Product Review: Double Clutch 48SP and Infeet Spike 44EXDR

By Mark Gercovich

I have a little bit of a problem with my bream fishing. It's that I’ve been just a little too addicted to chasing them on the surface the past few years, at the expense of some other very effective and still damn fun techniques. The release of the Double Clutch 48SP and Infeet Spike 44EXDR has re-kindled my enthusiasm for catching bream on jerkbaits, and a reconnection that I’m absolutely loving.

Double Down

The Double Clutch 48SP is a finesse twitch or jerkbait that is now the smallest lure in the extensive Double Clutch range.  The Silent Gravity Oscillation System shifts the lure's centre of gravity on every twitch, thus making the lure shift and pivot differently with each movement of the rod tip. It also helps the lure cast well for such a small lure. A big problem with many small-styled lures in the past. The Double Clutch 48 comes in 15 colors with many screaming “eat me” when you look at them in the box or in the water.

I particularly have a penchant for the ‘chrome belly’ color.  It’s very similar to an old discontinued Presso color that I used to love. It matches the local minnow population here in the South West of Victoria perfectly and has been getting monstered by both bream and trout alike. When attempting to suspend or slow twitch a lure in front of a fish’s face in clear water it’s pretty important that the lure’s finish looks very natural and there are some awesome other colors like ‘sheer wakasagi’, ‘sheer kawamutu’, ‘ghost ayu’, and ‘ghost perch’ that fit the bill.

Spike It

The Spike is a well know lure and the new Infeet Spike 44EXDR is the deepest running model ever, swims at very slow speeds, and hits 3 meters (12 feet) on a retrieve. It is great to be able to use such a small lure that gets down to such a depth. The biggest problem I can find with the Spike EXDR is that its great diving depth means it is often situated very close to the bream’s home when it gets crunched.

This often means you don’t get the lure back. While the Double Clutch is best used by casting at and around structure the Spike 44EXDR is best worked parallel to the bank. Position the boat close to the bank, cast well as far ahead as you can and work the lure down to the structure below. The sense of anticipation as you slowly work across unseen rocks waiting for that crunch is very addictive.

One great little feature is that the boxes for these lures have the exact hook patterns and sizes for each model, and is handy feature when you needed to replace your hooks. It's always important to keep your hooks in good condition and replace them when they break, get blunt or twisted out of shape. I've always been terrible at remembering which size and/or pattern hook goes on what lure so I’m very appreciative of this simple but handy feature.

Now is the perfect time to get out and do some lure fishing for bream and trout in our local waterways. Arm yourself with a few of these new Daiwa lures and you are sure to be in for plenty of action.