Flathead are bottom dwellers and like to ambush their prey, often burying themselves in the sand or mud often found on the edges of weed and sandy drop offs. The Dusky’s love to pounce on small fish, prawns, crabs, squid and the big girls have been known to grab smaller flatties.
They like to spawn in lower reaches of estuaries late spring and through summer, which is when I like to target them. But don’t be fooled, you will catch them all year round.
My personal preference for chasing these great table fish is soft plastics, I find 4 and 5 inch minnow style plastics work best for me. If you are just starting out, using bait is a good place to start.
My preferred choice of outfit would be a spin combo consisting of a rod around the 7ft length and a 2500-4000 size reel. I prefer to use braided line, anywhere from 4lb- 10lb and fluorocarbon leader, the lighter the line you can run the better. If you are new to fishing I suggest starting out with mono because untangling knots in braid can become very annoying pretty quick and expensive. Also, don’t forget to use your Hook-Eze tool to assist tying your knots and traveling with your rods safely. As Flathead are also a bit spikey to touch, you can also use the ring on Hook-Eze to remove a hook from a fish's mouth, without touching the fish or the hook with your hands. No risk of injury to either you or the fish & perfect for Catch & Release Fishing.
Most of all, just get out there and have fun. Tight lines.
Written by Shannon Hedgecoe
