Tackle Tactics » Tips-Techniques » Pro-Lure-Fishing-Tips » The Perfect Switchblade?
The Perfect Switchblade?
Keith Stratford
TT Switchblades have been producing a huge range of species for fishos all around Australia for years now. ?I've been giving the flatties a decent workout with them during the last couple of years, mainly jigging the 1/2oz models in deeper water with good success, but found it just a bit too heavy in water under 15 feet deep. I also fished the 1/8oz Switchblade a fair bit, but found it was being eaten by a lot of smaller fish like bream, moses perch and really small flatties. Thankfully the crew at TT were onto this and designed an in between model weighing in at 3/8oz.
The profile is a perfect imitation of a small herring and the weight is well suited for jigging depths between 5 and 30 feet. We managed a heap of nice flatties up to 95cm on the 3/8oz Switchblade around the Jumpinpin area leading up to the Flathead Classic this year, along with a bit of interesting by-catch including jewies, tuskfish, small snapper, trevally, big bream, tailor and greedy estuary cod.
Jigging the deeper ledges close into the steep mud banks was the most successful technique, with a simple lift and drop retrieve. If bait showed up on the sounder we caught fish, but you never really know what's going to eat them next. Casting them up onto the top of the ledges at high tide and letting them fall down the face also worked well, with some good fish sitting right up on the mud.
Now that the flatty season is nearing its end I've been giving them a run around my local creeks and also further north around Bundaberg for all sorts of critters. Although they aren't great for casting at snags, it's always worth having a spare rod rigged with a 3/8oz Switchblade for jigging the deep holes on the bends. I always keep an eye on the sounder while I'm casting at snags and as soon as a bit of bait shows up I simply drop it over the back of the boat and give it a few jigs.
Schools of fish busting into bait are also perfect for the throwing the 3/8oz Switchblades into. They have plenty of weight to cast a mile on light spin gear, but the profile is still small enough to get the fussy feeders like tarpon to eat them. Myself and a few mates had a cracking few days on the Burrum River recently where we caught a stack of nice fish.
Each morning and afternoon we hit the Buxton Hole for a bit of fun. It was simply a matter of finding the fish on the sounder and dropping a switchblade into them. Most times they didn't make it to the bottom and there were two 50-60cm tarpon jumping around the boat. Occasionally a nice tailor would beat the tarpon to it, or a cod, or moses perch would eat it if they made it to the bottom. About the only thing I haven't caught on a 3/8oz switchblade now is a jack, but I know just the right rock bar to jig one over to fix that problem!
TT Lures Switchblades are available in 1/8, 1/6, 1/4, 3/8 and 1/2oz, with a Switchblade HD version available in 1, 1.5 and 2oz for deep water and offshore work. If finesse fishing is your thing, check out the 1/12 and 1/6oz polycarbonate, semi-transparent TT Lures Ghostblade.