Tackle Tactics » Tips-Techniques » Species-How-to-Catch-on-Lures » How to Catch Flathead on Lures

How to Catch Flathead on Lures

By Justin Willmer

Flathead are a favourite target species for many anglers as they love eating lures, fight well and they are a quality eating fish, should you want to take a couple home for a feed.

When & Where

The lower stages of the tide is a prime time to target flathead as they hold on the edges of drop offs and in drains, waiting for the last of the falling tide to force baitfish and prawns off the flats and shallows. The last two hours of the run out and first hour of the run in are a prime bite time.

When the tide is lower the prime fish holding areas will include channel edges, the edges of sand banks, the mouths of drains and structure in shallow water, from a few centimetres of water through to a couple of metres. Look for large expanses of flats that drain at low tide and focus your efforts around the edges where the last water drains from the flats and also any drains that may carry the last off the water and bait off the flats.

On the higher stages of the tide flathead will often move into areas that they can't access on the lower stages of the tide and you will find them around the edges of high tide structure, such as mangrove edges, rock walls and drains that fill on a rising tide, as well as spread out across the flats and sand banks. Remember structure and bait are often the key to finding fish, so even across sand and broken weed flats that may look very similar, it's important to make note of any structure that may hold fish, including weed edges, rubble, drop offs or deeper sections and of course keep an eye out for any bait activity.

Gearing Up

When it comes to rods, reels, line and leader, it's hard to go past a 6'6" - 7' 2-4kg or 3-6kg graphite composite / graphite spin rod and light 2000-3000 size spinning reel. Braided line is preferred for its low stretch qualities that aid in lure control and bite detection, along with its thin diameter for long casts and minimal drag.  Braided mainline such as 5-10lb Platypus Platinum Plus or P8 braid is ideal, with a rod length of leader, such as 10-15lb Platypus Stealth fluorocarbon to handle the raspy mouths of the flathead. Here's a few combos that we like to run when chasing flathead, from a quality entry level combo to a high end combo.

Good
Okuma Competition 702ML 7' 2-4kg 2pce rod and Okuma Alaris ALS-30 spinning reel.

Better
Okuma Cerros 701ML 7' 2-4kg 1pce rod and Okuma Epixor XT EPXT-30 spinning reel.

Best
Okuma Helios 701M 7' 3-6kg 1pce rod and Okuma Helios SX HSX-30 spinning reel.

Lure Selection

When it comes to soft plastics for flathead, the most popular plastics range from around 2.5" to 4" in length, with larger plastics from 4" to 9" an option when targeting big flathead.

Plastics with plenty of built in action are popular and especially effective for beginners, while being deadly in the hands of more experienced anglers. These include curl tail plastics, such as the ZMan 2.5" GrubZ, 3.5" GrubZ and 4" StreakZ Curly TailZ, along with paddle tail plastics, such as the ZMan 2.5" Slim SwimZ, 3" Slim SwimZ, 3" MinnowZ, 3.5" Trick SwimZ and 4" DieZel MinnowZ. Paddle tails represent whiting, mullet and other baitfish, while curl tails represent worms, prawns and other popular food items.

Let's have a look at a few popular retrieves for fishing these plastics with plenty of built in action -

Slow Roll - A slow roll is basically just a slow wind that sees the paddle or curl tail working, attracting fish and triggering strikes. You can vary the time allowed for the plastic to sink, the speed of the retrieve and occasional pauses to have the plastic tracking at the desired depth. Lifting or lowering the rod tip can also assist when driving the plastic lower or higher in the water column.

Burn & Kill - This retrieve is basically built around a few winds of the reel handle (burn) and a pause (kill) that is repeated. Cast, allow the plastic to sink to the desired depth and then commence a burn and kill retrieve. By varying the speed of the burn and the duration of the kill, you can regulate where the plastic travels in the water column. This is a great retrieve to introduce kids and beginners to flathead fishing by simply increasing the weight of their jighead to ensure the plastic is on the bottom on the kill. You then get them to say 'wind, wind, wind' as they wind the handle of the reel and then '1, 2, 3' as they pause for a few seconds to allow the plastic to contact the bottom again. Cover plenty of ground and before you know it you'll be netting their first flathead or possibly your own.

