Tag Archives: fishing for Flathead with soft plastics

The Clarence River at Browns Rocks – Early November 2021

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As Covid 19 continued to wreak havoc all around, I carried on fishing. Those of us in New South Wales were locked out of Queensland. Everyone was locked out of Western Australia. Victoria was open, then closed, then open again. I have no idea what was going on in Tasmania.

The swell was big and we had a bit of rain. I focused on fishing with my light gear and soft plastics lures over the sand flats, on the edge of the Clarence River at Browns Rocks. I found a few different species. I caught flathead, bream, tailor and quite a few small jewfish. The flathead seemed comfortable eating just about any type of lure, once you found them.

Plenty of flathead in the Clarence River in November

I was using a mix of different soft plastics but, as usual, the GULP Minnows where the star performers. I also caught fish on the new Berkley Shimma prawn and a packet of DUO Realis knot tailed soft plastics in a green colour, that somebody sent me to try. I was usually fishing these with 10lb fluorocarbon leader on 1/8th ounce, size 1/0 hook jigheads.

There were quite a few small jewfish around Browns Rocks

At one point I noticed the water close to shore was teaming with some kind of tiny jelly fish larvae. They were all along the shoreline for a few days. There was plenty of bait around and the pelicans and gulls chased the schools relentlessly. They only got out of the way when the dolphins turned up.

Plenty of bait schools in November

Bribie Island – Museum drain & oyster jetty flats – 8 July 2013

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Monday

Monday was dry and sunny, with not much wind forecast. I could not get out early but I was determined to fish. I drove up to Bribie Island. As I drove over the bridge I could see the wind rustling in the trees – but at least there were no clouds around.

Monday was the new moon and I had arrived just after high tide at about 9.30 am. This was the smaller high tide of the day. I wanted to survey the area around the Seaside Museum drain and fish the run out tide. The mouth of the tidal lagoon that was emptying near the museum drain, has now almost closed up and a lot of sand has moved around.

I waded out to the south of the drain and cast around. I was using the GULP 4” Minnow soft plastic in the Pearl Watermelon on a 1/8th 1/0 jighead and fishing with 8lb fluorocarbon leader. A Dolphin soon appeared and put on a fairly impressive leaping show. It was a great sight but I doubt it did much for the fishing.

After about 45 minutes with no bites and a steadily building south-westerly wind, I decided to give up on this spot. I stopped for a cup of coffee to consider my options. I then drove back over the bridge to the mainland and parked up. The flats on this side of the Pumicestone Passage are a little more sheltered in a strong south-westerly wind.

I did not have much time left so I waded south, past the old oyster jetty and along the exposed sand spit, towards the green channel marker. I planned to wade back towards the bridge casting along the edge of the weed beds.

The tide was now running out very quickly and lifting big clumps of the ‘snot’ weed off the sea grass. I kept catching them which was really annoying, but even more annoying – my drag on the Stella 2500, was only clicking intermittently. At first, I thought the line might be slipping on the spool but I checked and it wasn’t. The clicker seemed to make a noise if I jerked a bit of line off quickly but not if I pulled it off in a slow, smooth motion.

I started fishing with a Gulp 3” Minnow in the Lime Tiger colour. My first customer was decent Pike who grabbed the plastic after about 20 minutes of casting around. The drag was working but not making any noise. It’s surprising how disconcerting this can be. Although you can feel the fish taking line, the noise that the drag usually produces really helps you gauge where you are in the fight.

After a while I swapped to the Zman range of soft plastics and tied on a Minnowz paddle tail in the Houdini colour. After 20 minutes this had not found the fish so I swapped to a GULP 5” Jerkshad in the Cajun Chicken colour (black and pink). After a few casts, I connected with a fish. I knew it was on but the intermittent drag was confusing me.Almost as a reflex, I reached down to tighten the drag and as I pulled the rod tip up, the 8lb leader snapped.

