The Yabis are nice and heavy, ranging from 65 to 200 grams, so they easily get down to the bigger fish you see on the sounder. But the best thing is you don’t have to work them hard-simply drop them down around the fish, work them slowly-and hang on tight!

Rob working on new DVD

I guess it is easy for me to say, I have been fishing all my life, but I am still amazed at how easy it is too catch fish in our region, and cripes with just the essentials under your belt you can easily have a ball and sometimes catch bigger fish than the experts-there’s not many sports quite like it.

What there isn’t much of though is good quality DVD’s for people who are just getting into fishing, so I am digging deep and putting together some sure fire ways to catch a few this summer.

Quite a bit of the DVD is being filmed along the south coast and will include essentials for catching family fishing species like bream, flathead, trevally, tailor and squid. There will also be surf fishing basics and some strategies for anglers chasing snapper, kingfish and jewfish, which are all pretty easy once you know how.

I am also adding in a few big WOW fish from near and far for the advanced anglers to get something out of.

I will have the DVD finished by early December, and it will be on tackle store shelves by mid December; look out for it if you or someone you know needs a helping hand this summer and the Narooma News might get a few copies to offer as prizes.

See you on the water,

Rob Paxevanos

www.fishingaustralia. tv

More flathead fishing tips from Rob: it’s flathead city out there

MANY estuary systems have shallow weedy back waters, and some lakes are made up almost entirely of this environment. Such places can be flathead city.

There are hundreds of examples of the vast fertile shallow systems, especially in the southern half of our country. Lakes Tuross, Durras and Wallaga on the NSW South Coast are prime examples on my home turf, but I have fished many similar places in Victoria, Tassie, SA and WA.

You can wade these areas, or drift across them in a kayak or small boat; either way you need to keep moving until you find a patch of flattys.

I typically target water between 1 and 2 meters deep; and the most productive spots usually have lots of weed or other structure that hold plenty of food and can thus sustain a large flathead population.

Small lightly weighted softies like the pre rigged storm twitching nipper are great, but a small long casting shallow running minnow that travels mid water is even easier to use: you don’t need to get to get right to the bottom to tempt a flatty in this scenario and you will avoid picking up weed in the process!

The 6 or 8 cm long Rapala Husky Jerk, or X Rap XR 06, XR 08 or SXR 10 (for big flatties) are all brilliant in this scenario. You can work these aggressively across the flats with lots of brief pauses, and the strikes are spectacular.

Most importantly plan your walk down wind so you can cast the smaller lures as far as possible. Likewise when in a boat plan your drift downwind to aid casting and maximize the efficiency with which you cover the water.

If the waterways are slow flowing or non tidal (closed lakes), fishing at dawn, dusk or night becomes more important, especially in summer when in some places heat and boat traffic can shy off the day time bite.

Keep your eye out for active nervous baitfish, boofing flathead and of course the old flathead marks in the sand. You can always return here in wee hours and use a slower retrieve with more pauses if you want to catch the bigger trickier specimens.

Poppers like Rapala Skitter Pops can also be great once you get a bit of experience up your sleeve. Again pauses are important: some flathead will hit a moving lure; more will be tempted if the lure stops.

While each different species needs a specific approach, when targeting flathead you will catch things like bream, whiting, snapper, flounder, trevally, the occasional blackfish and many more; especially on the smaller lures detailed above. The bigger sized lures will often produce larger tailor, jewfish and many other species.

A flatty around 40 to 45 cm is the perfect table size. Any bigger and the fillets are a little to thick to cook and don’t taste nearly as good.

The really big fish are all females, full of eggs for summer breeding, which is why there are rules in place to protect them.

If you wish to get a regular feed of flathead, master the deeper water techniques and apply them to flatties out in the bays or ocean where a big bag of the extremely abundant 45 cm plus fish usually only takes an hour or two. This way you will put a smaller dent on the less abundant estuary flathead populations.

Size and bag limits vary in each state so make sure you grab a copy of the rules whenever you head out.

Of course there is always more to learn, but I hope I have given you a head start.

Tight lines,

Rob Paxevanos