Page 16 - Bush 'n Beach Fishing mag

Kayak fishing the shallows for flathead can be extremely pro- A landing net makes landing flathead simpler and safer for the ductive in winter. angler and fish.
ATactics for targeting flathead in winter
FAVOURITE In the shallows, the and focus on more spe- target species fish seem to become cific structure that will for many an- very aggressive, feed- hold fish.
Tackle Tactics
by JUSTIN WILLMER
glers, including myself, ing actively, travelling The gear will change
is the humble flathead. They love eating lures, fight well on light gear, are readily avail- able, make great table fish for those wanting to keep a couple for a feed, and everyone is in the running to catch a trophy fish, whether fishing land based or
I fish, the flathead get really angry, maybe due to the cooler and clearer water, which sees them aggressively attacking lures, tracking and at- tacking them right at the kayak and boat and when they are hooked, fighting hard!
colours in my soft plas- tics, such as Baby Bass, Opening Night and Bad Shad.
further to eat the lure and more often inhal- ing the lure at speed close to the boat or kay- ak.
to the Ned Rig, consist- ing of a 1/10oz or 1/6oz TT Lures NedlockZ jig head and Z-Man 2.5” TRD CrawZ or 2.75” TRD BugZ.
from watercraft. Winter is a great time
Here’s a few tips and techniques that work for me when targeting flathead in winter. Clear water
These colours are more transparent than many of the darker, more solid silhouette colours I fish when the water is dirty, giving them a more realistic baitfish profile.
This is probably partly due to the water clarity allowing them to spot the presentation from further away, while si- multaneously creating a need for them to be fast and aggressive as they are more visible to the prey they are aiming to ambush.
This presentation relies on the mush- room-shaped jig head and buoyant soft plastic to create a rapid stand- up presentation that im- itates a crustacean flee- ing and then defending itself.
to target flathead be- cause the creeks, rivers and estuaries fill with bait, the weather pat- terns stabilise and the water clears to assist us in hunting fish and the fish in seeing our lure presentations.
With the water often clearing in many ar- eas in winter, thanks to more stable weather conditions and westerly breezes, I find myself fishing more natural
I generally team these with unpainted jig heads, or jig heads painted in natural col- ours to match the plas- tics.
The influx of bait into the system also seems to fire up the bite.
The dud tides
For some reason, when the bite is slow and the fish just don’t want to eat, they can’t resist the Ned Rig.
I also find that where
With the light pene- trating deeper in this clearer water, my deep-water plastics and jig heads also change a little, with 3/8oz, 3/0 jig heads changing from Black with a glow eye to Chartreuse, and my plastics changing from dark silhouette colours to UV-reactive colours such as Motor Oil, Mid- night Oil and Purple Death to make the most of both the UV reactive qualities of the plastic and the additional light penetrating deeper in the water column.
The neap tides seem to fish slower in win- ter, when there is little difference between low and high tide.
The bite changes from nil or the occasion- al subtle tap to a full- blown clunk of a strike and an inhaled plastic.
Sean Bekkers with a school size flathead. Land a few of these and there can often be a larger female in the area.
Page 16 – Bush ’n Beach Fishing, July 2020
If I’m fishing fast and covering ground on the flats and drop-offs and the fish aren’t firing, I’ll slow things down
* continued P18 www.bnb shing.com.au
This is due to little tidal run.
The trick when fish- ing the Ned Rig is to narrow the search area because you are gen- erally fishing slower and more focused, with a hopping or shaking retrieve and plenty of pauses.
As the saying goes, “no run, no fun”, and this often rings true.
To overcome these less-productive tides, I change my technique and where I fish.
Rather than rapid- ly drifting the flat or working the edge, I will look for the key struc-