Trolling for fish is certainly nothing new, but personally, I have always found trolling for fish, dead set boring. I am not talking about high speed trolling offshore for species such as mackerel. I am talking about trolling around the estuary, in creeks, along the edges of shallow sandbars and ledges. Staring for hours at your sounder while the gentle hum of the outboard which is barely out of neutral, seems to put you into a trance as the day slips by.
That is, until recently, when I tried a technique which I witnessed a few years ago while taking part in the annual Gold Coast Flathead Classic.
Set The Scene
Here on the Fraser Coast we are gifted with kilometre after kilometre of shallow water flats. Especially along the inside of Fraser Island. Along these shallow water flats, you will find large areas of sand, a mixture of mud and shale. Coffee rock outcrops, weed beds, drains and creek mouths. It is all ideal flathead country.
I have long been a proponent of stealth when fishing the flats. Using an electric motor to stealthily position my boat. Casting as far as possible to get my lure into the area where I believe the fish are. Always on edge and nervous that I would spook my quarry at any moment.
So, I was a little taken back, when I participated in my first Gold Coast Flathead Classic and witnessed a huge number of boats trolling the flats. But, not just throwing a line out the back and letting a huge amount of line out, just hoping for a fish. These boats were trolling with raised motors, producing a large amount of whitewash immediately behind their boat. And, they were literally trolling their lures in this whitewash, only a few feet from their transom.
Utterly ridiculous right?? That is what I thought. Until they out fished me 20 to 1.
Time To Give It A Go !!
Curiosity got the better of me, so over the last few months I have been trying this technique here in my home waters on the Fraser Coast. I will say, straight up, that it works. There is no denying that this trolling technique helps you to catch fish, especially flathead. There are, however, a couple of little tips to make it successful.
Water depth and lure selection are very important. The aim is to use a lure which you believe mimics the bait fish in your area. You also need this lure to reach the bottom and to bounce along the bottom while being trolled, kicking up sand, mud, debris and basically making one hell of a racket while screaming come and eat me.
The Lures
I have been using a Barra Snax shallow 80mm handcrafted timber fishing lure from Old Dog Lures and the Zerek 50mm Tango Shad from Wilson Fishing. Both lures dive to approximately 1.5m and have terrific actions. The Barra Snax is a slightly larger profile lure, not just in length but also in height, whereby the Tango Shad is quite small and skinny. Both lure types have proven successful in catching flathead.
I will say however, that I have noticed that the slightly larger Barra Snax does seem to attract the larger flathead more often and seems to miss a lot of the smaller fish. Whereby the Tango Shad seems to attract every sized fish. In the context of the Gold Coast Flathead Classic, a competition, I can see how attracting flathead of every size is beneficial as every fish attract a score regardless of size.
The depth of water I have been trolling across has ranged from 80cm to 1.8m, making sure to always have the lure bouncing across the bottom. This is quite easy to do, simply by following the contour lines on your sounder. Without doubt, the key is to make sure the lure is always bouncing on the bottom.
Whitewash
Raising your outboard to generate whitewash helps to add to the commotion surrounding the lure. When I first witnessed this, I honestly thought people were doing it purely to avoid dragging the skeg of their motor across sand and rubble. Certainly, it does help with this, but the intent is to instead generate lots of commotion around your lure.
When I spoke to a few people about this, they offered this view as to why it is important. They feel that flathead can be in either hunting mode or hiding mode. If they are in hunting mode, they will literally strike at anything that they deem as food. They are a very aggressive fish when hunting and are not deterred by boat noise and are attracted to the commotion caused by the raised motor. It piques their interest and when they see the lure flash amongst this commotion, they strike at what they believe is bait fish caught up in the commotion, disorientated and easy pickings.
When they are in hiding mode, they will remain hidden, buried to their lateral line as the boat passes, or if they feel threatened, they will take off and head for deeper water. Flathead move up onto the flats when they are actively feeding, i.e. they are in hunting mode and they move from the flats and back into deeper holes when the tide falls.
My Results
Keeping the above in mind, I have experimented with trolling for flathead at different stages of the tide and have certainly found within a few hours, on each side of the high tide to be more successful. At low tide I found the fish to be a lot spookier and would often see a puff of sand in front of the boat as a fish left it hiding spot and headed for deeper water.
Light drag and hold the rod in your hand. I was already across the light drag tip, but the other suggestion, to always be holding the rod in your hand, was brought to my attention while at the Australian Fishing Tackle Associations annual trade show. I now understand why!!
Sometimes flathead will hit the lure and miss, then come back for a second, third or even fourth attempt to eat it. If your drag is set too tight, when the fish hits the lure, there is no give, their meal is literally yanked away from them and they can give up on it. If you have a light drag set, the lure can slow down for a brief second, and stay in their face when they hit it, encouraging them to have another go to secure their meal.
Holding the rod in your hand allows you to assist the light drag setting even further. If you are using a nice light outfit, you will feel the fish hit the lure. At which time you can drop your lure back a little with you rod tip. Slowing the lure and again presenting the opportunity for the fish to have a more accurate second go at the lure.
Final Thoughts
Fishing is all about learning in my opinion, it is a constant process and often surprises you. I now have an extra technique to use in my efforts to secure dinner thanks to the folks who participate in the Gold Coast Flathead Classic. Hopefully, I can level the catch rate a little next time and not return home with my tail between my legs. Trolling for flathead, give it a go and let us know how it works for you.