Tackle Tactics » Tips-Techniques » Saltwater-Estuary » Bad Weather Switching

Bad Weather Switching

By Sean Bekkers

Over the past few months I've have had some unreal days on the water, with minimal wind, great tides and clear water... but for every good day I've had an equally opposite rubbish day, where the wind has been howling and with the occasional rain squall to keep things interesting. When the weather is good my favourite presentations come out to play, including my ZMan plastics, however on those tough weather days, along with my plastics, I have been switching things up and using a 1/2oz TT Lures Switchblade. As many anglers are aware this is a proven presentation that can produce quality fish.

The first session using my TT Switchblade (Switchy) the weather wasn't favourable. I was greeted by winds howling from the SE in a wind over tide situation and to make things more interesting the rain squalls were ripping in every couple of minutes, which meant a supply of good coffee was in order. My target species on this particular morning was some school jewfish (mulloway) and at this time of year they are usually found in good numbers. Based on past sessions, slow rolling my ZMan 6" SwimmerZ, rigged on an 8/0 TT Lures SnakelockZ jighead, should have got their attention. Even with bait flicking along the surface and great showings of bait and fish on my sounder I couldn't raise one strike, not even a flathead.

I persisted for about 40 minutes, with nothing to show for it and as I looked back over the hill, I could see another squall was inbound. At this stage I thought to myself, "I should really pull the pin and head back in", but I had a TT Switchblade sitting in the top of my tackle box and while I was packing everything away I decided to send it in before I headed off.

The water itself wasn't too dirty, but as the rain and tide was draining off the banks it created these nice little dirty water patches, almost like a mushroom cloud of muddy coloured water. I quickly tied on my Switchy, smeared on some Pro-Cure and flicked it in right to the edge of the dirty water mark. As the boat had stuff everywhere and the rain was inbound, I basically let the lure sit on the bottom for a good couple of minutes while I packed everything away.

Once I sorted my life out, I got back to fishing and actually started working my lure, giving it one nice slow rise, so that the lure vibrated slowly up off the bottom, before giving it a rather long pause. Pretty much like a hop and pause style retrieve that many anglers do when fishing plastics. Whilst on the pause I had the lightest of touches and as I was keen to catch anything by this stage, I didn't miss on the strike!

Once this fish realised it was hooked, it got heavy and ran for deeper water. There was no mistaking that I had hooked my jewfish (mulloway). As I was using lighter gear, I had the drag lightly set and basically chased it around in the rain for a bit. Once I had it to the net I realised that the Switchy had actually missed its mouth completely and hooked up under its lower jaw. The benefits of having trebles I guess. After a quick check the jewfish (mulloway) went 74cm and was quickly sent on its way. With some newfound enthusiasm I worked the edge that I had just covered with the plastic and managed to pin a few flathead before calling it a day.

This was the first time that I had tied on a TT Lures Switchblade and had a good go at targeting fish on the edge. It was pretty obvious to me that on this occasion the fish were really keyed onto the lure vibrations when working it slowly. The bites came either on the drop or straight off the bottom.  Since that trip I have done a few more sessions using the Switchblade, on good weather days and not so good weather days. In both situations the Switchy has go the bite. There is no mistaking that flathead love them as the lure is usually halfway down their throat, so make sure you have pliers handy. Bream don't mind whacking a 1/2oz Switchy either!

If you check out TT Lures Switchblades on the Tackle Tactics website, www.tackletactics.com.au, you'll find there are heaps of colours and sizes to choose from, which can be a little daunting when trying to choose a Switchy that will cover a lot of your fishing bases. For me there were three things that I took into consideration when selecting the colours and size of my Switchy. I took into account the location I was intending to fish, the bait I was intending to imitate and my target species.

Location: For me, I predominately fish an edge bite and deeper water that may have structure such as rocky / gravelly bottom, weed edges and occasionally around manmade structure such as pylons. Depths will vary from 2 to 10 metres (occasionally deeper) and can have a lot of current moving about. The 1/2oz gets to the bottom quickly and works really well in all of these areas, without blowing out on a quick retrieve. Likewise, it performs well on a slow rise, which is how I like to work them.

Bait: The predominant bait throughout the year that I am imitating is mullet and herring. With this in mind I looked for something that would 'match the hatch', so the colours that I choose to work most often are Aussie Green & Gold and Silver Minnow. Between the two I tend to favour the Aussie... I guess I'm a sucker for anything green.

Target species: When working the edges I'm predominately targeting jewfish (mulloway) and flathead, especially through the winter months, however there is always the possibility of quality table snapper as well as some over excited bream. Choosing a size that will cover all of these situations can be a little tricky. As bream are more of a by-catch the 1/2oz is spot on for me, however if you're going out to target more bream and whiting have a look at the smaller sizes as TT Switchblades are available in a range of sizes, including 1/8oz, 1/4oz, 3/8oz and 1/2oz.

The TT Lures Switchblade (Switchy) has become a favourite for when I need a presentation that will trigger a bite on a tough bite and the sticky trebles help get a hook up when the fish are only half-heartedly striking. Straight out of the box you'll notice a few adjustments that can be made using the tow point holes across the top, which are worth playing around with depending on what depth of water you're working them in and type of retrieve you're using. If you haven't given one a go or need to dust off an old one, now is a pretty good time to target some flathead.

Screaming Dragz, Sean

Sean's Tackle Box:

TT Lures Switchblade - 1/2oz Aussie Green & Gold / Silver Minnow
Okuma Cerros Spinning Rods - CER-S-701ML 7' 2-4kg
Okuma Epixor XT Spin Reels - EPXT-30
Platypus Platinum Braid - 10lb
Platypus Stealth FC Fluorocarbon Leader - 15lb
Lowrance Elite TI2 (my eyes underwater)