enough back bone to land reasonable fish. I’ve
caught a few big fish on this outfit and the key is
to use soft hands and be quite patient. Light
leader can be a problem with bigger fish so I tend
to use a short length of 16 pound f luorocarbon
leader as a bite tippet later in the season when
more crocodile sized specimens are around.
This outfit can turn a session from no bites to
lots of bites. One lure that we have enjoyed a lot
of success with is the Eco gear ZX40. Local
guide Brad Smith has used these lures extensively
in recent times. Combines with Sax Scent, these
lures catch an amazing array of fish including
whiting, parrot fish, squid and f lounder.
Flathead inhale them and the small assist hooks
make this outfit ideal for the ZX40’s.
MEDIUM SOFT PLASTICS, VIBES AND
SHALLOW HARD BODIED LURE ROD
This versatile outfit consists of a St Croix Legend
Tournament 6’ 10” medium 6-10 pound rod
with a 1500 Daiwa Certate and 4lb braid. The
rod is quite fast in its action which makes it great
for most soft plastic and medium vibe use. I first
started using this as my “go to” outfit when I was
using hard vibes like the red eye shad quite a lot.
It can rip a lure really well and imparts great
action into a lure. It's a great rod for setting
bigger hooks in the hard jaws of f lathead and is
quite a powerful weapon to fight bigger f lathead
with. I’ve had this outfit for quite a few years
now and in recent times have used it a lot for
casting bigger hard bodied lures and stick baits
over the f lats at high tide.
Daiwa Certates are great reliable reels and
apart from a few bearing changes have served me
very well.MEDIUM TO HEAVY PLASTICS
AND VIBES ROD
This outfit is a step up in power from the St
Croix and is ideal for casting. It consists of a
Loomis NR X 802 fast action rod with a
Shimano CI4 2500 Stradic with 10 pound braid
and 16 pound f luorocarbon leader. This rod has
fantastic feel, even the slightest bump to the lure
is easy to pick. I like the lightness of this outfit
and the real feel it gives to fishing lures close to
the bottom. I use this rod for 3/8 to ¾ ounce jig
heads and soft vibes like Zerek Fish Traps and
Fuse Vibes. It has a great hook-up rate, pulls fish
away from cover easily and is fun to use.ESTUARY
32 fishingworld.com.au | September 2019This outfit is also quite versatile and can be
used in deep water for vertical jigging with
bigger plastics and vibes. The reel is light to
match the rod, and has been great value for
money and works as well as some of the more
expensive models. The outfit is great for hooking
bigger fish on larger hooks that require a bit of
force to penetrate hard jaws.DEEP WATER JIGGING ROD
This outfit is also used for barra fishing. It
consists of a custom Venom rod with a Daiwa
Morethan Branzino 3000 reel loaded with 20
pound braid and a 10 to 15 kilo f luorocarbon
leader, depending on conditions. It is used for
fishing the deep water entrances using ¾ to 2
ounce jig heads or large soft vibes, targeting both
mulloway and f lathead. Venom rods are fabulous
fishing tools that are light, fast and strong.
While I don’t use this rod every trip, it is the first
outfit that comes out when we fish deep water.
The above is just an overview of my five main
f lathead outfits. While carrying this number of
rods may seem excessive, they all perform
different purposes and cover all the likely
scenarios likely to be encountered when chasing
f lathead in the estuaries. ●LEF T: Greeny with a big
Gold Coast lizard.
BELOW: This Loomis
NR X makes a great rod
for working sof t vibes.