Ryan Dixon's Flathead Basics

By Ryan Dixon

The humble old flathead has been a favourite species of mine to target since a very young age. I have fond memories of fishing for them with my father on the NSW north coast and I'm sure seeing my old man catch a fish close to the metre mark was the day my love for this Aussie icon began.

Freshly pumped nippers or yabbies were our bait of choice all those years ago, with gathering the bait being equally as fun as catching a feed of flatties. As the years went on and I grew into my teenage years, I quickly found a new way to catch flathead and with that I found a new way to spend all my pocket money. Catching flathead on lures. Lure fishing for flathead is just easy. There's no gathering bait, your hands don't smell of bait and there's nothing more satisfying than fooling a fish into eating a piece of plastic.

Over the years I've learnt many different ways to catch flathead of all sizes, on all different types of lures and bait. I'm by no means a flathead specialist but I find most times that I fish for flathead I'm able to catch a feed. In this article I'm going to share the techniques that I've found have worked best for me over the years, while using both lures and bait.

Finding Flathead

Flathead can be found in many different places, but one thing to always remember when looking for flathead is that they love to ambush their prey and they do this in two ways. The first method being by burying themselves and camouflaging into the sand, in a place of high current and bait movement, while the second is by ambushing prey from any type of structure. Flathead love structure and drop offs, bridge pylons, rocky reef or mangrove lined banks are all perfect structure for targeting flathead. When it comes to places to camouflage and hunt, sand flats and weed flats are perfect.

Lure Fishing

When targeting flathead on soft plastics there are a few important things to consider when it comes to choosing your lures and how to present it to them. As flathead are predominantly bottom feeders selecting a jighead that will keep you in regular contact with the bottom is the most important thing to remember.

Once you've chosen your lure and are ready to make a cast always try to retrieve your lure with the current. Flathead will lay with their mouths against the current, enabling them to camouflage on the bottom and quickly pounce on any baitfish that are brought toward them with the current.

Flathead generally won't move a very long way to eat your lure, so making a lot of casts and thoroughly covering the area will return best results. I find it's just as important to make the lure taste real as it does to make it look real and I always add Pro-Cure Scent to my soft plastics, every ten or so casts or after a fish is caught. My favourite flavours are Mullet, Inshore Saltwater and Shrimp.

As flathead aren't the fussiest of eaters there are many different soft plastics that will catch you a feed. I've tried plenty of different types over the years and have shortlisted the ones that work best for me. ZMan 2.5" and 3.5" GrubZ are a perfect small presentation for flathead that don't require a hell of a lot of movement to get maximum action. Either a slow wind or slow lift and drop retrieve is all that's required when using these lures.

ZMan 4" StreakZ Curly TailZ are another bait that doesn't need much movement to get them working. Being a slightly larger presentation, they have a larger presence in the water and can be retrieved the same as above. The 3" ZMan MinnowZ is undoubtedly one of the best flathead plastics you can get your hands on. It's a paddle tail style plastic that can be retrieved in many different ways. It can be wound slowly, wound fast, burnt and killed (a few fast winds, followed by a pause) or hopped off the bottom, remembering that it must be making contact with the bottom more often than not.

When selecting a jighead to match to these plastics, the weight always depends on the current and the depth of water that you're fishing. One thing that I've learnt is that it always pays to go slightly heavier rather than lighter with your jighead selection. By having a look at the 'Rigging Guides' section of the Tackle Tactics website you will find tips on selecting the best jighead hook size to match the aforementioned plastics.

When it comes to selecting the correct rod and reel setup I like to use anything from a 1-3kg to a 4-6kg 7 foot rod, matched with a small spinning reel. My reel of choice is an Okuma in 2500 to 3000 sizes, and I have these spooled with 6 and 10 pound braided line, allowing me to make long casts to cover maximum ground.

Leader size is important when targeting flathead as they have a series of razor sharp teeth that can easily wear through light leader with their vigorous head shakes. I will use anywhere from an 8-15 pound fluorocarbon leader, depending on the size of fish I'm targeting, with roughly a rod length of leader being more than enough.

Bait Fishing

Bait fishing for flathead is also very productive, with the bulk of my bigger flatties coming on live baits. Live baits are definitely my go-to when looking for big female flathead, with whiting, mullet, prawns and yabbies all being excellent baits. Flathead love big baits, with sand whiting and mullet over the 30cm mark being the perfect size for larger fish.

Rigging your live baits properly is also very important. It's crucial being able to rig them in a way that allows the bait to move freely and live for as long as possible, whilst also having the point of the hook exposed enough for when it's time to set it. Everyone has their preference on where they like to hook their live baits, but I find the best place to hook them is in the lower half of their back, toward the tail. This allows the bait to look as natural as possible. Most of the time flathead will swallow the bait and as long as the hook is somewhat exposed you should not have any trouble setting the hook.

When live baiting for flathead I like to use a slightly heavier rod in the 4-7kg range, matched with a baitfeeder style reel, like the Okuma Dynadrag Baitfeeder. This reel allows me to set the baitfeeder drag loosely, so that the flathead can swim away with the bait without feeling any pressure on the line, and when I'm ready to set the hook I can turn the handle and engage the fighting drag to set the hook. When rigging my rod I like to fish a slightly heavier leader of 15-20 pound of around a metre in length, with a medium size ball sinker above a swivel and a single circle style hook. The hook size will depend on the size of the live bait that I'm using.

When catching live baits one thing to remember is that they must be of legal size, depending on the state in which you are fishing. Big flathead are a very important part of the species stocks, with the larger fish being the big breeding females. A single flathead can produce thousands of eggs a year, so it's important to release the bigger fish, with the smaller ones being better for the table if you are fishing for a feed.