Berrero

Think we have the answer here. Makes a lot of sense now that I think about it that way. Thanks all for contribution

where do you pick up your spf lures from?

Something I've always wondered, potentially has a very simple answer... let me have it... I fish a very rocky estuary often so getting snagged is no rare occurrence for me. Sometimes when I'm able to get unsnagged and reel in my jighead I've been pants'd (plastic pulled half way off the jighead). Now it would be my understanding that it wouldn't be the plastic caught on anything that would be causing the snag, so what would it be that pulls the plastic off? My current leading theory is possibly crabs grabbing a hold of it as the 'snag' and managing to pull it out of its grips pulls the plastic off what are your thoughts raiders?

I own multiple TD zero rods and highly recommend them! 1-3kg, 2-5kg, 5-10kg. Very light rods with good flex in the tips but also a very strong spine so lots of pulling power. Some people are put off by the shiny silver colour but trust me they are amazing rods The 2-5kg is my flathead setup with a 2500 stradic ci4+ and the 5-10kg is my jewie setup with a 4000 stradic ci4+.

What bait and rig were you using?

Hi all, Thanks for the very informative help. I've decided best route would probably be to swap out trebles for singles. Have placed an order from local tackle shop and just waiting for them to arrive to swap over. This had me thinking. Single hook on rear would act similar to stinger hooks, has anyone ever meddled around with them on mid sized hardbodies? Did they affect the action in a significant manner? And this lead me to another thought of possibly running a set of stinger hooks alongside the single hook on the rear, possibly one either side, to increase hookup. I'm more than happy to experiment for myself but just thought I'd ask here if anyone has tried before and had any recommendations? I have no problem handling flatheads and have hand released 80cm+ models before, just near impossible to get a decent grip on them while they are darting around your feet in the shallows. Regardless of outcome I'll be sure to touch back and let you all know how I went. Tight lines and thanks again Chris

While we're discussing pipe dreams.... My 3 Life long dream targets: GT Black bass Peacock bass As far as gear goes, not too sure on specifics, would definitely need something high end. More after the fish than the gear used, sorry! ...one can dream, right? 😅😅

ci4+ range is amazingly light have a 1000, 2500, 4000 and love all of them

I actually own a pair of these, bought them for this exact reason & they're still clipped on the side of my fishing backpack. Unfortunately the first few times I used them I found it hard to control the flathead and ended up punching through the bottom of their mouth. Haven't really used them since for this reason. Yep, found that the case with the metal grips. I also own a pair of the plastic soft ones but found that it's a bit awkward trying to use them with a flathead hooked up free to run around in the water. Additionally sometimes their mouth gets pinned shut by the trebles or wrapped in line from barrelrolls.. thought that sometimes I was doing a bit more damage than good Thanks for your responses so far

Hey Raiders, Just thought I'd put this question out here and see what responses I get. 90% of my fishing is wading <1ft of water over the flats chasing flatties. Have been quite successful at a few local spots that I've found, catching them isn't the issue, it's getting the buggers in to land to unhook & release. Sometimes I can kind of surf them in on top of the water but most times they thrash around and aren't too happy being walked the 50mtrs or so to the shore. I'm strictly catch & release so my main concern here is the fishes wellbeing. I've had a fair few throw themself off the hook thrashing about while walking them in (not an issue for me, still consider it a catch), and are sometimes pretty torn up by the time they are in on the shore. Have even had one pull bone out of his mouth while thrashing about. At all other times I handle them with the utmost of care as I have a lot of respect for these fish but this is one aspect where I feel a bit helpless. Short of carrying around a landing net with me while wading (which would be bulky & annoying to carry, and have heart landing nets can damage flathead quite a bit), does anyone else have the same issue or any suggestions? Ideally would like to release my fish back into the water in the best condition possible. Thanks & tight lines

Hey raiders, Guess this one is more of an inquiry than anything else. I usually fish around the canada bay area in Sydney harbour / parramatta river and I've noticed a lot of nipper holes on the flats when I've been wading. There are signs about it being an intertidal protected zone and that collection is illegal for certain species, but they fail to mention nippers specifically and only say "other inverterbrates", to which I'm also stumped as I'm unable to find anything online stating that they are inverterbrates. If collection there is illegal, where would be the closest spot that I should head to? It's fairly straight forward to find out which areas are and aren't intertidal protection zones, but not all areas would hold yabbies. Does anyone have any suggestions of areas I should be targeting closest to the inner west? As always thanks in advance. Tight lines

Unfortunately not - I'm catch and release anyway so just means more fish in the area

Had time for a quick fish on the first half of the run out tide over the weekend. Went for a little wade out over the flats in my local haunts. Ended up catching 5 legal sized flathead in 90 mins. I picked up some samaki vibelicious 70mm a little while ago after a recommendation on one of doclures podcasts for flathead. Realised the other day I was yet to bust them out of the packet so thought I'd give them a go. Oh boy did they work well. Just did small hops with decent 5 or so second pauses here and there. No monsters but had some fun in the sun for a little bit. Definitely a convert to the vibelicous range... jackall squirrels going to be put up on the shelf for a little while me thinks!! All fish safely released. Gear used: Daiwa TD Zero rod 7'3 2-5kg Shimano Stradic ci4+ 2500 series 8lb braid / 8lb FC leader Samaki Vibelicious 70mm in Mullet Thanks for viewing. Tight lines. Chris

