paulthetaffy Posted December 6, 2009 Share Posted December 6, 2009 Fished the Narrabeen flats on Saturday afternoon from 4pm - 6:30pm for 5 flattys, all legal, the biggest going 55cm. The first 4 fell to live poddy's and the last to a SP once I'd run out of livies. The large tides at the moment are making it difficult to wade the flats on anything but mid-low tide, so it wasn't the ideal time to fish, so I'm more than happy to have bagged 5 in 2 1/2 hours. This was my first time using livies at narra and I must say I'm impressed. Every one attracted attention within a few casts, although many were chomped by what I suspect was small tailor which spoiled things. Well worth the effort put in earlier in the day to collect them though! No photo's on this occasion as I didn't have a camera with me. Paul Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
youngfish Posted December 6, 2009 Share Posted December 6, 2009 Sounds good, im heading up to bilgola beach for the Christmas holidays which is round ten minutes away, glad to hear about the flatys Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mrmoshe Posted December 6, 2009 Share Posted December 6, 2009 (edited) The Narra Lagoon flatties are on the chew alright with live poddies.. I went down this morning at 6:30. Dead low tide but still a lot of water in the lake due to the bigger tides at present. I managed 5 nice lizards..biggest 46cm..smallest 40cm. in 2 1/2 hours. The Long Toms were the biggest pest today..8 all up including one almost a metre that decided he'd slice open my finger as I was releasing him..ungrateful bastard! Blood everywhere. Seems like dead low is the go at present as every outing lately at mid or high results in donuts. Cheers, Pete. Edited December 7, 2009 by MallacootaPete Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Basil D Posted December 7, 2009 Share Posted December 7, 2009 well there you go, you do a fish a favour and in return they slice your fingers open, ungratefull alright on the flathead, great catch Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paulthetaffy Posted December 7, 2009 Author Share Posted December 7, 2009 Pete, what size hooks were you using as I couldn't hook anything but the flatty's with a 2/0 circle? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mrmoshe Posted December 7, 2009 Share Posted December 7, 2009 (edited) Pete, what size hooks were you using as I couldn't hook anything but the flatty's with a 2/0 circle? I'm using Mustad size 6 wide gapes at present and every fish today was hooked in the corner of the mouth. They work a treat on the flatties. Cheers, Pete. Edited December 7, 2009 by MallacootaPete Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IVZ350 Posted December 7, 2009 Share Posted December 7, 2009 Me and a mate hit the lake saturday night, the lakes firing i must say its woken up out if its slumber.... good job m8 and i agree on the tidal statement, lows producing better pushing the poddies, whitebait and prawns into deeper water. Cheers Ivz Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rudi Posted December 7, 2009 Share Posted December 7, 2009 Yeah me and a mate fished the lake on sunday morning for 6 flatties 4 legal and a 70cm girl released all on berkly bannana prawn. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jenno64 Posted December 7, 2009 Share Posted December 7, 2009 Sounds like the tailor were liking the podies too! Great result and I'm with you...don't like big tides...hard to fish and the fish seem to go everywhere making them harder to find. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
arpie Posted December 8, 2009 Share Posted December 8, 2009 Wow! Great flattie fishin' guys!! Well done!! I've only caught the odd 'bigger' one recently - seems to be millions of the smaller variety in our lake just now! Roberta Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Golemfish Posted December 9, 2009 Share Posted December 9, 2009 Can someone who is experience here please tell me how you would rig up a livie to target flatties? Cheers Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mrmoshe Posted December 9, 2009 Share Posted December 9, 2009 G'day Golem. I pin them just behind the dorsal. Make sure you don't put the hook too far near the spine or it'll die. Sometimes I pin 'em by the tail if they are larger livies and trim one side of the tail as this makes them really swim hard to escape predators. I went again this morning for another 6 flatties in quick succession, biggest 50cm...all on poddies. Met a couple of Raiders too and gave them my catch & poddies as I had to leave. Good to meet you fellas. Cheers, Pete. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Golemfish Posted December 9, 2009 Share Posted December 9, 2009 G'day Golem. I pin them just behind the dorsal. Make sure you don't put the hook too far near the spine or it'll die. Sometimes I pin 'em by the tail if they are larger livies and trim one side of the tail as this makes them really swim hard to escape predators. Thanks Pete, Can you please tell me, do you use a sinker, if so what size and where do you put it? Just a running sinker to a swivel and then a leader or a paternoster rig or what? Thanks golem. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paulthetaffy Posted December 9, 2009 Author Share Posted December 9, 2009 Thanks Pete, Can you please tell me, do you use a sinker, if so what size and where do you put it? Just a running sinker to a swivel and then a leader or a paternoster rig or what? Thanks golem. Use a small size 0 or 1 running straight down to the hook, enough to stop the poddy from swimming straight to the surface. I alternate betwen Pete's hook placement and a slightly different approach, which is to pin the poddy through the nose - the hard bit in front of the eyes behind the soft mouth part. If you can just hook it through the top jaw (i.e hook through the mouth and out of top) then even better as it allows the fish to breath more easily. If you rig through the nose and keep a tight-ish line and continually and very slowly take up slack then the fish will swim back towards you and you will cover the ground all the way back to you feet. Hooking behind the dorsal or in the tail I find the poddys tend to swim slightly away from me so keeping a taught line will make it arc from side to side so you can cover the lateral ground. Hence why alternate between the two hook placements to cover more area. Paul Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Golemfish Posted December 10, 2009 Share Posted December 10, 2009 Do you cast it out and then swim it back to you or just leave it in the water and wait for something to bite. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paulthetaffy Posted December 10, 2009 Author Share Posted December 10, 2009 Do you cast it out and then swim it back to you or just leave it in the water and wait for something to bite. Flathead are ambush predators, so spend most of their time lying in wait for their prey to pass by. Therefore you need to have the bait moving around to find them, rather than the other way around. Just keep in contact with it, i.e continually and slowly take up slack, and it will naturally swim back to you eventually. Then recast it in a slightly different direction to cover the ground. If there's a flathead within a couple of metres of your bait it will go for it so you have to do the work to seek them out. Just the same as if you were fishing with plastics. Paul Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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