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Simple Flathead Techniques - Hervey Bay & Sandy Straits

By Paul Chew

Paul Chew breaks down the prime bite times and environments for targeting flathead in Hervey Bay / Sandy Straits, with tips applying to many other regions.

With the Christmas break fast approaching, I thought I would put a small piece together breaking down the easiest way I know to catch a couple of flatties for a feed or fun. So often I see boats drifting out in the depths, catching not too much, whereby working along some of my favourite ‘structure’ I will have boated half a dozen flatties while fishing the edges. I by no means am a gun fisho, but I spend my share of time on the water, and I do enjoy a feed of fresh flathead. Whether fishing from a boat, or off the bank, satellite imaging is one of the best tools that you can use to find a few likely spots to target. I thought I would show an illustration of what I look for to track down flathead, and then break down how and when I fish them.

In the following I will refer to the attached numbered aerial illustration in depth.

Tide Stage is Important - Fishing between the 1’s.

So, I like to start looking an hour or so before low tide, when the fish are concentrated and preparing to feed. The other good thing about flathead in the bay is that I find that the time of day isn’t that important, so late starts are okay.

An hour before low tide I will pick a spot, like that in the illustration, and while staying well out, drift or electric down from one drain to the next. The bait will have had to drop off the bank and the flatties will be laying just on the drop-off where the darker blue water starts. Slow presentations work well here, and I will throw heavier lures. The new 75mm TT Quake Power Vibe has been working well, just hopping it down along the drop off. If I had to pick a color, I think Pink Fink would be the one that I would tie on first.

There are no secret retrieves for flatties, and most will hit your lure on the drop. Working the vibe in a metre of water will likely nab you a few fish. Fishing can be slower on this part of the tide, but some fish will still bite, and the bigger fish are more likely. There is another lure that is rarely talked about in the flathead catching stakes but one that is deadly when used at this stage of the tide. It’s a ZMan 5” StreakZ, pin-tail jerkbait plastic, fished on a 1/4oz 4/0 TT HeadlockZ HD jighead. Fished slow, with big hops, this lure will account for a lot of big fish.

Let’s Talk About the 2’s.

So, the two drain mouths on the very low, and first of the run in are the easiest place to find flatties for me in the bay. I use a run and gun approach, as I have found now that the areas between the 2’s becomes a bit of a desert as the fish stack up waiting to push up onto the flats. You will know you are in the right area as the bait should be flicking everywhere, including mullet, whiting and the like, waiting to escape the predators and seek safety in the mangroves.

I find the best approach is to stay out as far as you can comfortably cast, and drift past the drain, fishing let’s say twenty metres either side. If you drift in too close, you will likely spook the fish, so I prefer long casts up onto the water’s edge (Yep, you need to be casting within a metre of the water’s edge at this stage of the tide).

My lure choices at this stage are ZMan 3.5” EZ ShrimpZ, 3” Scented ShrimpZ, or the twin tailed ZMan 3” Baby GOAT. The ShrimpZ I will fish on a 1/6oz or 1/4oz 3/O TT HeadlockZ or DemonZ jighead. The Baby GOAT will work on the same jighead but recently I have been fishing it with good success on the TT NedlockZ jighead, encouraging the little legs to wave upward in the water, thanks to the natural buoyancy of ZMan’s ElaZtech material.

I had some video footage of this, but the wind was super persistent and blew out the video (stay tuned for some video shorts from this action). Hopefully my new lapel microphones will fix that in future. As mentioned above, I only fish twenty metres either side of the drain, then move to the next one. This is the prime time to nab a brace of flatties. If you just bounce your way from drain to drain, you will rack up the numbers.

This technique isn’t just limited to the flats and is useful when targeting flathead up the numerous creeks in the Sandy Straits also. A few quick casts at the drain mouths have netted some good flatties up the creeks recently, but particularly on the very start of the incoming tide. It’s just the trigger they need to feed.

So, what about the 4’s…. and the red 3 on the attached image?

After the flurry that comes with the turn of the low tide, and fishing hard across all the drain mouths, sometimes it can be hard going to pinpoint numbers of fish on the higher stages of the tide. As you might have seen in my whiting and flathead videos, you will still get fish by pushing up onto the flats with the incoming tide, through the melon holes, but the fish will be dispersed. Which leads to the 4’s.

Depending on the current run, either side of the mangrove that is on its own will hold large amounts of bait once the tide has risen enough to get a volume of water flowing past the point. The hardy head, gar, mullet, and whiting will hang behind the mangrove out of the flow, which is also where you will find the flatties pushing up. They will also lay in the gap between the mangrove and the point. I will still stick with the ShrimpZ plastics for this, so the same as before applies with long casts up current and then hopping the plastic back. Quality fish will be up in this zone.

Finally, let’s talk about the red 3. Probably something that is not often talked about is barren areas that generally do not hold fish. I alluded to this in one of the whiting videos, and that is the ‘white’ sand on the flats. Generally, it is a barren wasteland, with no yabby holes, no weed, and only transient baitfish. Not saying that you won’t catch any fish there, but for me it’s these areas that I won’t put any time into as they generally only have fish passing through. The chances of me being there at the right time are slim. Fish will settle on the darker line between the 3 and 4, and it’s always worth a few casts on that color change.

The Gear

So, there is nothing special needed to catch a few flatties in my home waters of Hervey Bay around Christmas time.

A 2-4kg spin rod and a 20 size reel, loaded with some light braid and 15lb leader will sort you out.

My go-to is an Okuma Epixor XT, EPXT-20 (my favorite spin reel), paired with a TT 2-4kg spin rod. You don’t need to break the bank to chase these tasty fish, and you can have some good fun while catching a feed. Flathead are a perfect species to chase at this time of year when the wind isn’t playing the game.

Hopefully you get a few pointers from this and you manage to get into a few in the bay.

Tight Lines, Chewy

Gearing Up:

TT Rods Spin Rod 2-4kg (Black Mamba, Red Belly, Copperhead)
Okuma Epixor XT Spin Reel - EPXT-20
Platypus Pulse X8 Braid - 8-10lb
Platypus Stealth FC Fluorocarbon Leader - 15lb
TT Quake Power Vibe - 75mm
ZMan 3" Scented ShrimpZ
ZMan 3" Baby GOAT
ZMan 3.5" EZ ShrimpZ
ZMan 5" StreakZ
TT HeadlockZ HD Jigheads
TT NedlockZ Jigheads