Trolling for flatties

[demarc]

Heya--

I'm going to try my luck at trolling for flatties on Sunday, starting from Jacobs Well and heading to the Pin.

I'm after some general tips on what to troll and what speed. Can you troll plastics?

I have some drop offs and other areas I think hold them and have caught them on bait in the past. I have a mixture of hard bodies(random collections) at home and was going to try my luck with some tassie devils.

[STKE]

Flatties are a pretty stupid fish, they will take anything that goes in front of their face. But rag and a jig head will work

However everyone swears by Pink Micro Mullets http://www.livelyluresonline.com.au/node/23

Softplastics trolled would have to have a big enough jib head to have contact with the bottom. Anything with action would work (Paddle tail, curly tails) once again stupid fish, will eat anything.

[Old Scaley]

^^ Pretty much what STKE said. Hard bodies work well on the troll, and you just need to get the lure that dives to the right depth to have it bouncing along the bottom. The depth will also be influenced by line thickness (smaller the line diameter the deeper the lure will dive). I suggest trolling at the lowest speed that the lure will keep working at, usually 2 to 3 knots is plenty. You will know the lure is working by the rod vibration and the bouncing action as it hits the bottom. The bonus of trolling is that you might pick up by catch like snapper or tailor. Some plastics will troll, but seem to work better at drifting.

Good luck, and be warned it can be addictive.

[shaggy]

the guys are spot on, troll the hard bodies and cast or drift with the plastics and tassies.

Couple of good hardbodies to try are also reedy's little Lucifer and the manns 5+ if you can get your hands on them.

[demarc]

Gave it a go today. An offshore boat isn't really ideal, so I did struggle to get in close to my old grounds. I do have a new river boat now, so once I finish cleaning her up I'll revisit this again.

Thanks all!

P.s the fishing sucked today. Bait around, but no bites. Also went and looked at the pin bar. Boy she was up.

[Bri The Pom]

Julian, glad you gave it a go, your boat is not that suitable for trolling flatties in that area as you probably found, I have been trolling that area for months now and found the bigger fish in shallow water, like less than 800mm, the best lure i have found is the zerek tango shad 50mm or a luckycraft pointer. Keep at it mate there are plenty still around.

[demarc]

Julian, glad you gave it a go, your boat is not that suitable for trolling flatties in that area as you probably found, I have been trolling that area for months now and found the bigger fish in shallow water, like less than 800mm, the best lure i have found is the zerek tango shad 50mm or a luckycraft pointer. Keep at it mate there are plenty still around.

[attachment=74745]Screenshot2014-08-2808.26.20.png[/attachment]

That's what I got told, troll shallow. I could only troll in 1.2 - 1.5 meters. haha Still a good day out, I love the pin area. The water was also a very nice colour there and it was very clear. We had at least 4 meters visability in the area.

Like I said I now have a 3.7 Stessle in my backyard. We used it as a tender for 5 years, so I have to clean it up get a new engine then I'll be set. The new boat means a bit to me, as it is the boat I first got taught to fish on in the Jacobs area and I have caught plenty of flatties in it on the drift.