PaddyT Posted January 7, 2020 Share Posted January 7, 2020 hit the HAwkes again with a non fishing mate ended up with an even dozen mainly just legals which all went back, took home a fish each as my kids have dissapeared for the summer holidays and im headed for the Goldie to chase macks and marlin next week so didnt want to freeze any fish. Lost a stonker which rubbed me off on an oyster lease pole (bricked by a lizard-go figure!) but interesting part of the day was this-ive been playing round with brain spiking and iki jime of late- I spiked, cored(ran wire down the spine) and cut the gills, washed the blood out with the deck wash and chucked into ice slurry. I didnt eat the flattie for 2 days and actually didnt gut it (just left it whole in the fridge)- man -it was -good-! just battered and fried-step up from the norm, will keep the experiment going. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TAZ Posted January 7, 2020 Share Posted January 7, 2020 2 hours ago, PaddyT said: hit the HAwkes again with a non fishing mate ended up with an even dozen mainly just legals which all went back, took home a fish each as my kids have dissapeared for the summer holidays and im headed for the Goldie to chase macks and marlin next week so didnt want to freeze any fish. Lost a stonker which rubbed me off on an oyster lease pole (bricked by a lizard-go figure!) but interesting part of the day was this-ive been playing round with brain spiking and iki jime of late- I spiked, cored(ran wire down the spine) and cut the gills, washed the blood out with the deck wash and chucked into ice slurry. I didnt eat the flattie for 2 days and actually didnt gut it (just left it whole in the fridge)- man -it was -good-! just battered and fried-step up from the norm, will keep the experiment going. I love flatheads. Is there any way you can Cook em that's bad? Mmm, maybe in cow dung but never tried that.😁 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LuckyFil Posted January 7, 2020 Share Posted January 7, 2020 Hi Paddy sounds like you've got this flattie trolling sorted. I tried it recently in Brisbane Water on what looked like a fairly sandy bottom but spent most of the time stopping and removing weed from trebles - how do you minimise that? Cheers Fil Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kingie chaser Posted January 7, 2020 Share Posted January 7, 2020 (edited) 1 hour ago, LuckyFil said: Hi Paddy sounds like you've got this flattie trolling sorted. I tried it recently in Brisbane Water on what looked like a fairly sandy bottom but spent most of the time stopping and removing weed from trebles - how do you minimise that? Cheers Fil Not sue what Paddy does but on most of my lures that have trebles & remove the treble & replace it with a single hook. The main reason is I find the trebles so hard to remove if all 3 hooks are in the fish's mouth& also to cut down on foul hooking fish. I also think it would cut down on the amount of weed it would pick up. Edited January 7, 2020 by kingie chaser Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lakelad Posted January 8, 2020 Share Posted January 8, 2020 Nice work @PaddyT, bugger about the one that got away, good luck with the macks and marlin next week! I recently found trolling to be a good way to get flatty's, for me a very slow troll (2-4knts) in shallow water (2m to 0.5m) has been working. The brain spike/ikijime seems like a good idea for fish. For anyone interested I found some good info here as I wasn't familiar with this process: https://kb.rspca.org.au/knowledge-base/what-is-the-most-humane-way-to-kill-a-fish-intended-for-eating/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LuckyFil Posted January 8, 2020 Share Posted January 8, 2020 4 hours ago, kingie chaser said: Not sue what Paddy does but on most of my lures that have trebles & remove the treble & replace it with a single hook. The main reason is I find the trebles so hard to remove if all 3 hooks are in the fish's mouth& also to cut down on foul hooking fish. I also think it would cut down on the amount of weed it would pick up. Thanks - yes that makes sense I'll give it a go Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Green Hornet Posted January 8, 2020 Share Posted January 8, 2020 6 hours ago, LuckyFil said: Hi Paddy sounds like you've got this flattie trolling sorted. I tried it recently in Brisbane Water on what looked like a fairly sandy bottom but spent most of the time stopping and removing weed from trebles - how do you minimise that? Cheers Fil I used to do a lot of flathead trolling and when particularly weedy (ribbon weed) I'd swap the leader knot over to a swivel and on the swivel I'd attach a short piece of fine wire so it hung out either side about 20mm. Considering most weed is floating and picked up off the surface, the wire would catch the weed before it slid all the way down to the lure. Also worked for mid water column weed. If its weed on the bottom, simply choose a shallower running lure. Anything up to a metre off the bottom still works well. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Welster Posted January 8, 2020 Share Posted January 8, 2020 Great report. I wouldn't of thought the ikejime would make much difference to a flattie but there ya go. