Whats your Favorite Flathead Lure.?

[Backlashed]

As the title says, "What i your favorite Flathead lure??"

I got into lure fishing for flathead 15+ years ago, and my then lure of choice was the Manns Stretch 10 series of lures.. We also had some sucess with the Killalure "FlatzRat", Predatek and Downunder lures, but the Manns lures were the ones by which we judged/compared all of the others to....

Ive not done much fishing in the last 5 years, and I am now somewhat surprised to find that Manns lures are now no longer readily available here in Australia, so I am wondering what lures you use to go lizzard hunting..

I'm really only interested in Hardbody lures, soft plastics is another topic entirely, and IMO best left for a separate discussion..

Thanks.

Mark..

[bargeass]

How deep are you chasing them in?? We get alot of 50-60cm fish on atomic cranks and crankas in 1-2m of water.... they love them

[twelsh1]

what i have found with the flathead i've been getting, is that they eat anything:/ they destroy very expensive lures aswell:?

[HookMeUp]

Mann's are still well and truly in business still.
Have you checked out Mo's line up?
I guess you can say my uncle "slays" the flathead with the Stretch 10 Mann's.
He has also been having luck on the Stretch HD 10 aswell.
That man can pull meter+ flathead out of anywhere!
I know with your 15 years of experience you know pretty much every trick in teh book by now.
But what I've found well is the Rapala Xraps 10 in shallow diver.
Chuck them on incoming tides along shallow mud banks.
What I've found VERY productive is to dig up the dirt with your bib while on the retreive.
About a meter of so stop.
Now this is where I find Rapala's come into play, they are a slow riser with the tail hanging down and the head sticking up. (I find this improves the hook up rate personally)
And continue the retreive with the same pattern.
Never fails for me.

[Backlashed]

Originally Posted by HookMeUp

Mann's are still well and truly in business still.

I know with your 15 years of experience you know pretty much every trick in teh book by now.
.

Thanks for the replies...

I only wish that that was true.... lol..

Everytime that I think that I am just starting to understand lure fishing, someone rewrites the book..

Bargearse, I have caught flathead in water from as little as 30cm (1 foot), upto 2.5M (8 - 9 feet)..

Bottom line is that the lure has to be banging on the bottom.. This was the beauty with the Manns stretch 10, becaause of the design of the bib, it could be running along the muddy bottom of a river, and not get stuck like some of the other lures did/do..

twelsh1, Yes somedays flathead will hit anything that you throw at it.. Others they can be very picky, and you have to try every lure in your box and still catch nothing..

So, what lures do you all use, or dont we have any flathead fishermen on here..??

Mark..

[mickthe]

I used to just fish the deeper water with plastics for flathead, but found when bream fishing shallow flats in known flathead territory I was getting heaps of flathead.

I tend to now throw either a Jackall Squirell 61 in brown suji on the dropoff of a bank or just mid diving cranks on weed flats - lures such as Ecogear CK40's.

Reason I like the CK40 is that the flathead kept taking my shallow chubbies home with them and the CK has a slightly deeper dive which is versatile and is way fatter than most bream cranks making it a lot harder for flathead to bite me off. The bream are not shy in hitting these either

Mick.

[marktheraider]

flatty love blades, i mainly use he bushy devilfish vibes for em and nail quiet a few in any depth of water.

[mickthe]

Oh sh_t yeah forgot about blades along the deeper dropoffs.......nothing prospects for flatties better than a blade - they are so efficient as they are always in the zone!

Mick.

[Kyle101]

Kangoku shad works for me as well as cranks, blades and vibes

[joeking]

The stretch series is still out there, and these days there pretty cheap too, hard to go past a grey ghost 5+. The lively lures mirco mullet in hot pink is sworn-by by a couple of people aswell, it seems to take alot of big flatties for its size.

[DrPopper]

Duel Forte 70mm in SHRH colour ..... they absolutely smash em.

[catchabarra]

I use lively lures in a few sizes and depts for Flathead. hot pink or green are the goto colours around here.

[Backlashed]

Thanks for all of the replies..

mickthe... I will certainly look at the Jackalls... I also fish the deeper water with SP's, I also use SP's where the likely hood of losing a lure is greater, like on oyster encrusted rocks etc..

When I hardbody lure fish for flatties, I dont use a leader and instead run the braid directly to the snap.. Back in the days before braid was common and affordable, we would fish with mono, and a short 6" wire trace..

marktheraider... (and mickthe) I have a few smaller blades, but I had not considered using them for Flathead.. I might have to get some bigger ones to try on the flathead..

Kyle101... Thanks, will look at the Kangoku lures..

joeking.. Yes, my LTS has a few Manns fat 10's, but very few in stretch.. I'll have to check some of the other tackle shops in the area, but my local B C F has none.. Gotta love the Grey ghost.. lol..

DrPopper.. Will look into the Duel Forte lures..

catchbarra.. I think I might have some lively lures, not sure... I have never caught a flathead on a pink lure...

If I was to take only 3 lures with me, then the colours I would take would be Blue + Chrome, Gold and Fluro Green and Yellow..

Again, thanks everyone that has replied.. Still willing to hear more..

Mark..

[Breamobsession]

When it comes to Flattie i would not say i have any fav HB's. I just use a variety of lures and see what's working best on the day. I don't like to risk too many of my HB's though so usually stick with placcies when chasing frogs.

[chris268]

daiwa double clutch