sinker is bumping up and down on the sand and the bait has some movement too, the FH go nuts!

Good luck!

I tie my own snapper/flathead snatchers in 2/0 size hooks and have found blue and white the best colour. Drifting is my prefered method but have picked up the biggest in less than 4mt of water and close to shore around swan bay. The trick is keep the bait and close to the bottom moving be it pilchard squid or soft plastics

Paternoster rig is great for flathead. Lots of effective bait but pilchards probably the easiest to work with.

Keep the bait on the bottom and work the bait like you would a SP.