Flatheads: What am I doing wrong?

[HaydenO]

So this morning I woke up, had breakfast and went straight down onto my jetty hopes high for some good flathead. I rigged up the 65mm prawn soft plastic with the 80mm wrigglers on backup. Took 3 casts before I felt some bites. I set the hook and luckily the fish stayed on. I reeled it in and to my disappointment it was only 28cm. I unhooked and realeased it, expecting to see some more catches after that. For about 7 hours total I sat out there only to be teased by the many bites I was getting, just no hook-ups. I was so frustrated, and I still am. My question is, where did I go wrong? I'm setting the hook not too hard, not too soft, and yet whenever I get a bite I just can't seem to grab a hold of the fish. Thanks for the help

[Nolongeramember]

Might not be Flathead that are giving you these missed bites. Could be something else small. 

In any case, try a smaller lure. 

Make sure your hooks are sharp. 

[ARC H]

Make sure you slow your lure down and make sure its on the bottom

as has already been suggested smaller lure (i love Zman grubs)

all those small bites could have been tailor big or small 

[Howdoweplaythis]

If you are getting bites and not hooking up, unlikely to be flathead. They will normally fit an entire lure in their mouth first time when they bite. As mentioned above, make sure the hooks are sharp as their mouth is very hard. Given this fact, set the hook HARD for flathead. You mentioned you fished from a jetty. They are great places to fish but keep in mind flathead are lazy fish and you need to cover ground to find them (it's unlikely they will 'swim along' and find your lure/bait), which is the limitation of a small jetty because once you've cast from all around the jetty, that's it. Try a 'stretch' of water with the right conditions for flathead 

[Guest Guest123456789]

Concentrate your efforts dawn/dusk for a few hours at a time.

 

[Scratchie]

12 minutes ago, Howdoweplaythis said:

If you are getting bites and not hooking up, unlikely to be flathead. They will normally fit an entire lure in their mouth first time when they bite. As mentioned above, make sure the hooks are sharp as their mouth is very hard. Given this fact, set the hook HARD for flathead. You mentioned you fished from a jetty. They are great places to fish but keep in mind flathead are lazy fish and you need to cover ground to find them (it's unlikely they will 'swim along' and find your lure/bait), which is the limitation of a small jetty because once you've cast from all around the jetty, that's it. Try a 'stretch' of water with the right conditions for flathead 

Great advice! I would never sit in the same spot using sps for 7hrs. Bait is different as you can berley up and bring the fish to you. 

What size jig are you using? 

Cheers scratchie!!! 

[adamski]

13 minutes ago, Howdoweplaythis said:

If you are getting bites and not hooking up, unlikely to be flathead. They will normally fit an entire lure in their mouth first time when they bite. As mentioned above, make sure the hooks are sharp as their mouth is very hard. Given this fact, set the hook HARD for flathead. You mentioned you fished from a jetty. They are great places to fish but keep in mind flathead are lazy fish and you need to cover ground to find them (it's unlikely they will 'swim along' and find your lure/bait), which is the limitation of a small jetty because once you've cast from all around the jetty, that's it. Try a 'stretch' of water with the right conditions for flathead 

Pretty much this,

You'll pick up way more flathead if you cover lots of water. Try fishing an estuary or tidal stretch of a river and take a bit of a walk. Count how long your lure takes to hit the bottom after each cast. If there are any areas where it takes a bit longer, give it a few extra casts. I don't think lure size matters too much in my experience tbh: a hungry 30 cm flattie will still smash a 5-inch lure, a 50 cm model will scoff something half that size and vice versa.

[Aardvarking]

As others have mentioned, it's unlikely that the bites you were getting were flathead. 9 times out of ten a flathead will engulf the lure whole, and if you're setting the hook right the fish probably isn't taking the lure in it's mouth fully, with means it is probably not a flathead.

When I am getting little bites that aren't taking the hook on soft plastics, I usually do one of two things. The first is to get a smaller soft plastic on there, which will make it easy to target the little guys biting. I do this when I'm not too fussed about the target fish, and will take whatever is biting, so I adjust to suit the conditions. In that situation I'd say it's probably some bream or tailor biting, so instead of being stubborn with flathead, I'd just change my target. When hook sets are becoming an issue with soft plastics, I also like to slow down my retrieve, as it gives the fish more time to take the whole lure.

However, my preferred course of action is to switch to hardbodies. From my experience hardbodies make it easier to target both the bigger and smaller fish at the same time, because the smaller guys don't need to swallow them whole to get the hook set. For flathead I love 1/8 ounce blades, and I have had great luck with a Halco RMG Scorpion 52 in shallower water. The blades are incredibly versatile, so you can definitely have a good shot with whatever was biting before. Ecogears sx40s are also another good versatile option for flathead and anything else that's biting.

[HaydenO]

1 hour ago, Scratchie said:

Great advice! I would never sit in the same spot using sps for 7hrs. Bait is different as you can berley up and bring the fish to you. 

What size jig are you using? 

Cheers scratchie!!! 

Using a ¼ ounce 1/0 jighead, too big maybe?

[HaydenO]

1 hour ago, Howdoweplaythis said:

If you are getting bites and not hooking up, unlikely to be flathead. They will normally fit an entire lure in their mouth first time when they bite. As mentioned above, make sure the hooks are sharp as their mouth is very hard. Given this fact, set the hook HARD for flathead. You mentioned you fished from a jetty. They are great places to fish but keep in mind flathead are lazy fish and you need to cover ground to find them (it's unlikely they will 'swim along' and find your lure/bait), which is the limitation of a small jetty because once you've cast from all around the jetty, that's it. Try a 'stretch' of water with the right conditions for flathead 

This definitely makes sense thinking back. Might see if I can get a boat out there next time, thanks all for the tips!

[HaydenO]

2 hours ago, Hateanchors said:

Might not be Flathead that are giving you these missed bites. Could be something else small. 

In any case, try a smaller lure. 

Make sure your hooks are sharp. 

 

2 hours ago, ARC H said:

Make sure you slow your lure down and make sure its on the bottom

as has already been suggested smaller lure (i love Zman grubs)

all those small bites could have been tailor big or small 

Smaller lure it is!

[Ozzybass]

Howdoweplaythis & others have already hit it on the head.  Mobility is key - its about covering water...or seabed actually.  Small bites - probably small fish.  One thing to add - I use qtr oz jigheads but prefer 3/0 hook size.  This allows you to use larger plastix and be confident of enough hook exposure.

I had my 2nd Botany Bay shorebased flatty jigging session for the season this morning.  Not fantastic but they're definitely coming on.  I landed 4 with the largest 55cm.  3 of them on aforementioned jighead with Zman 3" Minnowz and 1 on a 5" Zman jerkshad with a 5/0 wide gap worm hook and added lead strip.

[Regan]

maybe try adding a bit of scent??