Hopping - This is probably the most popular retrieve and it involves casting and allowing your lure to sink to the bottom, then flicking the rod tip up and then up again, in a double hop, followed by a pause to allow the plastic to fall naturally to the bottom while retrieving any slack line. Anglers will vary the speed, aggressiveness and number of hops and the length of the pause until they find what the fish want on the day. Hits often occur as the plastic sinks back to the bottom or as soon as you go to recommence the hops, so be ready to strike.

Plastics with less action are also popular, however they are often fished differently, including crustacean and jerkbait style plastics.

Prawn imitations, such as the ZMan 2.5" TRD CrawZ, 3" TRD HogZ and 3.5" EZ ShrimpZ are popular for fishing saltwater yabby beds, snaggy areas, systems that have prawn populations and also areas with less current, where the prawn imitation can be fished slower. These are often fished using the hopping retrieve outlined above or simply the rod tip is shaken while the lure is slowly retrieved a few turns and then paused before repeating. Remember prawns often kick a few times and then pause, or move slowly, rather than moving at great speed through the water.

Jerkbait style plastics basically just have a minnow shaped body with a straight or forked tail that has very little built in action. The great thing about this lack of action is that they cast well, even in windy conditions and when lightly weighted, and they also sink faster on the same jighead weight as other styles of plastics as there is little resistance. This can make them ideal for prospecting across the shallows on a light jighead, covering ground fast, or fishing deeper water without the need for heavy jigheads. They can also be retrieved with a hopping retrieve or more erratic shaking and twitching retrieve that brings them to life in the water.

Lure Colour

There are a myriad of lure colours available, however one theory that has often proven true is that carrying three different types of colours should see you covered for different scenarios.

A light, natural coloured plastic is ideal for clear water and bright days, while a darker colour offers a better silhouette when the water is dark or stained. When neither of these colours are working then a fluoro colour may be the saviour for the session. For example the area you fish may have clear water on the run in tide and the light natural colour gets the bites, however when the tide turns the water gets dirty and the darker, silhouette colour gets more action. If neither are working then tie on the fluoro and see if it will trigger a strike. Below is a few examples of each type of colour in the ZMan range.

Light / Natural Colours - Opening Night, Pearl Blue Glimmer, Smokey Shad, Green Lantern, Greasy Prawn, Bad Shad and Baby Bass.

Dark / Silhouette Colours - Gold Rush, Pumpkinseed, Mud Minnow, AYU, Red Shad, Redbone Glow and New Penny.

Fluoro Colours - Electric Chicken, Nuked Chicken Glow, Sexy Mullet, Sexy Penny, Pink Glow and Glow Chartreuse.

X-Factor Colours - There are a handful of colours that also seem to produce fish in all conditions and these have developed almost a cult following among anglers. Motor Oil, Midnight Oil and Bloodworm colours have become the stuff of legend, so it is worth having these colours in your kit, as well as covering the three colour categories listed.

Jigheads

When it comes to jighead selection you need to be bumping the bottom when it comes to flathead, so if you are new to plastics, you are better erring on the side of heavier rather than lighter jigheads. Flathead can be caught in deep water, right up to less than a foot of water. When fishing water of a few feet anglers will often fish as light as 1/8oz, through to 1/4oz and these are also popular weights for fishing the drop offs and channel edges. When fishing sharper drop offs and channel edges that fall away to a few metres, anglers will generally start at 1/4oz and step up to 3/8oz, with 1/2oz selected when the current is strong or the wind blowing hard and the angler needs more control of the lure. From here anglers may move into water from three to ten metres, around the mouths of rivers and seaways with a focus on big flathead, and jigheads would start at 1/2oz and may get as heavy as 1oz to 1.5oz.

