Still no flathead

[jasonthomas]

Have had no luck bringing in a Flathead on SP for a long time. Have been out 3 times in the last 3 weeks. Once to bribie, maroochydore river (northern side) and toorbul for no luck. Always on the falling tide with gulps, zmans or even trying surface poppers for zilch.

I know landangler is still getting good numbers in his spots but he is the yoda of the SP Flathead game so never going to get same results as him.

Was wondering if any other Land based members have had any better success then me.

Alternatively anyone having much luck with baits, live or otherwise, thinking about braving the cold nights if that is likely to bring me better results.

[MudRiverDan]

Flathead seem to move around, follow bait.
If they are there you will catch them on live baits or plastics.
They will not sit around in cold weather if there is not a feed to be had.

Quite often I try for the flatties with no results when using plastics, so try throwing out a good size livie.

Morning time around an area they might be with a livie can produce results.

Try fishing the high, set up just an hour before high with a live bait out in the morning.
Often I find the tides and weather/wind do not coincide with the morning sunrise hours (5am-10am), this gives a smallish window of opportunity in many places.

The presence of prawns in a creek mouth or sand flat channel is always a good sign that flatties will be around.

Keep trying with the SP's as well, maybe a lighter leader and a smaller jig for a lighter presentation.. or go the other way with a 1/4 jig and 4- 5 inch.


Dan

[kingcray]

Keep trying with the SP's as well, maybe a lighter leader and a smaller jig for a lighter presentation.. or go the other way with a 1/4 jig and 4- 5 inch.

Dan

Or ditch the gulps and try some squidgey wrigglers, flatty favourites

[alleycat]

Jason i fish up that way nearly every weekend with good results, if your land based i would fish the bottom half of the tide to 1/3 up, use 3.8th heads and say squidgy fish in 65mm, cast and area then move 15 metres and repeat, remember flathead are sitting out there you have to move to find the fish, some will recomend lighter jig heads but you need to be on the bottom, 3/8th is the way to go..

[tunaticer]

All of my decent and large sized flathead have come from the bottom of the channels lately, only runts to barely legal riding the banks.
Also to note, all decent fish have fallen to 4" curl tailed grubs, not paddle tails. I think the shallowest I have scored a 60cm fish recently has been in 4.5m of water, deepest has been 9 metres of water and 72cm.

My thoughts are with so much rain in the past two months they are holding deeper in the higher salinity levels.

All of them have been heavy set and full guts too.

[jasonthomas]

Cheers for the tips, I will persist and hopefully stumble across a few at some stage. I have at least 2 days off each week mid week so enjoy getting out there when it is quite even if I have no photos or fillets at the end of the day.

To change the topic slightly and follow on from the advice given in post #2 by MudRiverDan. I am quite keen to have a crack at live baiting. I have bought myself a fish trap for a few bob at BCF (the blue ones). I have only tried to use it twice with no success at all, once in cabbage tree the other time near Brighton park. Using bread crumbs I got zero (maybe I am cursed in multiple areas). I cant really afford a cast net at this stage but have seen that fish traps are easily made from household items so perhaps I change of design will bring me some bait.

So
1. what is the fine art to finding live bait in the Brisbane area? Time tides location?

2. how far can you cast a live bait without ripping the hook straight out of it as you do it??

Cheers for any responses in advance..

Jason

[jasonthomas]

and I did try the squidgy range for a period with little luck.So with a switch to gulps I really started getting some good results. I am yet to catch anything on a zman but hear good things about them?

[kingcray]

All of my decent and large sized flathead have come from the bottom of the channels lately, only runts to barely legal riding the banks.
Also to note, all decent fish have fallen to 4" curl tailed grubs, not paddle tails. I think the shallowest I have scored a 60cm fish recently has been in 4.5m of water, deepest has been 9 metres of water and 72cm.

My thoughts are with so much rain in the past two months they are holding deeper in the higher salinity levels.

All of them have been heavy set and full guts too.

some great points . i have really struggled over the last few weeks or so in my usual shallow haunts around home for flatties. I agree with you when you say they are holding in the deeper saltier channels and also think its because the super clear clarity of the water tooat this time of year. I like to drift across the shallow waters unders the bridges and u often see them take off when the boat drifts over them.
Catch plenty when its murky, none when its clear other than the less shy toddlers

[wayno60]

Also to note, all decent fish have fallen to 4" curl tailed grubs

Agree fully. the other that has worked for me is the crazy legs. That got me a few good size lizards when we were out on the house boat.

[MudRiverDan]

Cheers for the tips, I will persist and hopefully stumble across a few at some stage. I have at least 2 days off each week mid week so enjoy getting out there when it is quite even if I have no photos or fillets at the end of the day.

To change the topic slightly and follow on from the advice given in post #2 by MudRiverDan. I am quite keen to have a crack at live baiting. I have bought myself a fish trap for a few bob at BCF (the blue ones). I have only tried to use it twice with no success at all, once in cabbage tree the other time near Brighton park. Using bread crumbs I got zero (maybe I am cursed in multiple areas). I cant really afford a cast net at this stage but have seen that fish traps are easily made from household items so perhaps I change of design will bring me some bait.

So
1. what is the fine art to finding live bait in the Brisbane area? Time tides location?

2. how far can you cast a live bait without ripping the hook straight out of it as you do it??

Cheers for any responses in advance..

Jason

I don't use mullet much, though they are still good.

Herring are good because they are soft and oily, hook once through the back above the spine, just behind the dorsal fin.
You can Hook mullet through the tail.

Prawns are great, hook through the tail across ways on the second last tail segment.

You can cast them 40-50 meters no worries, keep your leader about 40 - 50 cm and sinker a decent size but not massive (so it is a little heavier or the same weight as your bait).
Keep your mainline a bit lighter for flexible casting when your line leaves the spool, 20lb mono is harder to cast than 15lb mono or 15lb braid (mono is good for live bait, just use a heavier leader section).
Make sure you use a rod with a softish tip or is nor overly stiff, gives you more smooth release when flicking a cast.

Winter can be hard as I have fished with prime live prawns in winter many times and not had a touch, if they are not there you can sit all day with the best bait and get nil.

Now these are just a few tips, I am no expert by any means, I have just found these things to be helpful at times.

I only use a 8 ft cast net, very small but easy to throw and you can bag some bait in half an hour no worries.

Some places to cast for bait are:
William gunn jetty manly around high.
Pinkenbah boat ramp around high.
Westend pontoons.
Bulimbah yacht club boat ramp.
Breakfast creek boat ramp.
Wello point jetty (Great for herring and hardys)
Vic point jetty

Mainly try the incoming tide thats when the bait is moving.
Try an opera house trap around weed beds or some area that might hold prawns, bit of fish for bait.

hope you get a few tips from this lot.

It is hard to generalize but try catching some bait around the area you intend to fish.

Overall, walk a few areas first, look for bait in the water, watch the tides, check the sand for flatty lays if there is sand.

Just check a few places out first, quite often a smart fisherman will do this before committing to actually gearing up.
Go out and pick a few places to check out, spend a bit of time around high tide just observing the area. Check the areas and get a feel for what might be around, look for bait activity weed beds or good channels/banks/mouths/outlets with vegetation or rocks.

cheers

[jasonthomas]

Anyone know of any servos (or other outlet) on north side that sells bait after hours.

Wont be able to get there until late when all tackle shops closed. Travelling from Chermside so the closer to there the better.

Cheers,

Jason