Towadi or not Towadi

09Feb07

Tackle never ceases to amaze me these days. Reels are getting smoother, rods are so much lighter with more feel and power where it’s needed and with the introduction of braided lines opportunities are now endless, limited only by the imagination.

I will get into rods, reels, lines and other stuff in later posts, but for today I can’t wait to tell you about a new something that has got me very excited of late. Towadis – they are tiny, little, state-of-the-art Japanese lures that are made to such perfection and balance it seems a shame to even tie one on your line in case something bigger or stronger or little quicker then expected steals one from you.

Being a North Queenslander used to catching Barramundi, our recent move to the more southern waters of the Gold Coast have seen me searching for that new something as close as I can get to Barra fever, so naturally enough its Bream fever. And these Towadis make it all the more enjoyable.

Smith are now importing lures of all different shape and size, from Jigs to Poppers, Bream to Barra, big and small, surface and deep diving – and now that they have landed in Australian waters, I just can’t get enough of the masterful creations from the land of the rising sun. One of these many new imports is the Towadi. It’s a surface lure 43mm long and just perfect for Bream. I always turn to using surface lures when I can, and am even prepared to sacrifice a few bites if it is not the ideal way to fish at the time, because it’s simply more fun. Not that these lures are any disadvantage to your fishing. On the contrary, surface fishing will out fish most of any type if it’s done correctly – even if the strike is more of a ‘sipping’ bite of a Bream rather then the ‘boof’ of a Barra.

Fishing is all much the same to me, whether it is catching ‘Grander’ Marlin on the GBR or Bream on Towadis in the Broadwater close to home. I love it all and can find enjoyment in all types of fishing, just as long as I have a rod in my hands. (So to speak).

K and I returned from another ‘glamour’ morning on the Gold Coast Broadwater this week (photos above). Conditions were perfect for fishing with our tiny Towadi’s. Being such a small, delicate, surface lure, it can easily get lost in any sort of wave made by even a gentle breeze. Not to mention trying to cast them accurately, so the lightest braid known to man and a 6 ft graphite spin rod with a bit of tip action is standard equipment.

We both laid our first casts over a weed edge riddled with baitfish herded up into the shallows by patrolling Bream, Tailor and Flathead. And, it didn’t take very long before a boil and that familiar ‘sipping’ sucked down my Towadi. A quick fight and the first fish for the morning was de-hooked and released. Bream were giving the bait a real touch up along the edge and it was simple enough to get bites casting anywhere near them.

Sometimes the Bream would miss the lure or never sucked hard enough to get hooked, but by letting the lure float and sit on the surface, they usually can’t resist making a more determined second effort and reward you with a hookup. I’ve let the lure float there for what seems an eternity before just to see who can out last who. And I’m sure that he is swimming there looking at it and thinking “if it just moves one more bit”…. Normally if he out lasts you, the slightest twitch with the rod tip will get him to bite again.

On this morning, the action was thick and fast until the wind came up and shut the bite down. K managed the best fish for the morning and I was also lucky to catch a nice Tailor that was kind enough not to bite through the light leader. Even though these Bream we catch in the ‘main’ Broadwater are quite tasty, we decided to let them live another day. But it won’t be long until we head back there and ‘rip’ out a couple and share to you a beauty Bream recipe or two.

Stay tuned for that.

Filed under: Fishing, Lures, Tackle   |  1 Comment