Fishing Australia

Many estuary systems have shallow weedy back waters, and some lakes are made up almost entirely of this environment. Such places can be "flathead city".

There are hundreds of examples of the vast fertile shallow systems, especially in the southern half of our country. Lakes Tuross, Durras and Wallaga on the NSW South Coast are prime examples on my home turf, but I have fished many similar places in Victoria, Tassie, SA and WA.

You can wade these areas, or drift across them in a kayak or small boat; either way you need to keep moving until you find a patch of flatties.

I typically target water between 1 and 2 meters deep; and the most productive spots usually have lots of weed or other structure that hold plenty of food and can thus sustain a large flathead population.

Small lightly weighted softies like the pre rigged storm twitching nipper are great, but a small long casting shallow running minnow that travels mid water is even easier to use: you don’t need to get to get right to the bottom to tempt a flatty in this scenario and you will avoid picking up weed in the process!

The 6 or 8 cm long Rapala Husky Jerk, or X Rap XR 06, XR 08 or SXR 10 (for big flatties) are all brilliant in this scenario. You can work these aggressively across the flats with lots of brief pauses, and the strikes are spectacular.

Most importantly plan your walk down wind so you can cast the smaller lures as far as possible. Likewise when in a boat plan your drift downwind to aid casting and maximize the efficiency with which you cover the water.

If the waterways are slow flowing or non tidal (closed lakes), fishing at dawn, dusk or night becomes more important, especially in summer when in some places heat and boat traffic can shy off the day time bite.

Keep your eye out for active nervous baitfish, boofing flathead and of course the old flathead marks in the sand. You can always return here in wee hours and use a slower retrieve with more pauses if you want to catch the bigger trickier specimens.

Poppers like Rapala Skitter Pops can also be great once you get a bit of experience up your sleeve. Again pauses are important: some flathead will hit a moving lure; more will be tempted if the lure stops.

BY CATCH

While each different species needs a specific approach, when targeting flathead you will catch things like bream, whiting, snapper, flounder, trevally, the occasional blackfish and many more; especially on the smaller lures detailed above. The bigger sized lures will often produce larger tailor, jewfish and many other species.

IF YOU WANT A FEED

A flatty around 40 to 45 cm is the perfect table size. Any bigger and the fillets are a little to thick to cook and don’t taste nearly as good.

The really big fish are all females, full of eggs for summer breeding, which is why there are rules in place to protect them.

If you wish to get a regular feed of flathead, master the deeper water techniques and apply them to flatties out in the bays or ocean where a big bag of the extremely abundant 45 cm plus fish usually only takes an hour or two. This way you will put a smaller dent on the less abundant estuary flathead populations.

Size and bag limits vary in each state so make sure you grab a copy of the rules whenever you head out.

Of course there is always more to learn, but I hope I have given you a head start.

Tight Lines

Rob Paxevanos