BIG FLATHEAD | Choosing a ROD, REEL, LINE, LURES and LEADERS 

Liking this style of vid john so informative Keep it up

80lb braid and 100lb leader for the 3m dogs

Where i live we run up to 40lb braid for flattys around very heavy structure where you can let them run. Using yakkas as livies normally

Thanks John. I loved the tip about the drag settings. I havnt had any luck with slapstick down South but I always try them. My 4 & 5 inch plastics set up is the Daiwa Humphead 701MHFS 6 to 8 kg. I use a Daiwa Saltist 2500 with Straight through 12lg Sunline Sniper FC Fluorocarbon because on the flats you don't need braid. I get longer casts as well. My Swimbaits I use Baitcaster 2 set ups. A Samaki Zing Gen 2 601BMH with my 13 Fishing Concept Z for Hardbody around structure like weed and then my Miller Beast Freak with a Shimano Tranx 301 with 30lb Power Pro and a 25lb Fluorocarbon leader for Swimbaits over 1oz to 3oz.

Some great tips there. I haven't caught 100s of flatties on lure but I'd say i get 4 out of 5 on a nilsmaster 4inch spearhead in yellow orange. I often cast several others i have ended up buying and when they dont produce, i go back to the old faithful to get the fish. Thanks for the great content to keep us sane while in lockdown. 👍

cheers john ,love the vids ,my go to flatty lure for years (before plastics )was the nils master stalwarts ,then little gold bombers ,now love the soft plastics ,just have to work up the courage to throw one of those slapsticks around ,lol . keep up the great work glen

Hey mate great video. I’m running a shimano SLX with cranks 6-8kg rod combo 15lb J braid. It’s great but the Holt production soft plastics are definitely the star attraction & way to go 👌

Hey John cold you please go into some more detail about the lures, and more lure options please. Thankyou and such an awesome vid John keep it up.

nice catch~~

Nice mate👍

I have rigged a nomad 155 coral trout riptide with down graded hooks. Can’t wait

I use a Penn slammer 111 3500 with Samurai Reaction 5-10kg with 20lb Tasline braid.

Great video mate.

Samaki gen 2, 2-4kg 7” paired with a TD black 2000 reel with 8lb braid and 6lb leader ✌🏽 super light, casts well and you can fish all day with it! Super fun when you get the big lizards 🦎

G'day John, greetings from Germany. Hope that you and your family are ok. Keep on fishing, mate. Lutz

Hi John, i have a Shimano Stile baitcaster on a 6ft6 and find it has much less feel for when a fish grabs your lure, funny enough I can cast a plastic on a 1/4oz head just as far as with a pinning outfit, also I run the braid through my first 2 fingers on the rod holding hand, found out long ago that it eliminates casting knots and I feel every touch, oh and the Samaki zinger extreme is my go to rod now with the diawa sol, fantastic rod.Oh and so far the year we have caught 61 flathead, the biggest was a modest 64cm, the big girls continue to evade me, or maybe its just the Bribie passage..

Great video mate ! What knot do you use from braid to leader ??

Notice you had the stinger treble on the top of the Slapstix.... I found mine would want to roll over and not glide properly unless I put the treble underneath but I was picking up lots of weed which was an issue.

Hey john what sort of spotters do you prefer on the flats

Hello. I have a Diawa d shock rod with a shimano 2500 reel designed for soft plastics. I could only afford the cheapest braid line which was 20 pounds. Its still really thin and you feel everything. Can ypu please give me some edvice to improve this setup?

Do you have any tips on choosing a colour of soft plastic for flathead?The water I fish in is clear blue water and is about 3 metres.I was looking at the baby bass colour and wakasagi from the baitjunkie 3.2 inch minnow, would that be good?

Great vid. What brand of braid do you prefer?

do you find the smaller flathead will hit the silstar slapsticks as well ??