Check out the 'Rigging Guides' section on www.tackletactics.com.au for quick and easy guides for selecting the hook size of your standard or weedless jighead to suit your favourite ZMan 10X Tough soft plastics.

Here's a look at a few popular jighead options for flathead and why you might select them for your fishing.

HeadlockZ HD - Australia's favourite jighead. The HD stands for heavy duty and these jigheads are built on brutally strong, Mustad black nickel chemically sharpened hooks that are designed to handle brutal strikes and big fish. They are ideal when stopping power is required and for beginners who don't want to worry about the possibility of bending finer wire hooks. Quality, reliable, brutally strong and chemically sharpened, along with the unique 'head lock' design, with a gap between the grub keeper and head to make rigging ZMan's ElaZtech plastics simple and lock them in place on the jighead.

HeadlockZ Finesse - Ideal for more experienced anglers and built on a finer wire hook for maximum penetration, especially when fishing light lines and light drag settings. Described as the world's finest hooks, Gamakatsu chemically sharpened black nickel hooks will turn the slightest taps into hook sets. Again featuring the unique 'head lock' keeper system.

DemonZ - 'Head lock' keeper system, Gamakatsu black nickel chemically sharpened hooks, sculptured hand painted head and realistic 3D eyes. When the bite is tougher these are a go-to for many anglers as they are painted to match many popular soft plastic colours, or select a contrasting head that attracts the attention of the fish.

RevlockZ - A left field option that can switch on a bite, RevlockZ feature the 'head lock' keeper system, spinning blade mounted on the underside of the jighead to create flash and vibration, and a tapered head design to control the torque of the blade. Blade options include nickel (silver) and brass (gold) in both willow and Colorado blades. The Colorado blade is rounder, spins at slower speeds and will create more lift, while the willow blade is narrower and allows the jighead to run faster and deeper.

Weedless Rigging - If you find yourself fishing weedy and snaggy areas, where fishing is made difficult due to lures snagging and fouling, then a weedless plastic is a great solution that will allow you to effectively fish these areas. Check out the guide to selecting a weedless jighead in the 'Rigging Guides' section of the Tackle Tactics website for assistance with jighead selection and you will also find a step by step guide to rigging weedless. Both SnakelockZ (heavy duty hook) and SnakelockZ Finesse (fine wire hook) are effective when targeting flathead and the trick is to keep them moving, with just enough pause time to hit the bottom, as the movement maximises the hook up rate when they strike, bringing it to virtually the same as a standard jighead, thanks to the super-soft and flexible, ZMan 10X Tough ElaZtech construction.

So that's a few standard and out of the box jighead options for targeting flathead, however there is also another lure option that is dynamite on flathead.

Switchblades

Another effective lure for targeting flathead is the TT Lures Switchblade metal vibration blade. As the lure is retrieved it vibrates aggressively, making it an easy lure for fish to find, especially in dirty water. On the high tide the Switchblade can be rolled over the top of weed beds and over the sand where flathead are actively hunting. On the lower stages of the tide it can be rolled along the edges, or hopped down the drop offs much like a plastic, as well as being jigged vertically around structure.

Popular weights include 1/4oz for rolling the shallows and fishing the edges, 3/8oz for fishing the channel edges and drop offs and 1/2oz for targeting deep structure in the rivers and estuaries. There are a great range of colours, so you can likely find a Switchblade colour that is pretty close to your favourite soft plastic colours.

Scent

At times you will get taps and even tail grabs from flathead, without getting solid hook sets. When this is happening scent can be the difference between a tentative grab and a more aggressive strike. Pro-Cure Super Gel Scent is a gel, so it stays on longer and it contains the best of the laboratory, including powerful amino acids, bite stimulants and UV enhancement, combined with real ground bait to attract fish and trigger strikes. Applying scent maximises your chances of catching.

