Attacking the flats HERVEY BAY
Mark Bargenquast
Firstly I’d like to introduce myself, Mark Bargenquast also known as ‘Bargy’. I grew up fishing Hervey Bay for whiting, bream and flathead then as a jetty rat,
did the usual progression thing with live baits, lures, bass and barra, offshore pelagics, bottom fishing offshore from Fraser Island then took up saltwater flyfishing before starting a guiding business in Hervey Bay 10 years ago. I finished up guiding in Hervey Bay
2 years ago and now guide part time with Fish’s Fly and Sportfishing in Weipa and Cape York. I will be writing several feature articles with the QFM crew in the near future, this being the first and I will cover my favourite, inshore flats and fly fishing. Here in south east
John with a big painted sweetlip (blue bastard) sight cast on fly on the flats and rocky areas around Weipa.
A big queenfish comes to the boat. Caught on the flats, queenies are always great fun in shallow water.
Queensland we have some pretty reasonable flats fishing during summer and early autumn but winter is pretty quiet. Cold water is the reason but way up north where I spend most of my winter it’s warm all year round, ranging from 24°C in winter to 32°C in midsummer, so naturally the inshore flats fish well all year. Many people I have fished with during the past years ask what’s my favourite fishing technique? Well everyone has a favourite and mine is definitely sight fishing on the flats. Size doesn’t matter here too with some great memories of sighting diamond trevally, golden trevally, tarpon, blue
bastards (painted sweetlip), black spot tuskfish, snub nosed dart and the incredibly hard milkfish are what it’s all about on the flats. Of course these are a more tropical species but they can all be found right down to the Queensland border in small pockets. Here in Hervey Bay we are blessed with an annual run of longtail tuna that can be sight fished in a meter of water on the Fraser Island flats when tides and conditions are right. Even juvenile black marlin are a regular here in ridiculously shallow water, just google Strip Strike Productions black torpedos and have a look (we even caught one in 2011 in less than 1m of water on a
WHAT TO LOOK FOR Obviously a flat is an expanse of shallow water, usually within the high and low water mark and preferably clean water to sight your quarry. Some of the best flats I have fished are on the central Queensland coast but are impossible to fish on the spring tides, due to faster water movement stirring up silt and mud, but on the neap tides they are clean enough to see the fish moving around. These type of flats are usually around major river or creek mouths where floodwaters have deposited the silts after floods. These flats are usually packed with food due to the higher nutrient levels. Yabbies,
Donk with a little GT caught off the back of a stingray. Accurate casting did the job and is an important skill to have if flats fishing is your game.
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salmon and queenfish then placing a nice cast in front of the fish and watching them charge over and eat the fly. Of course these can be easy to catch (on fly or light spin) with the right presentation and for the weekend angler it’s as exciting as it gets. For the more experienced angler harder species like blue
stickbait!). Cobia, yellowtail kingfish, Spanish and spotted mackerel, giant trevally, giant herring, threadfin salmon and more are regular visitors to shallow waters and can lead to exciting fishing. And of course don’t forget bream, flathead and whiting as viable flats, sight casting options - they can be great!
prawns, bloodworms, crabs, pipis and cockles can all be thick on these flats. All of this food attracts the predators. Also areas of low or no inshore net fishing is a bonus. Once you have found what looks like a good flat, consider where the fish will move on and off the flat with