Finally - First Flathead on a Soft Plastic

[SpeedyGiraffe49]

I started fishing with lures about 9 months ago. Inspired by the late Sandflat Fishing Australia Youtube channel I began my learning fairly non-traditionally - on hardbodies. Specifically a Daiwa Double Clutch and Sugapen.

While I’d tried to use soft plastic lures before, the only fish that I’d caught in that entire time were a couple chopper Tailor. Not for lack of trying either - I’ve had multiple donut sessions without really understanding why.

Well today, inspired by recent learnings from @linewetter and @DerekD, I decided to head out to Silver Beach to fish the sandy patches between the rock groynes. I arrived mid-runout tide, and tied on a Squidgy wriggler with a 1/8oz jig head, not feeling particularly confident given my history.

Since the water was shallow, I decided to copy @linewetter by simply slow rolling the plastic instead of the usual hop hop retrieve. I found this easier in this context because it helped me to stay in contact with the lure, and also cover more ground by moving a bit faster. Additionally, @DerekD’s recent casting lesson really started to pay dividends as I was able to punch out some fairly long accurate casts to place the plastic over the sand patches I wanted.

Took me about 20mins before my rod loaded up…unsure whether it was another piece of weed I half heartedly set the hook, and suddenly the weight started moving! Definitely didn’t feel like a big fish. Turned out to be a 32cm flathead - my first ever flathead on a soft plastic lure!

I managed to snag 1 more small flathead in a similar way as I continued to cover more ground with my new found confidence.

Perhaps not the most incredible catches, but for me it was quite personally significant and a massive confidence boost in trusting that soft plastics actually work 😆 Here’s a photo of the smaller of my two catches:

[SpeedyGiraffe49]

My first flathead on a soft plastic - I was frothing haha

[Aussie_fisher]

Congrats. My first fish on a soft plastic (it was a squidgie prawn wriggler exact same colour) was actually a very nice 33cm flounder. It’s a great feeling

[DrRaymondSnapper]

No doubt the first of many. Always easier after you get the first one. Now for a bigger fish.

[linewetter]

Let's go!!! Congratulations man!  I was happy for you when I read your text of the flatties but didn't know it was your first flatty on plastics!  Man how good does that wriggler look too?  One of many many more fish to come I am sure of it.  

[Mike Sydney]

Well done mate, you’ll get plenty from here now you’ve busted the first one out. Look how quickly you got the second! The floodgates have opened.  Another retrieve you might try for flathead is short fast rolls and sudden stops.

Being able to vary your retrieves with different speeds, hop heights, pauses, twitches etc is what I love the most about soft plastics, there’s always something you can do to change things up. 

Great report @SpeedyGiraffe49 well done.
 

[SpeedyGiraffe49]

 

2 hours ago, Aussie_fisher said:

Congrats. My first fish on a soft plastic (it was a squidgie prawn wriggler exact same colour) was actually a very nice 33cm flounder. It’s a great feeling

Thanks @Aussie_fisher, 33cm is an awesome fish to start on.

1 hour ago, linewetter said:

Let's go!!! Congratulations man!  I was happy for you when I read your text of the flatties but didn't know it was your first flatty on plastics!  Man how good does that wriggler look too?  One of many many more fish to come I am sure of it.  

Thanks @linewetter! Yeah the wriggler looked near identical to the bait fish that were on the shoreline. The bait fish even chased it as I dragged the lure through them, and even the cadence of the tail matched the baitfish. Pretty cool seeing how well we’ve refined a lure that you can buy 5 of for around $10.

58 minutes ago, Mike Sydney said:

Well done mate, you’ll get plenty from here now you’ve busted the first one out. Look how quickly you got the second! The floodgates have opened.  Another retrieve you might try for flathead is short fast rolls and sudden stops.

Being able to vary your retrieves with different speeds, hop heights, pauses, twitches etc is what I love the most about soft plastics, there’s always something you can do to change things up. 

Great report @SpeedyGiraffe49 well done.
 

Thanks @Mike Sydney, I’ll have to try that when I’m out next 👍🏽

[squidjigga]

Nice work @SpeedyGiraffe49!

Lots of parallels in experience as I've recently got into lure fishing and have been practicing casting and retrieving under @DerekD's mentorship too.

I've only been able to get small hook ups on soft plastics (pearl 3 inch paddle tails) so far: one small bream, two tiny tailor, and a lizard fish.

^ Some of my soft plastic "successes" so far.

I'm still waiting to hook up a decent fish like your flatty on a soft plastic or catch my first fish on surface lure but I'm sure it will come with gradual improvement by practicing and just spending more time fishing. I would love to hear from @linewetter if he has any advice or not-so-obvious tips on the slow rolling technique he's had so much success with.

[lhan]

Congratulations! And I believe there's a lot more to come! Lure fishing makes it more fun when you explore different methods and lures along the journey - it's so lucky we have great mentors and buddies here. Great report too!

[SpeedyGiraffe49]

58 minutes ago, squidjigga said:

Nice work @SpeedyGiraffe49!

Lots of parallels in experience as I've recently got into lure fishing and have been practicing casting and retrieving under @DerekD's mentorship too.

I've only been able to get small hook ups on soft plastics (pearl 3 inch paddle tails) so far: one small bream, two tiny tailor, and a lizard fish.