I re-rigged with the same set up and checked the drag was set right. I cast around in the same spot for about 15 minutes before I had another bite. This time I hooked the fish nicely and left the drag alone. It was a flathead, just under 40cm long. I released it.

They feel much heavier with a load of weed around the lure
The last flathead was the biggest at 56cm
I found them at the bottom of the run out tide
They were not easy to find today
Pike – first customer on a GULP minnow
GULP Cajun Chicken jerkshad finally got the flathead going
You have to keep at it – they must be there
This one was probably just big enough
Clear water is making this stuff a menace

It was now about 12.30 pm and we were approaching low tide. It was a bright sunny afternoon but the wind was getting stronger and stronger. I slowly waded back to the car, stopping occasionally to cast at the sandy patches on the weedy bottom. I soon felt another bite, but did not hook up. I stayed in the same place and three casts later, I had another 40cm flathead.

By 1.30pm I was just north of the old oyster jetty. I felt a grab at the soft plastic and suddenly there was an angry, head-shaking flathead coming towards me, across the surface. I wound in quickly and the hook stayed in its mouth. After a minute or two, the fish was beaten. It was the best one of the day, well over 50cm.

I had found a few fish but it had been hard work. I was delighted that the rain had moved on, now we just need the wind to calm down.

1770 – Eurimbula Creek – 8 May 2013

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Wednesday

With the weather showing no signs of improving, I decided it was futile to keep trying on the rocks, so on Wednesday, I drove back out to Eurimbula Creek. I arrived a little after first light and the tide was running in. The water was not quite so dirty here. I went back to basics and started by fishing with small, lightly weighted soft plastics, first a GULP 3” Minnow in the Lime Tiger and then a 2” Shrimp in the Banana Prawn colour. After an hour with no luck I switched to a DUO Tetraworks Bivi, small, hard bodied vibe lure. This did not stir anything up either.

I decided to try a slightly bigger soft plastic and put on a GULP 4” Minnow, in the Pearl Watermelon colour. The tide was running in fast, so I also upped the weight to a 1/6th ounce, 1/0 hook jighead. The water had now come over the sandy edge of the main channel. I dropped the lure over the edge and then retrieved it, pausing for as long as I could, right at the edge. I felt the small bait fish attack the lure on each retrieve and then, after about 10 casts, a bigger fish grabbed it. It was a dusky Flathead – just over 40 cm. After a few pictures it went back.

I moved nearer to the mouth of the creek and put on a GULP 3” Jigging Grub in the Pumpkinseed colour. I lost a few of these to the fast flowing current and the fallen trees. I rigged up for the third time and aimed the soft plastic at eddies around one of the snags. It was hit on the drop and the fish went straight into the tangle of roots. With the Loomis GL2 light spin rod and 10lb fluorocarbon leader, I really did not have the power to fight a determined fish in heavy current – the fish was in charge. I backed off the drag a little and it swam out. I let it move about a metre away from the snag, tightened the drag and then increased the pressure again. It headed straight back in. We repeated this process 3 times until I eventually pulled out a 45 cm estuary cod. It was perfect cod terrain with overhanging mangrove roots and plenty of snags.

As the tide comes in the creek mouth is a greet spot to fish
Rain – silt – mud – and a flathead
A 4 inch soft plastic woke this one up
Nicely camouflaged
Cod like a wriggling tail
The cod had been lurking amongst these roots
Grunter Bream are a common catch in these creeks
They have broader shoulders and a bigger head than regular bream

The rain showers kept coming. At about 10.00 am, I caught a couple of small grunter bream (javelin fish) – about 30 cm long. I had swapped back to the GULP 2” Shrimp in the Banana Prawn colour. I have caught plenty of these in the creeks around here, especially after heavy rain. I put them back and carried on fishing, up and down the creek bank, as high tide came and went.

By about 11.00 am I had had enough and drove back to Agnes Water.

