Fishing Victoria Forum

eddyt wrote:Most piers will have flatties. I caught one yesterday at Brighton off the pier.

About 1hr after high tide i find is usually the best. Just cast it out as far as you can. Running sinker setup. Bait not important but I've caught them before on chicken salmon mackerel pilchard prawn.

Low tide sometimes you can see them in the shallows. Drop a SP near them slow rolled or the running sinker setup with bait.

The key i find with bait is to move your rod regularly. Flatties seem to like things that move

I second this, most piers starting from Port Melbourne see them on the regular. Just about getting to one and giving it a crack.. I seem to get quite a few as a bycatch when chasing pinkies/reds. Imo look for the sand flats or edges and fish close to the bottom, heavy sinkers on a running or paternoster. They have big mouths so as long as your hooks aren't massive then you should be fine. & as mentioned, have never found them to be bait picky, chicken and pilly should do the trick.. Good luck

eddyt wrote: Running sinker setup

Should the running sinker setup be something like this?

Cant see your picture, but the photo below is similar to what i use. You can use the running sinker clips instead of the ball sinker and adjust hook size and line strength accordingly..

Clips..

Clips are better for holding bottom in high tide flow areas like WP so you can easy change sinker weight. For PPB and especially LB the inline sinker is best, even the slimmer barrel or bean sinker. This reduces snag ups which occur more when you have a sinker hanging from a clip.

That way its mainly the hook that snags and busts off, so its just a case of tying on a new hook.

Cast out far then occasionally twitch it further in. That way it covers more ground. Cross between regular bait fishing and SP fishing.

Attaching a squid tentacle like an SP works well,. Flatties do like flesh baits such as pillies, but they are hard to stay on hook when you are dragging them across the bottom. They work best on drifting paternosters from a boat/kayak Banjos like them too.

azkay wrote:Cant see your picture, but the photo below is similar to what i use. You can use the running sinker clips instead of the ball sinker and adjust hook size and line strength accordingly..

Sorry about no photo but anyhow should the leader line be much stronger for this setup?

azkay wrote:Clips..

Where can you buy these clips cheap online?

laneends wrote:Clips are better for holding bottom in high tide flow areas like WP so you can easy change sinker weight. For PPB and especially LB the inline sinker is best, even the slimmer barrel or bean sinker. This reduces snag ups which occur more when you have a sinker hanging from a clip.

That way its mainly the hook that snags and busts off, so its just a case of tying on a new hook.

Cast out far then occasionally twitch it further in. That way it covers more ground. Cross between regular bait fishing and SP fishing.

Attaching a squid tentacle like an SP works well,. Flatties do like flesh baits such as pillies, but they are hard to stay on hook when you are dragging them across the bottom. They work best on drifting paternosters from a boat/kayak Banjos like them too.

Thanks for the great tips.... :thumbsup: :thumbsup: :thumbsup:

one2three wrote:

azkay wrote:Clips..

Where can you buy these clips cheap online?

Kmart

one2three wrote:

azkay wrote:Cant see your picture, but the photo below is similar to what i use. You can use the running sinker clips instead of the ball sinker and adjust hook size and line strength accordingly..

Sorry about no photo but anyhow should the leader line be much stronger for this setup?

Yep, adjust the leader length, hook/sinker size to suit

As a very GENERAL suggestion, i fish heavy to hold bottom so maybe a size 3 or 4 triangle, with a 1/0 or 2/0 hook and 20lb'ish leader should cover you for most species that come out..