scomber

You guys have to try flathead sashimi . Only one caveat - eat within 6 hours, oh and have a very sharp knife. First time I tried it I was blown away. Needs to be a fish legal fish under 45cm. Any bigger its too flaky and we really should put the big girls back...

I've never had much luck with flathead in the upper reaches of the Hawkesbury tributaries. Kiwicraig is spot on about their preferred structure ie weedbanks, dropoffs and drains. The only thing I'd ad is that the flatheads like a little bit of current, making it easier for them to hang in the one place and wait for the unlucky baitfish/prawn to drift past. They will always face nose into the current and are more likely to be spooked by a bait or lure unnaturally heading from behind them. (or stationary) One thing that is essential with flathead is that your bait or lure is in contact with the bottom regularly. (particularly when its deeper than 1m) If you are using soft plastics, apart from trying a different place , try a "texas rig" ie. a (non weighted) worm hook, a FC leader about 50cm long to a small swivel. Above the swivel on your main line, thread a glass bead (a big one) and then a sinker (bullet shape is best). The idea is that on retrieve, the sinker and glass bead skip through the mud on the bottom creating a hell of a racket and about 50 cm behind this is an unweighted plastic lofting about 25cm off the bottom (a floating soft plastic works best to achieve this) Most flatties (except the big old girls) are pretty stupid and they usually strike first and think later. Seeing you are land based, and around Bobbin Head, some exploration of the little feeder creeks lined with mangroves can be worthwhile in the first couple of hours after a big high tide as the water drains back towards Cowan Creek. eg Cockle Creek (bring your gumboots). Right now, on the full tide there are heaps of prawns and juvenile bream and snapper seeking protection and feeding in the submerged mangrove roots. As soon as the tide starts to drop these little guys will wash through the drains before they get stranded by the falling tide and Mr Flatty will wait in ambush facing upstream. Oh and to avoid the dreaded catfish, avoid big late night high tides and the deeper holes. Good luck!

In the last couple of weeks its like someone has turned the switch on in the lower Hawkesbury River. I've abandoned my winter habit of chasing sleepy lizards in the deeper holes and hit the flats. Flicking 3 inch gulp prawns on a 1/8 jig in less than 3 ft of water at the top of the tide has been embarrassingly successful. A flathead on every retrieve, some ferocious tiddlers, but some good sized crocs mixed in. Areas with a gentle current running across patchy sand/mud and weed is the go. The really cool thing about flathead fishing in very shallow water is the way they fight! Once hooked it takes all your effort to keep them in the water (rod tip down). Had them jumping like bloody trout on Saturday afternoon. A quick two hour sesh resulted in 30 lizards, largest 65 cm, all returned to fight another day. The deep holes are still fishing well, but a plague of Soapies (20 - 45 cm) - whilst fun to catch, are a bit annoying because I would really prefer to hook onto their bigger brother. The little Jews must be pretty hungry because most times they have swallowed the plastic making it very hard to remove without hurting the fish. Prawns seem to be starting a little early this year and this lines up with the flatties preferring prawn plastics in the past couple of weeks over the traditional jerk shad. Tight lines!

I'm a fan of natural colours, though I don't have much success with the darker greens. With creature plastics, I don't think it matters as much, as the action and wiggle of appendages is more important. For shads and fish- like plastics its always "match the hatch" ie try to match the shape and colour as much as you can to what they are currently feeding on. In spring this means lighter colours (preferably light undeneath, dark on the top) - to resemble fledgling poddy mullet, hardiheads and recently spawned fry. A splash of red on fishlike plastics seems to work well too, making the fish look injured. In summer, prawns are king in the Hawkesbury, so the golds, brown through to purple/blue with a fleck, in a prawn or nipper form always works well. If you are chasing bream with plastics close to the shoreline, try to match what they feed on. In winter its black crabs (try a Crabby if you can afford $$ or the real thing found under rocks on mud along the shore) and at the beginning of summer as soon as the cicadas start chirping, nothing beats a floating cicada popper - especially where the trees overhang the shore. Good luck & see u out there!

Most of the Zmans float, I've been using a 4- 6 inch shrimp, lots of action, pre-scented and the Hawkesbury fish don't need much persuasion since the real ones start appearing in a few months time.

Here's a good youtube vid showing the rig https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0sqgZaQWM-w Cheers

As a keen student on the frustrating Hawkesbury winter shutdowns, I've recently found the solution to tempting those hibernating bottom dwellers. Always fishing with plastic I thought I'd try the "Carolina rig" rather than just the standard plastic on a jighead. The Carolina rig is basically just a bait rig re-purposed for soft plastics and has always been popular with the Yanks for bass fishing when the fish are asleep. Run your mainline braid down to a swivel with a running bullet sinker and a glass bead. Below the swivel, a FC leader to an unweighted worm hook. The theory is that as you drift or retrieve, the sinker bounces along the bottom, stirring up the mud and sand while making a yabbie-like clicking sound as it hits the glass bead. Trailing about 30-60cm behind this is a tempting unweighted plastic fluttering along screaming "come and get me". Depending on the speed of the drift or retrieve you can vary the leader length to get the plastic closer or further away from the bottom. Its important that you use a soft plastic that floats and it doesn't matter how heavy the sinker is, as long as it makes the bottom, the plastic will still have great action. Great when the current is strong. The worm hook also allows you to rig "weedless" and the bullet sinker is friendlier when the bottom is snaggy. I've used this method since the June rains and have had the embarrassing problem of catching too many fish, mostly big flattys and mid sized Jew. The Lower Hawkesbury is a complicated system to fish in winter (unless you are hairtailing) and I've found that fishing the run in tide and chasing where the warmer sea water meets the colder river will reward you with winter fish. On the larger tides the big lizards have been heading into some of the creeks on the lower Hawkesbury, with Mullet and Mooney MooneyCreeks firing on the making tide. My only advice is to keep the leader heavier than you would in summer because the jew and lizards are bigger and really wake up when they near the boat. If you want to catch a few horse winter bream on the same rig, set another (2nd) much lighter leader to the top eye of the swivel about 60cm long with a smaller grub plastic and Mr Bream will join the party as your bottom rig bangs along the bottom. Tight Lines!

Its definitely a more fun and active way to fish. I spent a couple of weeks putting a small swivel connecting the leader to the braid and then realised it was spooking the fish and wasn't necessary at all (doh) Since dropping the swivel and tieing the leader directly to the mainline braid (triple surgeons knot) I haven't looked back. Rapala knot to connect the jighead to leader gives the plastic a lot more lifelike flutter too! Cheers!

Hi Raiders, First time post, long time fishing tragic. I switched from bait a couple of months ago and I am just getting the hang of targeting specific species on plastics, vibes and blades. No more bait fingers and a better understanding where the fish are holding have resulted in some fun sessions and some good feeds lately. On Saturday morning took the tinnie out with the kids and we drifted for flathead along the narrow Mooney Mooney channel North of Spectacle Island. Landed lots of fun undersized spikies, but managed to keep 6 nice Duskies 40cm to 60cm for a feed. Managed to hook a big girl (over 1m) , got her to the side of the boat and she did that big head shake and said goodbye - off to breed another day! (would have returned her anyway). The swift Hawkesbury current and flukey winds can make it difficult to select the right jighead weight but we must have got it right this time. 1/8 TT jigs with curly tail 3 inch grubs in a funky purple colour did the trick. 15lb flouro leader on 6lb braid. The 15lb leader wasn't enough to stop the big girl though! Fun times with the kids!