Wind, rain, a run-in tide a few days off the moon — exactly the kind of day most Brisbane River anglers would put off. For Justin and Deck on Tackle Tactics TV, it was a green light to fish blades. Two days after the trip went up on YouTube, the takeaway is plain: when the conditions are awful, blade lures are still the best tool in the box.
"We are out on the river. Brisbane River that is. And we've got a big run-in tide. It's pretty windy. We're only a few days off the moon. So we're going to use a few blades to try and wake a few fish up," the lads explained at the launch. "Perfect option for that flow and that wind. We can get these lures out, get them down there, and hopefully find ourselves a few fish."
Blade fishing rewards versatility, and the Brisbane day proved it. The first session was a deep-water bottom-bounce on a pressure edge with the tide running. The opening drift produced a double hook-up. Justin's quarter-ounce Switchblade Plus pulled a small flathead. Deck's same lure picked up a snapper.
"That's the great thing about blades — the variety of species," Deck said. "Lots of hook points." The squire that ate his blade had been so cranky on the lift, he reckoned, it had no choice but to nail it.
The river then served up its best signal of the morning: pelagic bust-ups on the surface chasing prawns. The lads switched their retrieve from a slow bottom-bounce to a quick wind, and within two casts the first tailor had been pinned. "That's probably what I saw eating the prawn," Justin said. "Yeah, he's a nice tailor. Beautiful little quarter-ounce switchy in the corner of his mouth. And he's on."
A bigger profile sealed it. Switching to a half-ounce Switchblade Plus to deny the smaller tailor the chance to bite through, Justin landed the standout fish of the morning — a thumping tailor that destroyed a rock-bar run on a 1-3kg Black Mamba. "Big headshake on him. He loved it," Justin said as the fish came to the net. "That's why I love blades. You just never know what is going to eat it. Flash, vibration, we bounced it on the bottom. Got a snapper. Got a flatty. Saw that action up high, kept him up behind the water column. Bang. Big tailor."
Later in the session the lads moved out of the wind into a high-tide drain in three feet of water and rolled out the Switch Prawn Plus. Same blade family, completely different presentation — and another flathead, this one around the 50cm mark, ate the lure on a slow roll. "Yeah, get this guy back and we'll tuck that switchy back in and we'll see what else we can find," Justin said. The block-style 'Greenback' colour was the call.
A black-spot estuary cod from the base of a rock bar made it five species. "Yeah, I reckon this is a cod sitting at the base of that rock ball," Deck called as the fish loaded up. The little red Switch Minnow assist hook had pinned the cod cleanly in the bottom of the jaw. "Beautiful little cod. Back down there to live in the rocks and terrorise everything," Deck said.
The pylons of a houseboat barge then turned on a bream session. "They love a blade," Justin said as a double hook-up came up under the boat. "Even in the wind, it allows us to effectively make an accurate cast and get the bite." The 37mm, 3.5g Switchblade Plus did the work, with the angler swapping to a back-hole tow point on the Switch Prawn Plus when fishing higher current to slow the roll without killing the vibration.
The gear discussion ran throughout. The TT Weatherproof Zman tackle block kept everything dry through several rain bands. The TT pliers earned multiple cameos getting trebles out of toothy critters without bending the hooks. Replacement Owner assist hooks in three sizes covered the Switch Prawn Plus across the day. The two larger trays in the block had been pulled to make room for dedicated blade trays, with the Switchblade Plus, Switch Minnow Plus and Switch Prawn Plus each in their own organiser.
Final scoreboard: tailor (multiple, including a cracker), flathead (one keeper at 50cm), bream, snapper and a black-spot cod, on three blade profiles fished from 20 foot of moving water to a single foot in a tidal drain. Wind, cloud, showers, and the bite never really shut down. "That's why I love blades," Justin said. "You just never know what is going to eat it."