Tuross Flathead Running Hot

[Guest Plastic Fanatic]

G'day all

Well the flathead are well and truly firing at the moment. The water in Tuross Lake is still murky after the recent torrential rain, but that hasn't deterred the fish. Two of us fished for roughly 5 hours and managed to land approx 50 flathead. Most of the fish released were over 40cm. Top 4 fish for the weekend were 76cm, 72cm, 68cm and 63cm (pictured). All fish were taken on soft plastics (Squidgie tails, bugs,prawns or flick baits). Unfortunately we dropped 2 thumping fish at the boat

Most amusing catch of the weekend was mine. My mate had hooked a medicre flattie in the shallows, and the poor little bloke was getting harrassed by a bigger flattie on the way in. I cast my lure to its left ... and he nailed it. Sight fishing at its best ... the pair of us laughed like buggery and thought it was truly indicative of how good the fishing has been of late. I wonder how long it will last ......

PF

[mrmoshe]

Very nice brace of flatties there. It must be one of the prettiest places as well.

Glad to see the flattie population hasn't diminished any since I was up that way.

That flattie that followed bust have been a hoot to nail...sight fishing at it's best.

Cheers,

Pete.

[Sammy0884]

Thats a great looking Flattie! Sight casting a hungry mothers must really get the blood pumping!

[DaveD]

Excellent

Thats a lot of action dude, 50 in about 5 hours, thats just awesome. Nice sized fish too

[Penguin]

Gee you make that Flatty fishing sound easy with a huge

catch like that,

Well done

penguin

[pmak]

That's a great catch - squidgies really do work!

I've fished at Tuross before land based in front of O'Brian's boat shed - awesome spot. Gotta try the lake proper from a boat some day. Keep those reports coming in!

[Flattieman]

Car's packed - I'm on my way. Nah - but I wish... Sounds like an wesome session, PF. Woohoo! Well done. Good to hear of another Squidgy man putting the runs on the board too. I'll have to try the Squidgy Prawns sometime soon. How do you work em, mate?

Flattieman.

[Jaybee]

Yeh, I'm with flattieman, on my way. A great report mate its good to have great sessions like that from time to time.

Cheers Jeff

[Guest Plastic Fanatic]

Thanks all!

Hehehe, not kidding myself 'cos this truly was a great session and definitely not the 'norm'. But I tell ya what ... I'm gonna enjoy it while it does!

There are two primary considerations at the moment and they are water color and depth. None of these fish were caught in water deeper than 3 foot ... the one in the photos was found in approx 1.5 feet of water!

The water clarity is different all over the lake. In some places it is very murky, so out comes the fluro pink lures. In the clearer water the natural colors are used.

Pmak. A lot of real good flatties are being caught in front of O'briens in the last week. Saw a young lad drop one at his feet that was about 85-90cm, and another bloke caught one about 50cm while he was waiting for his fish n chips to be cooked!

Hey Flattieman. I am using 6lb Fireline with a 10lb Vanish leader. Fishing style is similar to using the other Squidgie plastics but with one subtle difference. Because I am fishing very shallow water I make a lot of very loooong casts, to try and access fish away from any disturbance the boat may be making, and to reduce the likelihood of spooking fish. I wait for the lure to hit the bottom, then work the lure off the bottom in a series of short sharp kicks (probably 5 kicks in a 600mmlift?), then let it drop and repeat the process all the way back to the boat. No genereal rule of thumb from then on, as they hit it on the rise, on the drop, and everywhere in between! Hope you find this info useful mate.

PF