Bribie – Under the bridge and on the flats – 19 March 2013

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Tuesday

The wind has now been persistent from the south for some time. This is usually a good sign. Although it can push the swell up, in my experience, it makes fish a little easier to find. The problem on Tuesday was that it was forecast to blow up to about 20 – 30 knots, which would make fishing almost impossible.

So I was limited to fishing in the calmest period – the very early morning and decided to go back to the flats, by the Bribie Island Bridge. There is a bridge survey or cleaning process going on at the moment. Divers are spraying the barnacles/ oysters off all the pylons during the daylight hours. This would either scare the fish off or create a great berley mix to bring them in.

I arrived just before 5.00 am. Low tide would be at 0.9 m at 8.24 am. The moon was about 60% full and so the tide flow would not be very strong. The wind was a south-easterly, blowing about 10 knots.

There was still plenty of water lapping at the mangroves. I stood in the shadows and rigged up with a small GULP Alive split tailed grub, in the Smelt colour. I found a few tubs of these in a NSW fishing shop a couple of years ago, but I can no longer remember what they are called. They are probably about 2” long and have proved pretty useful when the fish are fussy.

I cast to the north, into the darkness and let the lure sink to the bottom. I got a few hits and pulls, but did not hook up. I kept casting and after a while I caught a couple of small Moses Perch. Ten minutes later, the same soft plastic attracted a small Flathead. I was now sure I was fishing in the right place and I think the previous days pylon blasting had created some good berley.

I kept casting around the same area and at about 5.40 am I connected with a solid fish. It took some line and I tightened the drag a little, to keep it away from the pylons and then the mangrove roots. When it was worn out I towed it up, onto the oyster covered area of beach, under the bridge. It was a good-size flathead, about 55cm long.

The best fish of the day – about 55cm
A small split tail GULP grub got this one
GULP Shrimp in the banana prawn colour nails a small one
The third smaller flathead
A tiny flathead grabs the GULP shrimp
Just as fed up with the weather
Ugly squirting spiny puffer fish
Just like a spiky football
Seriously grey skies again
Another soaking on its way

I fished on and caught a couple of bream (both about 30cm) and a couple more much smaller moses perch. I swapped over to a 2” GULP Shrimp soft plastic in the banana prawn colour. I was still fishing with a 1/8th ounce, 1/0 jighead and 10lb fluorocarbon leader. The thick dark clouds obscured the sunrise and just after 6.00 am, I found another small flathead lying at the base of one of the bridge pylons.

I moved south towards the oyster jetty and got rained on by a passing shower. By 8.15 am I was about half way between the oyster jetty and the channel marker. I had had a few grabs from fish that I thought were long toms, but could have been pike or small tailor.

I was now fishing with a GULP Jerkshad in the Cajun Chicken colour, which has proved effective recently. Suddenly my jighead caught on something. It made a very slow run. It was not very heavy and I slowly pulled it to the surface. It was a very ugly spiny puffer fish, hooked through its eyebrow. It kept spitting jets of water at me, but after a while I shook it free.

Another massive rain cloud was now headed in my direction so I decided to wade back to the car. I had caught a few fish but had only really secured one keeper – the 55cm flathead. Still, on balance I would say the fishing is getting better.

Bribie Island – Buckley’s Hole Flats – Whitepatch – 17 October 2012

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Wednesday

Whilst fishing definitely delivers the joy in my life, unfortunately, it can’t seem to deliver the cash. Paid work has many evil consequences – less fishing and no time for a midday hammock session, to name a couple. But perhaps the most evil is the exquisite torture devised by the ATO – the tax return.