Hey Raiders, Got up stupid early both days last weekend to fish the sunrise at Hen & Chicken Bay in Sydney. Didn't catch anything amazing but had lots of fun. Plenty of flathead out to play. No measurements but would guess flatheads were high 30s - low 50s. I've started filming short clips of my catches & releases rather than just taking a photo to be able to share with friends & family etc. Gear used: Daiwa TD Zero rod 7'3 2-5kg Shimano Stradic ci4+ 2500 series 8lb braid / 8lb FC leader Daiwa double clutch 95mm in brown suji shrimp Jackall squirrel 79mm silent in albino chartreuse pirarucu Thanks for reading, tight lines. Until next time Chris

true I hadn't thought of those ones. are they actually lures though or are they decoy fish

So 70cm lure 450kg bluefin ? jesus o.o Not going to lie I'm not exactly sure what the other stuff means lol but very bloody impressive 😦😯😯

Chatting with friends tonight and this topic came up. We couldn't find much online other than the large replica lures when searching. Does anyone know of something online? Or any contenders?

Hey all, After my somewhat successful houseboat trip with a few friends late last year we are in the process of planning another long weekend away in April. We were happy to hire another large houseboat again but after looking around the Jervis Bay area it seems they don't have many houseboat options. We came up with an idea of trying to hire a waterfront AirBnB with some kind of jetty or mooring and hire a fishing boat for the 4 days. Is this something anyone here has done before? Is it even possible to hire boats over multiple days? Or has anyone come across hire houses with a jetty? Or can someone recommend a houseboat hire place around Jervis Bay area? Don't mind an extra hour or so trip north or south either. Bit of a long shot to try here but after a bit of googling I haven't really been able to come up with anything definitive. Thanks raiders.

Just thought I'd share this pic and see if anyone is able to knock me off the podium for smallest flathead on lures. Feel free to post any other species if you are feeling confident and we can get a bit of competition going chris

Hey raiders, Went away with 4 friends last weekend on a 10 berth houseboat. Was hoping to have a decent few days fishing so I could write up a report but to be honest it wasn't the best. Managed to score this stonker of a flathead on the first night though. Caught on half pilchards on 4/0 circle hooks. Paternoster rig on 15lb braid 20lb fc leader. Put up a hell of a fight and trying to land it in a 30cm x 30cm net was very stressful to say the least. Took a good 8 attempts with the net (each of which I had my heart in my mouth) after which we finally got her on board. Few pics and a measure and she was off to grow even bigger. Measured 84cm. Also managed to catch my first squid which was then in turn used as live bait to catch my first ever jewie. Only a baby at 60cm but was great to finally check that one off the list also. Enjoy, tight lines

Was caught in about a foot and a half of water, right next to a weed bed. Released it at the shore Lure was taken floating on the surface, and it's what it's being called online 🤷‍♂️

Hey raiders, For the uninitiated... yes you read that correctly, flathead on topwater. After seeing some decent success online and on a few of doclures' podcasts I thought I'd give this crazy trend a try. Picked up two crossfire 115 lures and tried my luck a few times in the past week. They are sort of like the bent minnow lures but a larger profile and a very slow float back to the surface. Finally had success yesterday afternoon when I landed a 57cm lady. She looked very healthy and even scored a nice aerial display as she took the lure! Gear used was my 7" Daiwa TD Zero rod, stradic ci4+ 2500 reel spooled with 8lb kairiki braid and 12lb FC rock leader. Fun fight, she had a few decent runs and was safely released to swim around another day. Definitely going to keep at this new trend. I'll keep you all posted on any further success! tight lines, chris

Thank you so much for your recommendations guys the house boat comes with a small Tinny with an outboard so we should still be able to get around pretty well. looks like we're going to be heading to Cowan Creek I will definitely report back and post a fishing report once we're back home thanks again guys

Hey raiders I'm not sure about you guys but when I go fishing I usually have a rod soaking out deep with a Paternoster rig and I usually use just standard long shank hooks but some of the time when I hook a fish it's either gut hooked or Gill hooked. I was just wondering if there's any safer hooks to use such as wide gape or Circle hooks? the rod's usually unattended so I don't usually get a chance to strike but I was just wanting to know if there's a safer option so that I can choose whether I release the fish or not. Thanks

Hi Raiders, I'm hiring a 45' houseboat with 4 other friends on the Hawksbury next weekend. Bit of a generic "guys weekend away" but primary focus is fishing. None of us have fished the Hawksbury system before and we were just planning on boating around looking for some fishy spots but thought I'd ask here for any recommendations also. We're launching near Brooklyn marina. I'm assuming the boat will be quite slow but happy to cruise around however long it takes if it's for a decent fishing spot. Feel free to PM if you'd prefer it not be posted in public. (I'm in no way after any secret spots! ) Thanks guys. Tight lines.