A fish that is flat-out delicious

By Kevin Tyler

Feb 10, 2022

High on the list of fish I love to eat is the humble flathead. In fact, most anglers who regularly fish saltwater cut their teeth fishing for them.

Not a great fighter, although they do try hard, they are not a huge fish with the average size being half a kilogram or less; but in my opinion they are one of the best table fish around, in the same class as whiting, gummy shark or snapper.

Flathead tails rolled in seasoned flour and fried in peanut oil are delicious hot or cold, with a sweet, delicate, flaky flesh.

They are easy to fillet and the tails are boneless, making them easy to eat.

Flathead heads and backbones make a great fish stock, ideal for soups.

There are several sub-species of flathead, including sand, dusky, tiger and rock flathead. They are easy to catch and will take a bait, lure or soft plastic. They can be caught along beaches from Tasmania into Queensland as well as South Australia, NSW and Victoria.

Minimum size in our state is 27cm for all species except dusky flathead which is 30cm. To tell the difference between them, a dusky has one black spot on the tail fin near the top, while others have three black lines near the bottom. The bag limit for dusky flathead is five, while for others it is 20. There is a maximum size limit on duskys of 55cm.

I have a friend who is a window cleaner, and last weekend he took time off from window panes to go fishing down the bay near Rosebud.

While he did not set the world on fire, he did bag a 47cm flathead among others, and by day’s end it had been dusted in flour and placed on a barbecue. The comment: delicious.

Other names for flathead are frogs, lizards and flatties.

Around the bay, Rod Lawn from Adamas Fishing Charters, based at Queenscliff, said he was seeing hauls of pinky-sized snapper, silver trevally and salmon but still no sign of kingfish.

Rod said calamari squid and arrowhead squid, as well as whiting, were to be had fishing the grass beds around the heads and near St Leonards. Rod said that off the heads, couta and some blue shark were biting.

He said it was the same for Western Port.

Around our neck of the woods, fishing in the Goulburn River has been good, with plenty of cod although most have been small-sized fish.

The Goulburn and Murray rivers are worth trying, although the Murray is flowing at a higher level than usual for this time of year due to releases from the Hume.

Lake Eildon is also worth a try, with cod and yellowbelly being caught. Some trout and redfin are being taken by anglers fishing the river arms as well as the deep water in front of the wall. Deep-diving lures are needed to fish that area while surface lures work well at dusk in the shallower water in the arms.

Dartmouth is also worth the drive, with trout being caught mainly in the early morning; a Fender trailing a bait or lure is the best method.

Redfin and yellowbelly are being caught at Waranga Basin. Best spots are in front of the island, the area in front of the kite flyers’ caravan park and Harrimans Point near the water pumps to the housing estate.

Another spot worth a try is the Goulburn upstream from Arcadia to Nagambie. Cod and yellowbelly are taking baits such as grubs, shrimp, yabbies and worms as well as cheese and chicken.

Back to saltwater fishing, and over the border at Eden, John Liddell said the team from Freedom Charters was bagging snapper, morwong and flathead along the reefs between Boyd’s Lookout and Green Cape, while schools of kingfish were also showing up.

At Narooma, Graham Cowley said good hauls of big flathead were being taken near Montague Island.

James Luddington from Flinders Island said it was flathead and gummy shark being caught around Lady Baron.

Stay safe, and tight lines until next week.