In general, water clarity on the mudflats is not good. When you can have more than seven metres of water pumping in and out of the harbour on a twice daily basis, it¹s not hard to understand why the water gets a bit murky. On top of that, strong winds often churn the shallows up with a short nasty chop that ensures plenty of suspended sediment.
This means that you generally don¹t get ideal sight fishing conditions, even right up in the shallows. However on the right moon phase when the tides have just begun to build from the neaps (when the least movement occurs) towards the springs (when the most movement occurs), the water can be clear enough to make spotting fish relatively easy.
This is the best time to fish the flats as you can spot the fish and cast to them, rather than blind casting. It also means that you will spook less fish, as they are generally very toey in the shallows and even though you may have trouble seeing them, then can still see you, and sudden movements or the boat¹s shadow will send them rushing off the flats, leaving you little more than a puff of silt to cast at.
Having said all that, it is not unusual to get plenty of chances on the flats, and it is common to find more than a dozen barra in a drift across any productive flat. Sometimes there are a lot more than that. In all honesty, most casual anglers would have difficulty believing the number of barra ghosting over the mudflats in Darwin Harbour as you read this. They simply just don¹t know where or when to look and even if they did, they make so much noise or commotion that the barra are out of there before they get seen.
I have been running a Minn Kota electric motor for several years now and the increase in the number of fish I see when using it when compared to my old two stroke outboard is incredible. Running on the silent power of the electric it is possible to sneak along a flat at less than walking pace and position yourself to make casts from ideal distances, which means you can comfortably reach the fish without running the risk of spooking them. The next best thing to the electric motor is one of the new super quiet four stroke motors, however even as quiet as they are they just can¹t match the versatility and sneakiness of the electric.
If your budget doesn’t stretch to an electric (and I would strongly suggest that you make it), then it may be worth looking at a push pole if you want to make a serious go of flats fishing. Some of the local guides have poling platforms on their boats, and no doubt it is easier to spot fish from the raised platform, however you need to remember that it will also be easier for the fish to see you, and it may not be practical to have a poling platform fitted to a small boat as the elevated centre of gravity may make it unstable. On top of that, you have the problem of storing a four- metre pole in a four metre dingy.
