Flathead 101: Soft Plastics on Low Tide by Shayne McKee

We're going to talk about why low water is such a good time to target flatties with plastics, what to look for and where to cast, what I use and find important to success and also look at the basic retrieve.

Low tide is the perfect time to cast and retrieve plastics for flathead for a number of reasons. Not the most important point, but certainly worth noting for those new to casting for flathead is that you can usually see your target. The targets at low tide revolve around structure; weed beds, snags, rocky areas, hard black clay and even drop offs. Being able to define your target area makes everything else we'll talk about seem much more sensible, and if you know me, you'll understand being sensible is very hard for me.

If you check over the map close by, you'll see a variety of situations where flathead will be found in and around low tide.

The pick for me is the weedy edges. These weed edges usually run along the typical low tide height and provide cover and food; two very important factors wherever you want to chase flathead. As you can see the weed edge clearly, it's a simple matter of casting to it and then working your lure out from the edge. The idea here is to imitate a baitfish being forced out of the weed to the relative sanctuary of deeper water. And don't be afraid to cast really tight to the weed as the flathead will lie with just their eyes visible right alongside and sometime actually in the weed.