John have you tried different size twist locks on your soft plastic swimbaits, I watched a clip the other night where this guy on TacticalBassin recommended going up in size to stop them from ripping out of the top of the plastic. I was looking at info on Keitech plastics and thought that was an interesting recommendation, plus he was using Owner twist locks. I ask because I was looking at using some Keitech Swing Impact FAT Saltwater Swimbaits along with the Slapstick and Duo Deprive Swimbait on the Flathead this year. I was wondering if you've had any issues with the Keitech or other brands of swimbaits using the smaller twist locks ?.

Another top notch vid mate, do you reckon moon phases have much of an effect?

Gday mate... personally like to hear what others are doing with gear and techniques...personally I use spin gear Pflueger Salt 040 spin reel Spooled with 15lb braid and 15lb flurocarbon leader... I tie up my own lures and in this case I use a underspin lure that I have designed and make... I fly tie either a full Sparkleflash skirt or bucktail with Krystal flash highlights tied in...At other times I like using handcrafted timber diving lures made by Marz lures out of Maitland N.S.W Hard bodies I like to sweep the lure with lots of pauses thrown in like a wounded baitfish presentation...best regards B.J. bjscustombaits....

Where you at Mallacoota because that’s where I fish and I’m rocking a savage gear combo I forgot the name of the reel and rod 😂

Should one down to Melbourne to chase these mulloway

zman 3.75 inch streakz rigged unweighted and weedless...... absolute dynamite combo on the flats

great vid mate, do you have any good flatty spots that i could get onto over the holidays?

I have a bait caster setup and I don’t seem to be catching any flathead I run an 8lb mono like with 3.5 inch zman grubs any tips anyone can give me?

Hey mate, I'm thinking about buying the 13 fishing inception, just wondering if it's worth the money and how it compares to something like the daiwa tatula?

Hey John, do you know if there is a 2020 Flathead Classic on the GC.

I use a samaki zing rod with a 1000 Siena reel with a pig lure trolling

G'day mate, love the videos!! I typically use two set ups when I'm Flathead fishing - a Daiwa Aird X MFB 4-7kg baitcast matched to a Daiwa Tatula 150 spooled with 15lb J Braid Multicolour and typically either a 20lb or 30lb Daiwa J Thread Fluorocarbon leader (just in case I get smashed by a big Jack up the creeks). I also fish with a 7' Daiwa TD Hyper 2-6kg spinning outfit matched with a 2000 size Daiwa exceller spooled with 10lb J Braid Grand in Crystal blue, and a rod three quarter length of either a 10, 12, or 16lb J Thread Fluorocarbon as my soft plastics outfit. Typically I fish a range of different Jerk baits, however my go to favourites would have to be the Jackal Squirrel 67mm suspending double deep in Pink Suji Prawn or muddy prawn , and the 100mm Rapala X Rap in Ghost Pearl or Green Ayu for the big girls. Soft plastics wise, I like to keep it simple, and so fish the Zman 3inch Minnowz in Space Guppy, bloodworm, and motor oil rigged on a standard 1/4oz TT headlockz jighead and 3/0 hook size. I realise there's lots of different ways to fish for big flathead, but I've had far more success over the tears when I've kept things simple. Tight lines, Ads

If money wasn't an issue what would be the best setup for a crossfire 195? Probs don't wanna share that secret lol.....I've bought your DVD but haven't had a chance to watch

What is the best rood and real for mangrove jack

The savage gear line-through swimbaits (u’ll find them at any bcf) have caught me many metre flathead They have awesome action and look completely real Ive found that you need to add an extra swivel to the bottom hook for better hook up rate Pleassssse do a review or a video Would really love it Thanks

I have a bait caster setup and I don’t seem to be catching any flathead I run an 8lb mono like with 3.5 inch zman grubs any tips anyone can give me?

I have a bait caster setup and I don’t seem to be catching any flathead I run an 8lb mono like with 3.5 inch zman grubs any tips anyone can give me?