Ten tips for catching flathead

By Robert Thornton

Flathead are easily one of Australia’s most beloved estuary fish, and as such they have a deserved reputation as both a sportfish and table fare.

Newcomers to the sport often find themselves targeting these charismatic fish, and plenty of veterans (myself included) still jump at a chance to have a session on the flatties.

In a world of saturated media, AI slop and conflicting advice, I’m going to provide my top 10 tips for catching flathead based on my own 20+ years of experience chasing them.

BACK TO THE BASICS

Social media is full of amazing flathead fishing footage. I’m sure we’ve all seen the videos of anglers using drones to first spot and then cast to shovel-sized flathead, flatties smacking topwater lures, flathead eating flathead etc…

Incredibly exciting though this may be, finding these scenarios and executing these amazing captures takes a lot of experience, know-how and time on the water. Seeing all this through our screens, it can be easy to lose sight of the basics, especially if you’re new to the sport.

The purpose of this article is to arm you with some basic principles I and many others adhere to when flathead fishing. Grasping these ideas will help you in the future if you too have dreams of living some of the incredible moments we see on social media.

TOP 10 TIPS

1 – On the bottom

The first tip is one I had drilled into me by my dad when I was young, who I’m sure picked it up from his father, who picked it up from his father. Flathead are flat, they live on the bottom; so it only makes sense that your lure, bait or fly should be making regular contact with the bottom.

If casting soft plastics like the 3.95” Flick, that means letting it sink back to the bottom after giving it some movement. For hardbodies like the Spike 53SP, that means you want to feel the bib digging into the sand or mud. Any baits, live or dead, should be rigged so they stay very close to or indeed on the bottom.

2 – Find the bait

The old saying “find the bait, find the fish” rings especially true for flathead. Flathead will always be where food is, and that means you want to see signs of life wherever you intend to fish for them. This might be whiting and mullet mooching across the flats, prawns flicking out of the water near the mangroves or even a huge cloud of matter on the sounder.

Bear in mind that no bait in an area doesn’t mean it will always be devoid. Quite often small fish and crustaceans will move into an area at a certain stage of the tide, before leaving when the water level no longer suits them, or forces them to leave. If you find a spot that looks good but lacks signs of life, it’s always worth either waiting around or returning at a different stage of the tide.

3 – Match the hatch

This is another one that can be applied to most fishing, and that’s matching your presentation with what’s naturally available in the area. Originating in trout fishing, where fly tiers go to great lengths to create artificial versions of the insects and other things “hatching” above or below the water, this idea applies to flathead as well.

While not nearly as fussy as your average trout during a hatch, flathead will still generally seek out what is natural to them, and what’s natural to them depends on things like the stage of the tide, type of environment they’re living in, and even their geographical location.

The best clues are all around, and simply looking for the signs of life we mentioned in tip number 2 is a good way to start. Being observant is useful in all fishing, but especially so when it comes to flathead.

If you’re still at a loss as to what to tie on, think about what sort of food sources naturally occur in that area and start there. Things like prawns, mullet, garfish, whiting, herring, crabs and even squid are all things that any self-respecting dusky will eat when hungry. Size can matter with flathead at times, but if I’m not sure I’ll generally default to a bait or lure around 3inch or 7-8cm long.

4 – Stay in contact

Staying in contact means always having enough tension in your line to feel what’s happening on the other end. Being able to feel what’s going on means you’re in a good position to know when and how to react when a fish comes along.

The reason contact is so important for flathead is because it’s not always clear when a flathead is on the other end, especially for the inexperienced. While many fish will eat a lure or bait and turn away quickly, hooking themselves in the process, the old flathead has a habit of grabbing its prey and simply settling back down on the bottom.

When this happens, an angler with well-tuned senses will feel the gentle mouthing of the flathead as it sits there trying to swallow its catch. Without contact, reading this situation is nearly impossible, and a lot of flathead bites are missed because people simply don’t know there’s one on the end of their line!

