Flathead

[oldsalty]

Hey all,

A couple years ago i caught a nice big flatty in bantry bay, sydney harbour on a squidgy shad. When i brought him in i noticed he had something hanging out his mouth, when i checked it out i was surprised to find a full 9 inch sluggo stick bait on a worm hook lodged in the roof of his mouth with some leader hanging off it. The lure also had plenty of weed growing off it meaning it must have been there for quite some time which explained the long but skinny build of the fish.I removed the lure and released the fish.

My question is does any one use these or have heard of anyone using these lures on flattys?

Not weighted stick baits but the full 9inch sluggos u put on a worm hook for kingys.

The leader hanging from the lure in the fishes mouth seemed quite light, say 15-20 lbs which makes think it may have been intended for a flatty and not a kingy.

I always think of how that lure got there..........

Any thoughts appreciated

[gretsch]

Personally, I would never tie on a slugo when targeting flatties.. always a weighted shad or wriggler etc. That slugo with a 15-20lb trace was definitely aimed at a King IMO.

I feel that you need to bounce the bottom if you are targeting Flatties.

[andrew399]

Iv heard of big stick baits being used on big flatties. They may have had a running ball sinker above the hook as the weight to keep the lure on the bottom, which would have fallen off when the line broke... but 9in would be way to large to be targeting flattys. Maybe it was being used to target deep water kings

[gretsch]

Another thing happened to us once. A flattie we had caught had a mangled soft plastic without the hook in its belly. I reckon they eat the scented lures off the bottom like a bait.

Edited November 4, 2007 by Ceph

[oldsalty]

Sounds like the running sinker deal might explain it i think! u can catch some small kings on those 9inch models so i suppose a decent flatty would have a go aswell, might be like chomping down a garfish for them!