I have been fortunate to live in a few countries over the years and unfortunate enough to pay tax in most of them. Nowhere is the process more excruciating than Oz. I admit I have not tried North Korea – which is about the only place where I think they could make it more painful. I like the idea of the Greek tax system where 95% of doctors reported an annual income of less than A$ 9,000, last year – but then again, their economy has ended up a few chickpeas short of a bowl of Hummus. When I was in Indonesia we had to pay our income tax, in person, every year, with a sack load of cash. It seemed the tax collectors did not trust the banks to honor cheques, but it did not seem a particularly good idea from a corruption prevention point of view. In Hong Kong – I thought I had earned a fortune one year and was dreading the bill. I filled in the two page return (yes – just two pages) and got a letter back about three days later explaining that my paltry income did not exceed the tax free threshold and there was no need to submit further annual returns, until it did. You could almost sense their pity!

My other problem was that I took so long to do last year’s tax return that, in the blink of an eye, I received a ‘friendly’ e-mail reminder that this year’s is due. No wonder the unemployment rate is rising – much easier to pop down to the community bank – known as Centrelink and collect your ‘pay’. They will even do the tax return for you.

Spleen vented – on to fishing. I decided on Bribie Island on Wednesday morning. New moon had been on Tuesday and it would be a very low tide (0.1m) at about 4.00 am. These really low tides are great as they enable you to see the terrain you have been fishing, when there is more water around.

I started at the mouth of the drain, in front of the sea side museum at Bongaree. It was just after first light at about 5.00 am. Having seen the marauding Tuna on Monday I decided to start with a big DUO Beachwalker hard bodied lure on my heavy rod. I soon got worn out by that process and there was no sign of marauders, so I swapped back to my Loomis light spin combination.

I put a GULP 2” Minnow in the Smelt colour on a 1/8th, 1/0 jighead. I was fishing with about 1.5m of 10lb fluorocarbon leader. There was a school of mullet finning around on the surface, right by the edge of the drop off. I cast in to it and it was so thick that I jagged one through the eye. I threw it back and continued to walk south along the edge, casting parallel with the shore into the tide, that was now racing in.

It walked and then waded for an hour and caught a couple of Pike. By now I had reached the flats at the south end of the tidal lagoon in front of Buckley’s Hole. I was now fishing with a GULP 3” Minnow in the Lime Tiger colour. The incoming tide had pushed me away from the drop off. As I was about to lift the plastic for another cast something grabbed it. I struck a bit too hard and pulled the fish quickly up to the surface, where it shook its head maniacally and spat the lure out. It was a keeper size Flathead.

I swapped to a bigger soft plastic – a GULP Jerkshad in the Cajun Chicken colour – black and pink. There is now a new opening in the sand bank at this end of the lagoon – which means there is a new drain as the tide runs out. I was right in front of this opening, standing in about 30cm of water, when I felt another solid thud. This time I was more gentle – but the fish was smaller – another Flathead just on 40cm. I took it to the sand, photographed and released it.

There was now too much water over the ledge so I decided to drive up to Whitepatch and fish the high tide. I drove down to the north end of the beach and waded back, to the south, casting in to the last of the incoming current. I caught a few more Pike.

As I reached the point where the black coffee rock is visible along the shore line I paused and concentrated a few casts in close to edge. On high tides the Flathead will sometimes move up close to these rocks. I was now fishing with the GULP Jerkshad in the Satay Chicken colour – yellow and pumpkinseed. After a few casts I found a fish – another Flathead that was just over 40cm. I took a few snaps and flicked it off the hook.

First catch was a Mullet
Landed a Flathead eventually
New terrain at Buckleys Hole
The Whitepatch coffee rock
The Whitepatch Flathead

It was now 11.00 am and time to give up. I had only caught two keeper fish but I had surveyed a lot of ground. There is still plenty of bait around so prospects look pretty good for the next week or so.

Bribie Island – A few Flathead – but it took a while – 25 October 2011

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Tuesday:

I got out amongst the Flathead at Bribie Island again on Tuesday morning. We are back to very early starts if you want to be fishing at first light. I was awake at 3.30 am and standing under the bridge on the mainland side at around 4.30 am, just as the sky began to light up.
The water was dead calm and the tide was running in. It would be high at around 8.00am. There was no breeze but it was forecast to grow into a strong north-easterly by lunchtime. I could see bait everywhere, flickers of silver glinted under the bridge lights. Occasionally there was a splash on the surface, as a predator struck from below.

