Product Review- 115 Double Clutch

By Callum Munro

I’ve been up to Lake Monduran in SE QLD recently and have been targeting barramundi in shallow and deep water with the new Daiwa Double Clutch 115. These lures have been working great in shallow water when the water temp is consistent but as the temp is dropping more and more. I’ve been using them out in the tops of trees in the main river channel.

Shallow water

Anchor your boat by tying off to a tree or by using spot lock in shallow water in around the 6ft of water. This has been the best way to target these barra on jerkbaits. A lot of people will anchor their boats out in the deeper water and cast back to the shallow, but I like to have my lure in the bite zone at all times. So, I’ll sit in the depth and cast parallel across a point or flat.  By doing this you keep your Daiwa Double Clutch in the perfect depth to target big barramundi. Depending on how aggressive the fish are I’d try and figure out how long I have to pause the lure before getting a bite.

If the water temp is consistent usually the barra are quite aggressive, and you don’t have to pause your lure for a long time.  But if the water is cooling you’ll have to adjust and might have to leave your lure in one place for up to 15 secs before moving it again. I usually start off with 3 whacks of the rod and then let the lure sit for around 3 secs and then repeat the process.  But if you aren’t getting any bites, adjust and let your lure pause for at least 5 secs.  Then do this all the way up to 15 secs.  By doing this you’ll be able to figure out a pattern.

Deep water

This has to be one of my favourite ways to target barra with Daiwa Double Clutches. I identify the areas of where the barra will hold by sounding the main river channel. Usually barra will suspend in the tops of the trees along the main river bed and I usually find that the big spindly tree tops are the best. This is the ideal area to target barra on jerkbaits. Barra will use these areas sort of like their home base and if you can find these trees that they hang around, it is a perfect place to target them on jerkbaits.

Usually I like to bang the Daiwa Double Clutch through the tops of branches on the trees. You’ll get a lot of snags, so have your lure pole handy but you will get absolutely smashed by barra.  This technique is usually a fast technique, but you can adjust similar to the shallow water technique. It’s a great way to target Barra that are out of a bite time.

Gear

 Now the gear that I use plays a massive part in landing big barramundi. It also helps if you have the right rod and reel combo that is matching to using jerkbaits.

I’ve been running Daiwa Commander Duckfin 722MFB 8-15kg matched to a Daiwa Fuego 200 LTD reel with 40lb Daiwa J-Braid Grand and a 60lb Daiwa J-Thread Fluro leader. This set up seems to perform well with a great action plus plenty of pulling power to pull those big barra out of the trees

Now The colours that I’ve had the most success with chartreuse shad, boney and soda pop. So next time you’re going on a barra fishing trip go in and check them out at your local Daiwa dealer because these things catch fish.