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LuckyFil Posted January 8, 2020 Share Posted January 8, 2020 1 hour ago, Green Hornet said: I used to do a lot of flathead trolling and when particularly weedy (ribbon weed) I'd swap the leader knot over to a swivel and on the swivel I'd attach a short piece of fine wire so it hung out either side about 20mm. Considering most weed is floating and picked up off the surface, the wire would catch the weed before it slid all the way down to the lure. Also worked for mid water column weed. If its weed on the bottom, simply choose a shallower running lure. Anything up to a metre off the bottom still works well. Thanks for those tips - the wire up the line sounds like an interesting trick! Fil Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blaxland Posted January 8, 2020 Share Posted January 8, 2020 I was in a tackle shop today and spotted pre rigged soft plastics with worm hooks with no exposed point. As to spiking I just use a club but have been told that straight into the slurry is just as good and more humane apparently freezing to death dosen't hurt. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rebel Posted January 8, 2020 Share Posted January 8, 2020 Great report. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PaddyT Posted January 8, 2020 Author Share Posted January 8, 2020 Ive gone through a few of techniques in a previous few posts, will add a few comments here , i find i get very little weed for a few reasons- I use my side scan to stay on the edge of weed/structure, the lures i use seem to pretty weed resistant (Micro Mullets) and can easily be cleared of weed with a hard side swipe without winding the lure in, I also use a loop knot to tie the lure on and find that weed just bounces of that rather than attaching to the hooks. On hooks I generally change the supplied trebles to size 8 chem sharpened - brand doesnt really matter I use Owners and Gamas without any big issues but they do get bent out of shape a bit if you are not careful dehooking fish, i think these actually cut weed rather than collecting it and the fish hookup rate is much better. Also with regards to productive areas I find hard packed white sand areas (like a lot of Brissie Waters) pretty unproductive, my best results are on silty/rock strewn edges with current flow and back eddies. I stick to about 2 knots speed and get most of my hookups down current. With regards to brain spiking -sure flatties are a great eating fish but im always looking to improve the quality of my catch and handling- this is the first time i tried the spiking and wiring up the spine-it was really easy to do. The flatties gave a visible series of shakes as I ran the wire into the spine and went very limp. When i filleted the fish out there was visibly no pink/blood anywhere in the fish - better than normal- according to my wife-who doesnt like white fish much-it was excellent in flavour and texture- which i agree with- i thing the next step for me is a will catch two flatties and spike one and not the other and take some photos and do a blind taste test- will let you know the results 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lakelad Posted January 9, 2020 Share Posted January 9, 2020 20 hours ago, blaxland said: have been told that straight into the slurry is just as good and more humane apparently freezing to death dosen't hurt. I thought this also until I read into spiking lately, the RSPCA actually advise that ice is not a humane method to kill fish:https://kb.rspca.org.au/knowledge-base/what-is-the-most-humane-way-to-kill-a-fish-intended-for-eating/ However it's recommended for crustaceans:https://kb.rspca.org.au/knowledge-base/what-is-the-most-humane-way-to-kill-crustaceans-for-human-consumption/ I've ordered a spike and will give this a go, great thread! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PaddyT Posted January 9, 2020 Author Share Posted January 9, 2020 2 hours ago, lakelad said: I thought this also until I read into spiking lately, the RSPCA actually advise that ice is not a humane method to kill fish:https://kb.rspca.org.au/knowledge-base/what-is-the-most-humane-way-to-kill-a-fish-intended-for-eating/ However it's recommended for crustaceans:https://kb.rspca.org.au/knowledge-base/what-is-the-most-humane-way-to-kill-crustaceans-for-human-consumption/ I've ordered a spike and will give this a go, great thread! wouldnt take the RSPCA into my consideration BUT sure if your going to kill it , kill it quickly and cleanly, dont worry about buying expensive tools I just use a cheap bunnings bradell and a length of nylon coated 7 strand wire. Im really mainly worried about flesh quality Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
New Signing Posted January 9, 2020 Share Posted January 9, 2020 Weed is a fact of flathead trolling im afraid. I've always found trolling with the current to assist with minimizing the amount of weed. I also have a theory that in fast flowing water flathead lay facing into the current so they can see the lure coming from further away rather than being spooked by it coming up their tails Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LuckyFil Posted January 9, 2020 Share Posted January 9, 2020 Thanks Paddy and everyone else for your ideas on how to minimise weed and hopefully increase catches! Cheers Fil Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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