Dusky flathead

A long fish with a wide, very flat head, eyes on top, a big mouth and a body that tapers to the tail. Brown to sandy with dark speckles, a pale belly, and a tail with a dark blotch and a blue-and-white patch near the lower edge. Two sharp spines on each side of the head.

14–24 in and 1–4 lb; females over 28 in are the "crocs".

About 4 ft and 33 lb (15 kg).

Small fish such as mullet and whiting, prawns and crabs.

An ambush hunter that buries itself in sand or mud with only its eyes showing, facing into the current, waiting for bait to pass. The biggest fish are females.

Found from Queensland & the Great Barrier Reef and South-East Australia & Tasmania. Estuaries, coastal lakes, sand and mud flats, channel edges and weed beds from north Queensland to Victoria's Gippsland Lakes; Lake Macquarie, Moreton Bay and the Gold Coast Broadwater are famous.

Estuaries, coastal lakes, sand and mud flats, channel edges and weed beds from north Queensland to Victoria's Gippsland Lakes; Lake Macquarie, Moreton Bay and the Gold Coast Broadwater are famous.

1–30 ft.

1–15 ft, along drop-offs and drains.

All year; best in spring and summer (September to March).

Daylight hours, especially early morning and late afternoon.

The first half of the run-out tide, when bait drains off the flats and out of the creeks; the turn of high tide is good too.

Stable weather with clean water; a few days of steady conditions beat a front coming through.

Live poddy mullet, prawns, whitebait and pilchard pieces.

Soft-plastic minnows and paddle tails hopped along the bottom, vibes and small diving hard-bodies.

7 ft light-medium spinning rod (2–5 kg).

1/0–4/0 hooks; 1/8–3/8 oz jig heads.

6–12 lb braid.

15–25 lb fluorocarbon — flathead have rough mouths and sharp gill spines.

Drift or walk the edges of sand flats and channel drop-offs on the falling tide, hopping soft plastics along the bottom with long pauses. Look for "lies" — flathead-shaped marks in the sand.

Big flathead are breeding females; release the "crocs" and keep the 40–60 cm fish for the table.

Catch and release: wet your hands, keep the fish in the water when you can, and release it quickly. Use circle hooks and a dehooker.

Excellent eating — one of the best-tasting fish in its range.

Bleed and ice it right away. Fillet, then remove the skin and any dark bloodline.

Excellent white, flaky fillets — Australia's favorite fish and chips fish. Crumb or batter and fry.

Two sharp, venomous-feeling spines on each side of the head and sharp dorsal spines — a jab is very painful. Hold the fish by the lower jaw with a lip grip, and never grab it around the head.

Queensland uses a 40–75 cm slot; NSW has a 36 cm minimum and allows only one fish over 70 cm. Check current rules. Each Australian state sets its own rules: NSW and Victoria require a recreational fishing licence in fresh and salt water, Western Australia needs a licence for boat fishing and freshwater angling, Tasmania for inland waters, and Queensland only for stocked impoundments; the Northern Territory needs none. Bag limits, size limits, closed seasons and marine park zones apply everywhere.

Keep only what you'll eat and release the big breeders; wet your hands, support the fish's belly and get it back in the water fast.