I cast around with a GULP Crazylegs Jerkshad in the New Penny colour. I felt a few bites but nothing serious. The tide was coming in fairly quickly and the strong south easterlies of previous days had stirred up the weed again.

Mullet like this were everywhere


As it grew light and the tide got higher a constant stream of floating sea grass made the fishing difficult. After a while I jagged a small Mullet. There were big schools of these cruising under the bridge.

I decided to switch locations and drove across the bridge and down to Bongaree, on the island. The tide was really moving now and I could not fish over the ledge in front of Buckley’s Hole, so I gave up after a few minutes and switched locations again. This time I decided to try the flats at White Patch.

I started at the second set of steps and waded south, casting my soft plastic at the edge of the rocks and sunken logs that were now semi-submerged by the rising tide. No luck – but I did see some big fish smash into the Mullet schools that were hovering off the ledge, further out. I could not see what they were. At first I thought Tuna, but I have rarely seen them this far up the Pumicestone Passage. The attacks were highlighted by the calmness of the water in between. After a big swirl sent Mullet flying in all directions I think I saw a good size Queenfish jump clean out of the water in pursuit. I have heard about them being caught here, but not seen them.

Despite the show going on just out of casting distance, I was still without a fish. The weed carpet that had slowed me down earlier now arrived with the top of the tide. Sometimes you need to change the dynamic. I drove down to Scoopys Café and had a coffee, looking out over the Pumicestone Passage. At about 9.00 am I walked back along the beach in front of Buckley’s Hole and went back to basics. I tied on a 12lb fluorocarbon leader, loaded the natural looking GULP 4” Pearl Watermelon Minnow soft plastic on a 1/8th oz, 1/0 jighead . I then moved south along the beach casting into the shallow water, mindful that this was where the fish had been last week – right up close to the beach, in the shallows.

Low tide at the lagoon in front of Buckleys Hole


The tide was running out and the weed had washed away again. After 10 minutes, a fish grabbed the soft plastic a couple of metres from the beach. It was a 45cm Flathead and after 5 hours of fishing I was happy to see it. I continued down the beach and turned around when I reached the no.1 beach flag. I waded out to about waist deep and started to walk back, to the north. I was casting up, into the out-going tide, aiming at an angle back towards the beach. I felt a good bite, but there was no hook up. I carried on and was soon rewarded with another Flathead, a little smaller than the first – things were improving.

The first one took a GULP Pear Watermelon Minnow

This one grabbed a GULP Lime Tiger Minnow

All along this stretch of beach the wind and tide is starting to carve small bays in the sand. At the south edge of each of these bays is a long sand lip. This was where the fish were loitering, in less than 25cm of water. I decided to change to a bigger soft plastic and chose the GULP Crazylegs Jerkshad in the New Penny colour, still on a 1/8th 1/0 jighead. Just short of the next sand lip I disturbed a good-sized Flathead. Then, with the next cast, I felt a solid – thud, as I pulled the lure back to within a few metres of my feet. There was a big swirl and line started peeling. The fish started to swim north, against the current, which meant it got tired quite quickly. I kept the rod tip high and the pressure on. I could see it was a reasonable size and realized in the shallow water it might surface and start shaking its head, so I loosened the drag a little. It made a couple more runs. As I pulled it closer to the beach, I tightened the drag back up a bit and in one long, gentle sweep I pulled it clear of the water. It was a 66cm Flathead.

A 66cm Flathead on a GULP Crazylegs in New Penny


It was just after 11.00 am and I had been fishing since 4.30 am, it had been a long morning and I had covered plenty of ground but it had paid off!

A good size Bribie Island Flathead - 66cm