Simply squeeze a small amount of scent onto each side of the head section of the plastic and then slide your fingers from the head of the plastic right down the sides to the tip of the tail. The plastic now has a good coverage of Pro-Cure, maximising your chances of catching. Apply a small amount of scent every 30-50 casts and after landing a fish. There are a stack of flavours available in the range with a few favourites for flathead being Mullet, Sardine/Pilchard, Inshore Saltwater and Bloody Tuna.

Land Based Tips

Flathead are an ideal species for targeting land based as they can be found in many rivers and estuaries, don't require deep water and often the structure that is found around the shoreline is the structure that attracts flathead.

Structure that attracts flathead includes channel edges and drop offs, drains, weed beds with patches of sand and rubble, fallen timber and snags, boat ramps and jetties. When targeting flathead try and find a bank that is less heavily fished and the prime time to target flathead is on the last two hours of the run out and first hour of the run in, when they are concentrated on the edges of the channels and drop offs.

A soft plastic is an ideal option, rigged on a jighead with enough weight to make a long cast and sink to the bottom. A 1/4oz or 3/8oz jighead is ideal for channel edges and drop offs into a few metres of water. If you're fishing shallow water flats you may wish to drop to a 1/8oz or 1/6oz jigheads, as long as you are still making contact with the bottom.

When you approach the edge of the bank, stay out of the water so as not to spook flathead that are laying right up in the shallows. Once you have fished an area thoroughly, you can then wade into the water to access structure or areas that are further away. Make a cast up current and along the bank, followed by another cast slightly further out from the bank and continue to gradually fan your casts up current and into deeper water, until you are casting almost straight out from the bank. Once your casts are straight out from the bank or down current it makes it more difficult to control your plastic and keep it on the bottom, so focus your casts up current and bring your plastics back naturally with the flow, using the slow roll, burn and kill or hopping described earlier.

Once you have fanned your casts and covered a section of water, take a dozen steps along the bank and fan your casts again. About 6-10 casts should cover the water reasonably well and then you can take another dozen steps. You are systematically covering the area as you move along the bank and you will soon come across an area where the current, bait, bottom or structure is holding a fish. Once you do catch a flathead it is worth spending more time working that area as flathead often school. Likewise if there is something in the area that makes it look or feel 'fishy', such as bait, structure or especially a drain, then throw a few extra casts in the area.

A great starting lure for land based flathead is a ZMan 3" MinnowZ, rigged on a 1/4oz or 3/8oz 3/0 TT Lures HeadlockZ HD jighead. If the area you are fishing has a variety or smaller species, such as bream, or the bite is quiet, you can also downsize to a ZMan 2.5" Slim SwimZ rigged on a 1/4oz 1/0 TT Lures HeadlockZ HD jighead. If the area you're fishing contains patchy weed or snaggy structure that is causing fouling or snagging of the lure, remember that weedless rigging is also an effective option that allows you to fish areas that many anglers steer clear of.

Landing & Handling

Some special attention is required when landing and handling flathead as they have raspy plates in their mouth and also several spikes.

A landing net is a good idea as the raspy plates in the mouth of the flathead are capable of wearing through leaders, especially if you lift their head out of the water, where they will shake their head violently from side to side and destroy your leader. This headshaking can also often dislodge lures and see fish lost. Fight them with nice even rod pressure, take your time and when they are ready to be landed, place the landing net in the water and steer the fish into the net. When the flathead see the boat they will often make one more run, so try to stay calm and don't rush the netting or force the fish into the net. A lot of flathead are lost at the boat.

When handling the flathead it's a good idea to use some lip grips or a wet cloth and avoid the spikes on each side of the head and also the spike on top of the head as these are capable of making a mess when they puncture and tear your skin, again especially if that head is thrashing from side to side.

That's a quick wrap up on getting started for lure fishing for flathead, a species that is readily available, loves eating lures, is good fun on light gear and a quality table fish. All the best with your flathead fishing adventures, we'd love to see some photos of your success sent in to our Facebook or Instagram pages.

All the best with the fishing.