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FLOAT FISHING FLATHEAD


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BYCATCH to MAIN CATCH … Season’s Change to FLATHEAD

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I have picked up a Flathead on each of my last 4 Yellow Fin Whiting lure sessions.

There are still plenty of YFW about for the whiting bait angler, however they have slowed up for the whiting lure fisherman.

The water is cooling a bit for YFW on lures. But is also the reason for the increasing presence of the Flathead.

The cooler Autumn water temperatures now have the ambient conditions to hold a larger number of baitfish in the shallows.

And along with the baitfish arrive a lot more Flathead, in these cooler waters of Autumn.

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UNCONVENTIONAL TACTICS

I have always taken a skeptical view, of some assertions made by some fishing experts.

It’s best to do your own trials and testing and arrive at what works for you … for the areas that you fish.

There are claims of many must do techniques. Most based, I feel on false assumptions. And in the main anglers have quietly and benignly accepted them.

With Yellow Fin Whiting there was even an ‘expert” that asserted a surface lure mimicked a fleeing Benthic (bottom) dwelling Clicker on the surface !!!  All fishing techniques have to consider the target species, their morphology, behavioural traits, their prey and the habitat in which it has all evolved. So when it comes to some “expert” techniques, it must measure up against these factors. When Flathead fishing with soft plastics, people have often claimed; “Always bounce the soft plastic in the sand to create a puff of sand to attract a Flathead”

… Nah! Nah! Nah! Never !!!! This has a detrimental affect, when I fish wading the shallow sandflats.

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I employ some unconventional tactics for catching Flathead  … I float fish them.

Do not bother bouncing lures along the sand. I have FLIP-SIDED the whole concept and suspend Soft Plastics and Bait under a Float. Always presenting them above the Flathead’s eyes !!  It is where they can see it the easiest and react the most. Their Strike zone. Their area of Binocular vision.

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Having viewed underwater footage of FH taking soft plastics. I noticed they were repetitively taken at the top of the lift when the SP was bounced. Always well above and out in front of their eyes. In their “Binocular Vision Strike Zone”. So I decided I may as well put my Soft Plastics there in the first place. Drawing it past them … under a float.  I do not use any jig-heads.

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Some more alert experts are now agreeing, that in fact disturbing the sand in front of Flathead is counter productive.

Karl Attenborough of the “Sand Flat Fishing Australia”  YouTube channel says:  “Touching the sand with your lure in shallow water spooks the fish.”

Refer: 9.35min in this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2NHJ02NUoiQ

Or in this Doc Lures Podcast : https://doclures.com/nsw-mid-north-coast-flathead-attenborough/  … Refer ~ 17min 10sec onwards.

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As fisher-people we are always trying to present, a favourite food in the most irresistible and obvious manner, to our target species.

I have been floating Baits, Gulp Minnows and Jerk Shads under a small split turnip float for a long time. With great success.

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MORPHOLOGY

Prey usually have eyes on the sides of their head so they have a large field of view, from which to avoid predators. Predators usually have eyes in front of their head so they have better depth perception.  Benthic predators, like Flathead have eyes arranged so they have a binocular view of what is above them as they lie on the bottom. Their field of vision is strongly biased to a bait or lure being presented out front and above them. Rather than it bouncing in the sand ahead of them.

These great videos clearly illustrate the Flathead eye placement and function:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nC7Ig4NJmtE

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xrCjZJWGFHI

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HABITAT

The other most important factor for using floating baits and lures is the sandflat Habitat in which the Flathead hold.

In the upper gulf sandflats that I fish, Flathead are most often found on;  broken weedy ground, in and alongside weed filled channels, or alongside mangrove edges full of aerial roots. Here they lay and wait to ambush any prey that passes above. It is very hard to get a weed free, snag free retrieve over this terrain. So the most effective method is to present and draw a bait or lure over them, suspended under a float. There are some suitable floating lures, but their trebles foul easily on the floating ribbon weed.

 

Flathead most commonly lie on the leeward side of a weed hump or structure in a strong run off. I rarely come across them on clear open sand flats. They have a preference for the bigger and faster run off tides. I find the best strategy is an overhead bait/lure presentation, suspended by a float, drawn across their likely lies behind structure.

 

The weed line or “blue line” which can also channel a stronger flow of water, will also hold them. The irregular weed line will frequently obstruct and hide your lure if you are working the bottom. Under a float, your offering can easily work, over, across, in and out of the weed line, with out fouling. Weedless rigs worked lower are never as effective for me.

BrokenGround.jpg.66a40f2160f91a6a4688a75448ff952c.jpg.

RIGS & LURES

Today the very successful floating Glide baits and swim bait lures, do exactly that, swim above the eyes of the Flathead. Stay out of the weed and never touch the sand. I have yet to given them a try.

My favourite lure is Rapala Shadow Rap a floating lure with a small bib and a shallow dive.

It is interesting to note how many Flathead have been taken on a floating Squid jig.

But I have taken the most Flathead (along with X Large YFW) on Soft Plastic Minnows or Jerkshads simply fed onto a #4 long shank hook that I have been using for YFW.  under a float.

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Tight Lines.

Cheers, Des

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That is fascinating!!

When I go for YFW, I use a paternoster rig, with the soft plastic as the weight (not just a sinker). I get a few flathead this was but it's more of slowly moving the bait (which YFW love), rather than a jerky motion - but have never had the same results are you get.

Definitely will give it a whirl!


David

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