Two flathead over 80 centimetres, no more than about 15 casts apart, plus a school of hungry yellowfin bream on a rock wall. That was the payoff from a day and a half on Port Stephens with Shimano pro team angler Jack Hemmond, testing the new Shimano Limitless rods for The Everyday Angler.
It wasn't handed to us. Day one was a mill pond with a falling barometer and barely a bite. Day two brought a 20-knot southerly, rain squalls and a cold start. But it also brought fish, and a heap of lessons you can take to your own local estuary.
Here's how we went about it, from the gear to the lure choice to looking after a big fish once it's in the net.
Quick Links
The Gear: Two Limitless Outfits Cover the Estuary
If you want to chase flathead and bream in the estuary, it isn't complex. You need two outfits: one for heavier lures and one for lighter lures.
Jack brought along two of the new Shimano Limitless spin rods, now in BCF, and they're a great place to start.
The Limitless range is built on a lightweight 40-tonne carbon blank with a fast action, Fuji guides, a Seaguide carbon reel seat and split EVA grips. There are models for everything from bream and trout up to snapper and barramundi, and at $299.99 they sit in a sweet spot for the everyday angler.
The two we fished are, in my opinion, the perfect estuary sizes:
| Rod | Length | Line Rating | Lure Weight | What We Used It For |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Limitless 3–5kg (LMT702SP35ML) | 7'0" | 3–5kg | 3–15g | Soft plastics on the flats, light bream work |
| Limitless 4–8kg (LMT762SP48MH) | 7'6" | 4–8kg | 7–28g | Bigger plastics and hard bodies for big flathead, windy days |
We matched them with 2500 and 3000 size spinning reels. You could go to a 4000; it really depends on the braid you want to run.
For the bream on the rock wall we dropped right down to 4lb leader, which is not far off dental floss. That's the beauty of a light, crisp blank: it protects light line on a big fish, and it let me land an 81cm flathead on the 3–5kg without too much panic. Okay, maybe a little panic.
A Quick Word on Jig Heads
Everything at BCF is still labelled in ounces, so here's a cheat sheet in grams:
1/30oz ≈ 0.9g — ultra-light bream in shallow water
1/8oz ≈ 3.5g and 1/6oz ≈ 4.7g — flathead on the flats
3/8oz ≈ 10.6g — getting down fast in wind and current
Finding Fish: Read the Conditions, Then the Structure
Watch the Barometer
Day one was glassy and beautiful, but the pressure was dropping and we caught next to nothing.
Day two, the pressure was rising from about 1018 to 1025 hPa over the morning. We fished the same water and the big flathead switched on.
I don't know how much to read into the swim bladder theory, but two 80-plus fish in one day is a pretty good argument.
Embrace Ugly Weather
A southerly, rain and cloud cover gave us a long low-light period. Big flathead push up into the shallows in those conditions to ambush mullet and herring.
Target the Edges
We worked rock bars, sand flats, mud flats and little drains. Both big fish came off oyster-encrusted banks with rock bommies and logs, in water from shin deep to less than a foot.
A dark flathead on a speckled bank is almost invisible, so cast at the structure, not at the fish.
Use Your Electronics
The bream were a different puzzle.
Late September is a transition period: in winter they sit deep, in summer they push shallow. We spent about two hours searching with the fish finder before side scan showed a couple of hundred fish stacked between the boat and a rock wall on the incoming tide – once we found them, it was game on.
Adapt Constantly
We were up to plan C by mid-morning. Expect to change lures, weights and spots every few minutes until something works.
How to Catch Flathead on the Flats
Match the Local Baitfish
My 81cm dusky came on a jerk shad-style soft plastic in a silver, herring-type colour, rigged on a 1/6oz jig head. The other one we ran had a touch of gold through it.
Big flathead sit on the bank edges eating mullet, herring, tailor and whiting, so pick a profile and colour that looks like them.
Don't Be Scared of Big Lures
Jack caught a flathead of maybe 34cm on a 140mm lure. A flathead's head is enormous. Even small ones will happily eat something almost half their length.
Cast Tight, Let It Sink, and Feel for the Clunk
I cast right up into the oyster-covered rocks and let the plastic sink. On the drop I felt a heavy clunk, and the drag started screaming.
Most flathead bites come as the lure falls or first touches down, so stay in contact with your line.
Go Heavier When the Wind Blows
With 20 knots pushing a big belly into our line, a 1/4oz head wasn't getting down. We stepped up to 3/8oz on a 3/0 hook and suddenly we were in the zone.
We could see fish on the sounder; the challenge was putting a lure across their nose.
Try a Hard Body in the Shallows
Jack's 85cm flathead ate a hard-bodied lure in less than a foot of water, while the drone was up. You couldn't script it.
Hard bodies are great for covering skinny water without snagging the bottom every cast.
How to Catch Bream on Lures
I grew up catching bream on bait, and it's easy. On lures it's a different game. Bream are slow growing and wise, and they know what a lure looks like – you have to trick them.
Go Ultra Light
I fished a small soft plastic on a 1/30oz jig head, the lightest I've seen on the shelf, with 4lb leader.
It barely looks weighted, so it wafts down naturally on the tide. That's the secret.
Cast Up-Current
Cast down-current and your lure gets swept away. Cast up-current and let it drift back with the flow, and it looks like food coming in on the tide.
Leave Slack on the Drop
With a jig head that light, I cast as shallow as I could against the wall, maybe a foot deep, and let it sink without touching it.
Pull on the line and you drag it away from the wall and out of the strike zone.
Shuffle, Don't Rip
Once it's down, I just shuffle the rod tip back in small movements.
It looks uncoordinated, but it keeps the lure moving while it stays in the zone as long as possible.
Fish Two Depths
While I worked the shallow edge, Jack fished a 40mm vibe out in about six metres of water. He cast up-current, let it flutter down, and gave it real sharp jabs to keep it just off the bottom – we were both catching fish.
Once the school fired up, they weren't fussy, and we both kept hooking good legal yellowfin bream.
One lesson learned the hard way: don't try to lift a decent bream into the boat on 4lb. Use the net.
Look After the Big Ones
An 80-plus flathead might only come along every three or four years, so treat it right. Big flathead are almost all breeding females, and releasing them keeps the system healthy.
Use a Big, Coated Net
Rubber or nylon-coated mesh protects the fish's slime.
Rest It in the Water First
Leave the fish in the net, in the water, while you clean up and get your glove, pliers and brag mat ready.
Wet the Brag Mat
Flathead carry a protective slime on their bellies. A dry mat rubs it off.
Wear a Glove and Support the Belly
Watch the sharp gill spikes, and always hold the weight of the gut with your second hand.
Keep It Quick
Our fish went back in the water every 60 to 90 seconds at most.
Measure in the Water Where You Can
Jack's fish was measured on the bank at 85cm without ever leaving the water.
Release When It's Ready
When she starts kicking and biting down on your thumb, she's good to go. Always check your state's size and bag limits before you head out.
Your Turn
Two Limitless outfits, a handful of soft plastics, a few jig heads from 1/30 to 3/8oz and a bit of persistence. That's all it took to turn a miserable morning into one of the best estuary days I've had.
Keen to give it a go? Screenshot the gear from the episode and stock up in store at your local BCF or at bcf.com.au.