^ Some of my soft plastic "successes" so far.

I'm still waiting to hook up a decent fish like your flatty on a soft plastic or catch my first fish on surface lure but I'm sure it will come with gradual improvement by practicing and just spending more time fishing. I would love to hear from @linewetter if he has any advice or not-so-obvious tips on the slow rolling technique he's had so much success with.

Good job man! Let me know if you’re down to meet up for a fish at some stage? Would be cool to learn together

[squidjigga]

Definitely, I'll be keen to meet up when I get a chance as I'm always looking to learn from others.

[SpeedyGiraffe49]

6 hours ago, squidjigga said:

Nice work @SpeedyGiraffe49!

Lots of parallels in experience as I've recently got into lure fishing and have been practicing casting and retrieving under @DerekD's mentorship too.

I've only been able to get small hook ups on soft plastics (pearl 3 inch paddle tails) so far: one small bream, two tiny tailor, and a lizard fish.

^ Some of my soft plastic "successes" so far.

I'm still waiting to hook up a decent fish like your flatty on a soft plastic or catch my first fish on surface lure but I'm sure it will come with gradual improvement by practicing and just spending more time fishing. I would love to hear from @linewetter if he has any advice or not-so-obvious tips on the slow rolling technique he's had so much success with.

By the way @squidjigga, here’s @linewetter’s recent report where he experimented with the slow roll retrieve

 

[linewetter]

7 hours ago, squidjigga said:

I would love to hear from @linewetter if he has any advice or not-so-obvious tips on the slow rolling technique he's had so much success with.

Hey man I have been hearing from @DerekD about you often whenever we chat and he mentioned we should get a conversation going 😃 I will PM you and get it started, I don’t feel like I do much different than everyone else so I feel like my success is primarily due to the amount of time on the water (several hours at a time when I can get it) but I’ll share what I know even if I think it’s stuff everyone else does 

[jenno64]

Congrats, you'll be landing 50+ models sooner than you think:)

[telescopic_rodd]

On 4/27/2024 at 7:28 AM, linewetter said:

Hey man I have been hearing from @DerekD about you often whenever we chat and he mentioned we should get a conversation going 😃 I will PM you and get it started, I don’t feel like I do much different than everyone else so I feel like my success is primarily due to the amount of time on the water (several hours at a time when I can get it) but I’ll share what I know even if I think it’s stuff everyone else does 

Time, more than anything, might be the key here.

I've gone out for a number sessions (stopped counting, but maybe 5 or 6) and I'm still on the donut.

Last time I was out it was a busy day on the water and so I had a good watch of some the locals casting around. Two in particular looked like absolute pros, so I watched them with great interest. To paint the picture, these guys were decked out in those flash Shimano wet & dry tournament shirts, had sensible bum bags to store their jigs and lures and attractant, and were wading out as far as possible and casting absolute rockets. 

They caught nothing. 

@SpeedyGiraffe49 I admire your persistence. 

[SpeedyGiraffe49]

45 minutes ago, telescopic_rodd said:

Time, more than anything, might be the key here.

I've gone out for a number sessions (stopped counting, but maybe 5 or 6) and I'm still on the donut.

Last time I was out it was a busy day on the water and so I had a good watch of some the locals casting around. Two in particular looked like absolute pros, so I watched them with great interest. To paint the picture, these guys were decked out in those flash Shimano wet & dry tournament shirts, had sensible bum bags to store their jigs and lures and attractant, and were wading out as far as possible and casting absolute rockets. 

They caught nothing. 

@SpeedyGiraffe49 I admire your persistence. 

That is rough bro, I feel I should say the same to you - good on you for persevering @telescopic_rodd.

You’re welcome to tag along with me at some stage in the future? Otherwise happy to chat about my experiences if it helps you.

[linewetter]

1 hour ago, telescopic_rodd said:

Time, more than anything, might be the key here.

I've gone out for a number sessions (stopped counting, but maybe 5 or 6) and I'm still on the donut.

Last time I was out it was a busy day on the water and so I had a good watch of some the locals casting around. Two in particular looked like absolute pros, so I watched them with great interest. To paint the picture, these guys were decked out in those flash Shimano wet & dry tournament shirts, had sensible bum bags to store their jigs and lures and attractant, and were wading out as far as possible and casting absolute rockets. 

They caught nothing. 

@SpeedyGiraffe49 I admire your persistence. 

Keep on trying man. I’ll say that there are also times where I’ve caught a good amount of fish in a short period and times where I’ve gone fishing for several hours with no fish, so time out isn’t everything either.  It just depends on if the fish are there in the first place and if they’re hungry for it. I’d go to the same spot everyday for an hour after work and some days it was non stop action and other days not even a nibble. It could be that the fish weren’t feeling safe enough to feed or maybe the pressure wasn’t right or maybe they were already full. But that’s all part of the fun of fishing 😁 wouldn’t be as fun if it was guaranteed fish every time 

Edited April 28 by linewetter

[Anthony01]

I went to Fraser Island for 2 weeks when I was younger. I didn't take much food because I had heard the fishing was so good, I just decided just to eat what I caught. Turns out I didn't catch anything and had to drive to the general store/bakery on the island every day to survive! Lol Was OK as I had lots of beer.