My report this time around is an expanded version of a piece I wrote for my monthly “River & Sea” column in the July, 2006 issue of Modern Fishing magazine. That piece had to be severely pruned to fit the magazine’s new layout and design, so I figured regular readers might like this opportunity to read it in its entirety. Here it is:  flathead, taken on a Squidgy Shad soft plastic.

THE FLATHEAD WHISPERER

It’s a commonly held view that flathead are one of the easier fish in our waters to catch. Scoring a feed of duskies, sandies or tigers isn’t rocket science, not if you know where a few live. Drag an attractive bait along the bottom past their ugly snouts and enough will usually jump on to keep you interested, and to quickly cover the bottom of the fish box with their speckled, brown, lizard-like bodies. Easy, rewarding fishing with a delicious meal at the end of it.

The same goes when using lures. It’s no accident that the first fish most budding plastic tossers catch is a flattie. Soft plastics are incredibly efficient tools when targeting flathead. Maybe too efficient. In Victoria, bag and size limits for duskies were actually modified in direct response to the increased recreational harvest as modern soft plastics became increasingly popular. The last time there was such a direct correlation between the take-up of a “new” angling technique and reduced fish stocks was probably the advent of ganged hook rigs for tailor, back in the 1950s and ’60s.

Catching lizards (“frogs” as the Mexicans call them) on rubber-tailed jigs is close to a no-brainer. Chuck the lure out, let it sink to the bottom, then hop it along until a fish climbs on. As I’ve often said, if you can’t catch a flathead on a soft plastic, you should possibly consider a shift to golf or darts.

But you know what? The really scary thing is that even flathead grow more difficult to catch (especially on lures) in hard-fished waterways, or places where the big, dumb specimens all got caught and eaten years ago. It’s one reason I’m constantly calling for moderation when keeping a meal of these fish. No one enjoys a feed of flattie fillets more than me, but I can’t justify killing a breeder over 65 or 70 cm in length, nor taking more than five or six keepers in a session.

To their credit, Queensland DPI (www.dpi.qld.gov.au) enshrined this logic in law a few years ago, with their daily limit of five duskies per angler, and a slot size of 40 to 70 cm. It’s one of the smartest bits of fisheries regulation anywhere in Australia, and is already producing rewards. NSW DPI (www.dpi.nsw.gov.au) will eventually follow suit, but I wish they’d pull their fingers out and get on with it!

So, flathead are pretty dumb, easy to catch and love plastics. What’s my point? Just this; even on the dumbest fish, the smartest anglers with best techniques and the greatest understanding of their target will consistently kick the butts of those with a more casual approach. Everyone is capable of catching a few flatties, but switched-on specialist anglers can still elevate this game to an art form and make the rest of us look like mugs. I was reminded of this fact earlier in the year when fishing with NSW south coast guide, Stuart Hindson. I call Stuie the “ Flathead Whisperer”, with good reason…

Wagonga icon

Hindson lives in Merimbula and plies his trade anywhere from Moruya to the Victorian border. There are some great estuaries in that stretch of coast, but the one Stuie knows and loves best is Narooma’s gorgeous Wagonga Inlet. It’s a favourite of mine, too. The fact that it hasn’t been commercially netted for more than half a century adds to the attraction. So does that clean, green water and white sand that always beckons as you twist down the hill from the north to rattle onto the old lift bridge spanning the estuary’s entrance channel. One look never fails to make my casting arm quiver.

If Wagonga has a piscatorial icon, its big flathead; serious crocodiles with heads like shovels and tails wider than the spread of an adult man’s hand. Once upon a time, they were targeted on thick handlines and natural baits, their severed heads nailed to a prominent tree in the caravan park as some barbaric totem of meat-fishing honour. Happily, those days are history. Today, Hindson’s clients hunt big frogs with light spin, baitcaster or fly tackle and 99 per cent of them are more than happy to pose for a quick digital photo with their catch, then slip her back into the water. Hopefully, this modern philosophy means there’ll be speckled croc’s lurking in these transparent waters for our kids and their kids to hunt, at least until the green meanies finally get their way and ban us from fishing forever.

Tyson Dethridge and Stuie check out an “average” Wagonga Inlet flattie before releasing her.As with most species, big flathead can be harder to catch than their smaller brethren. The old saying that they didn’t live long enough to grow that big by being stupid has merit. This is amplified today, when a 75 or 80 cm lizard may already have been caught and released once or twice in its life. By the time it reaches 90 cm, it’ll have developed a certain amount of rat cunning — not to mention an appetite for large prey that means it doesn’t need to eat anywhere near as often.

Even if a casual angler gets lucky and hooks a monster, the deck is stacked. These are strong critters with a head full of line-cutting hardware. Many are lost, particularly in the closing stages of battle, when the first dark shimmer of that fence-plank shape coalescing through the water over-rides all sense of caution in the excited angler’s frenzied brain. At a purely practical level, few weekend danglers even carry a landing net big enough to poke at a 90 cm frog. The potential for disaster is enormous. No wonder giant flatties fuel more “one that got away” yarns than any other southern species!

Hiring a competent guide like Hindson not only increases the chances of hooking such an icon by a significant order of magnitude, it also dramatically improves the likelihood of a positive outcome; a classic photo of smiling angler and fish about to be released, rather than another tale of woe. Stuie makes sure his clients are rigged right and mentally prepared before he takes them to the dragon’s lair. If the big hook-up happens, he’s right there, standing by their shoulder, quiet words of encouragement in their ear and an Environet the size of a one-man tent in his steady hands. No wonder he’s lost count of the fish over 85 cm he’s put people onto.

Busman’s holiday

Last time I fished Narooma with Stuie Hindson was a different sort of day for him, simply because he actually got to wave a rod himself. Normally, he’ll make one or two casts at the start of the session to show his clients exactly how to work their plastics (he places great emphasis on teaching, rather than just guiding), then he’s on the electric motor control, landing net and digital camera for the rest of the day. I couldn’t do it. Watching people fish is like viewing porno flicks. It’s arousing for a while, but then you want to have a go yourself!

It’s part of Stuie’s nature that he gets at least as much of a kick out of seeing other people catch fish as he would doing it himself. But give him the chance and he’s in there! I’ve known him to guide back to back half day charters (two sessions a day) for three weeks straight, then go out on his own for a “fun fish” the moment he gets a spare hour. He’s got it bad.

Last time was no different. We were shooting a segment for Volume #4 of Offshore Productions’ great “Fishing DVD” and I insisted that Stuie actually fish. Good thing I did. My mate Tyson and I managed half a dozen modest lizards to 52 cm. We didn’t count Stu’s fish under 60. Over that mark he had a 60, a 66, a 70, a 73 and an amazing beast of 94 cm. Lucky? In your dreams. The guy’s a freak. I think he may have been a flathead in another life. He thinks like them, and I swear he talks to them. Or whispers.

Have a look at Hindson’s website at www.ausfishing.com.au and think about having a fish with the Flathead Whisperer. It’s an eye opener. So is that segment on Fishing DVD #4, which you can order on-line via www.fishingdvd.com.au (www.fishingdvd.com.au)

This article displayed courtesy of Steve 'Starlo" Starling visit Steve's website for more reports at www.starlo.com.au