Super year for flathead in the Swan

Wading a sandy flat of an estuary and peering into shallow water through a pair of polarised sunglasses looking for signs of flathead being nearby is something that I look forward to each summer.

Unlike other species that inhabit the estuaries in the south of the State flathead are relatively easy to catch and, more often than not, are willing to strike a variety of artificial offerings.

These attributes make them the perfect sportfish to target for those who just want to spend an hour or so flicking lures or placing a fly in one of the many river systems located in southern third of WA.

I spent a number of mornings and afternoons during the Christmas and New Year period targeting flathead in the Swan and Canning rivers and was impressed by the quality of the fishing these metropolitan estuaries are offering this summer.

Bar-tailed flathead are the predominant species in the metropolitan rivers, which, in summer when water temperatures rise, sees an influx of these fascinating creatures move into the shallows areas of each system.

The biggest bar-tailed recorded in the Swan River was 76cm, but they are believed to reach a metre and 3.5kg.

A good flathead in these parts is any fish more than 40cm and, going by this measure, this season has been outstanding.

For the past two months, it has not been uncommon for an angler to catch up to a dozen flathead to 60cm in less than two hours of fishing.

In one of my most productive sessions near Point Walter, I caught four flathead in less than 20 minutes with my biggest coming in at 52cm.

Most of my flathead this season were caught on four-inch Finesse Jerkbait soft plastics.

I find soft plastics an effective method in catching these prehistoric-looking bottom dwellers and the Snapback varieties of plastics to be resilient against the hoards of pesky blowfish that inhabit the lower reaches of the Swan in summer.

Hard-bodies lures such as Scorpions, Laser Pros and Tilsan Minnows also won't go unnoticed if twitched in the vicinity of a flathead as won't an assortment of fly patterns. Baits such as river prawns, whitebait and bluebait also work well.

Flathead are ambush predators and use their colourings to camouflage while waiting for unsuspecting baitfish and prawns to pass over a drop off, where they will often hide.

They produce delicious white fillets.