The search for Australia's Greatest Fish: Flathead

Whether it’s a sand, tiger, dusky, blue spot or even bar-tail flathead, they all share similarities including being pretty tasty in the pan.

Found pretty much the entire way around Australia in one variation or another, flathead is most popular with recreational fishers in the southern half of the country.

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There are two main ways used to get a good feed of flatty.

The simplest way is drifting in a boat with bait. This is most effective fishing around coastal areas over a sandy bottom, and in water between 10 and 50 meters deep. It’s a great way to fill up the icebox with sand and tiger flathead.

The best rig for drift fishing is a simple paternoster rig with a couple of hooks and a decent size sinker on the bottom.

The key is to ensure the sinker is on the bottom, dragging along the sand.

If it’s a bit windy and your boat is drifting a bit quick, you’ll need to keep letting line out every now and then to make sure your bait is the flathead’s face.

Flathead will hook themselves on circle hooks most of the time, meaning it is just a matter of cranking them into the net, hopefully two at a time.

Many fishers also like to use pre-made bottom fishing rigs with a bit of flash attached to each hook.

The bottom rigs work well, but we’d recommend spicing up each of the hooks with some bait such as squid or pilchard, or even a bit of flathead as they seem happy to eat themselves.

Another way to target flathead happens a little further north where the species changes to biggest lizard of them all – the dusky flathead.

Found from north-eastern Victoria up to around Fraser Island, these monster flatheads grow to some truly amazing sizes -- up to a metre in length -- while living in the shallow estuaries, creeks, rivers and saltwater lakes found along the coast.

Bait fishing works for duskys, especially if you’re using small live baits, but the best and most enjoyable method is either casting or trolling lures.

You’ll need to learn your local waters, but the best tip is to look for deeper gutters that could hold bait.

Tide is key, as the water either floods or drains over the sand and mud flats. The flathead will move around depending on the stage of the tide, so keep searching and don’t be afraid to cast into shallow water.

Some of the biggest flathead each year from the Flathead Classic on the Gold Coast are caught in only about a metre of water.

In terms of lures, use soft plastics with a bit of action such as a paddle tail if you’re casting and retrieving. If trolling, shallow divers bumping along the sandy bottom are the go.

So how does flathead rate in Hook, Line and Sinker’s search for Australia’s Greatest Fish?

Flathead are pretty easy to catch and very accessible – you don’t even need a boat.

Be on bait or lure, flathead is available right the way around the country.

Score: 10 out of 10

Flathead don’t fight great, but they do pull a bit. You do have to match the tackle to the fish you are targeting, and those big duskys do take some catching.

Our best tip is to use a light braid line rated to 15 pounds with a 10-pound flourocarbon leader.

You can go heavier if drifting with baits and you need a bit of extra leader to get to the bottom.

Score: 5 out of 10

I’m not sure if a flathead ever looks pretty, but for us there’s something special about holding up a big lizard that always brings out a cheesy smile.

Score: 6 out of 10

There’s nothing wrong with fresh flathead tails. The fish are even easy to clean – once you get it down to a fine art, a flathead can turn into a boneless, skinless fillet in just a few seconds.

Score: 8 out of 10

If you're new to fishing or have someone with you who is, flathead is one of the best entrees to the sport.

The good thing is that flathead is one of the most accessible fish, ranging from shallow estuaries where you can wade in and fish the shallows, to deep water.

Apart from a very distinctive head shake, they don't put up too much of a fight, so landing them is pretty simple.

Once landed, they're not the prettiest thing in the world, but when they reach a good size they become more impressive in front of the camera.

Once in your hand, they're easy to fillet and cook up great.

With a total score of 29 out of 40, flathead rockets up the leader board into second place.

Next on Hook, Line and Sinker's hunt for Australia's Greatest Fish: The maddest mack of them all, the Spanish mackerel.

The latest season of Hook, Line and Sinker airs each Sunday on 7Mate. Check your state's fisheries website for bag and size limits, and closed seasons.