5 – It’s never too shallow

Most people know that dusky flathead are well-adapted to shallow water. Despite this, I still often see people walking, paddling or motoring over good ground to get to a deeper hole, scaring flathead out of the sun-warmed shallows as they go.

When I say nothing is too shallow for flathead, I mean it literally. Even a 1m long flathead can comfortably sit, breath and even feed in 4-5inches of water.

Of course, flatties won’t always sit in ankle deep water, but it’s worth throwing a few “speculator” casts into these zones as you move through them.

For the lures throwers, these scenarios are where topwater lures like the Slippery Dog can work really well. As important as contact with the bottom is, keep in mind that surface presentations can draw plenty of strikes when the bottom is only inches away!

6 – Look for ambush points

Flathead will actively hunt like other predators, however their favourite way to feed is by ambush. They will bury themselves in the sand or mud and position themselves in spots where food will be brought to them. When something comes close enough, they will exert short but explosive bursts of energy to engulf the morsel, before settling back down to the bottom and waiting for the next helping.

Some examples of ambush points are the mouths of drains, small creeks and other outflows during the outgoing tide, in front of or behind bridge pylons, the edges of a drop-offs and small depressions on the bottom.

Flathead will even use their body shape to their advantage and chase bait up into the shallows, particularly on the incoming tide when the water just starts to flood over an exposed bank. The disorientated prey quickly runs out of room to manoeuvre and ends up on the menu. In this situation, look for areas that rising water will fill first, such as small drains and gullies.

7 – Keep it moving

Flathead are visual feeders, with eyes positioned on the top of their head for looking forward and up. This means that flatties are attracted to movement first, with scent and vibration probably coming second and third.

It’s true that most flathead fishing is done at a fairly slow pace, with lots of pauses, however the most successful flathead anglers will keep their bait or lure moving, even if very slowly.

Moving your bait or lure has a two main functions. Firstly, it animates your presentation and makes it more appealing to a flathead. Secondly, it allows you to cover ground and eventually bring your presentation to a hungry flathead, rather than waiting for them to find it.

8 – Work it all the way back

Whether you’re lure, fly or bait fishing, making a habit of working your presentation all the way back to the rod tip will improve your catch rate. Duskies will often follow things for some distance before deciding to eat, and if you’re too focussed on where to put the next cast, you might not notice a flathead following your lure or bait.

This is why I always work my presentation all the way back, keeping an eye out for any followers as I do. If there’s one following, I can drop the lure back and hold it in their face to coax them into eating. Sometimes when I’m in the boat, I will even jig soft plastics under the boat a few times – I’ve caught countless flathead this way.

Just remember, the cast isn’t over until it’s over!

9 – Where there’s one…

Were there’s one, there’s more! This one’s very true for flathead, especially when they are in spawning mode. Outside of breeding though, flathead will still gather in common areas, so it’s always worth slowing down and fishing an area thoroughly if a fish is landed, or a bite registered.

It’s not clear whether flathead are a schooling fish in the traditional sense, or whether they are just all there for common purpose; I believe it’s a combination. In any case, remember that if there’s one, there will almost always be more.

10 – Don’t kill your limit

Flathead are highly valued for their eating qualities, and there’s nothing wrong with keeping a feed of these delicious fish. With that said, it’s important to stick to local regulations, and make sure you are releasing all undersize and oversize fish. Small flathead and large egg-bearing females are important for keeping a sustainable fishery, and we as anglers have a responsibility to make sure there are plenty of flathead there for the next generation.

WHY SO FLAT?

Flathead offer a lot for anglers of all skill levels; as a sportfish they teach us so much, as a table fish they provide top quality seafood, and as an estuarine predator they help keep these environments balanced and healthy.

Hopefully these 10 tips will help you to understand these awesome fish a bit better, and I wish you luck in your search for your first flathead!