I was recently given the opportunity to fish one of the more innovative lures I’ve seen in quite a while – the Megabass SuWitch. It’s a three-piece jointed lure with an adjustable bib, allowing the angler to change the depth the lure dives and making it a swimbait / wakebait hybrid. A concept like this from your average run-of-the-mill manufacturer would instantly have me thinking it’s a bit of gimmick, but when a tackle giant like Megabass designs it, I take notice and I’m keen to get it on the water.
The SuWitch measures 5.4 inches (137mm) and weighs a measly 32 grams (1⅛ oz) making it quite a lightweight swimbait for its size. The light weight makes the lure a great size and option for a number of species and a realistic option to be fished on regular fishing tackle, meaning you don’t need to buy a swimbait rod or heavy casting rod to cast the lure.
The SuWitch comes rigged with three sets of light gauge treble hooks. These trebles are perfect if you’re fishing for big trout, estuary perch or flathead. However, if you’re fishing for Murray cod or barramundi, I’d recommend upgrading the hooks and split rings if you want to avoid spitting the dummy when you lose a big fish boat-side.
When modified as a wake bait, the lure swims subsurface and dives to a maximum of 20cm, compared with diving to a depth of one metre when modified to the diving function. However, it’s all well and good for a lure to look good and be versatile in theory, but jointed lures of this kind still need to swim true and be built tough to handle Australian species.
When Hooked Up editor Kosta showed me this bait, we agreed that it was screaming out to be eaten by a giant flathead and the first port of call for me was to trek to East Gippsland.
My first experience on the water with the SuWitch is still etched into my memory. I was fishing in far East Gippsland, had only been fishing for about 10 minutes when I had an extra-large flathead porpoise out of the water, five metres from the boat, trying to eat the SuWitch. It was bloody outrageous and honestly makes my brain melt thinking about missing that fish. It was without doubt the craziest flathead strike I’ve ever experienced. But as it goes, I didn’t get another chance at a big topwater flathead for the remainder of the trip.
So I headed north to see if I could catch a cod or six. This is where the versatility of the SuWitch really shone through. As with most topwater lures, you’re going to get your fair share of missed hits. Following a missed hit, I tend to follow it up with a few more casts and then a cast with a diving lure to see if that will draw another hit.
The ability to change the depth of the lure almost instantly no doubt increased my catch rates when I was fishing for Murray cod. It saved me the burden of looking for and tying on a different lure. It enabled me to instantly put in another cast with a slightly different presentation, which is often all I needed to convert a hit, to a fish landed.
The perfect example of this quick presentation change was when I had a mid-60cm cod follow my ‘wake modified’ SuWitch out from under a willow tree to the middle of the river. The fish was stalking the lure but wouldn’t commit. Quickly pushing the bib to the diving modification, I cast ahead of where I saw the cod slinking back off to its snag and sure enough triggered a bite and landed the fish.
Whether you’re a big believer in this lure or not, this example should at least reinforce that making a small lure presentation change can drastically increase your catch rates.
After fishing this lure extensively since the Christmas holidays, I can definitively say there are three different presentations you can make with this lure. You have the obvious wakebait and deep diving presentations, but if you increase your retrieve speed slightly with the wakebait modification, the lure will track about 10cm under the surface and perform as a true swimbait. Yes, some wakebaits will dive a bit deeper if you speed up the retrieve, but a lot of them ‘blow out’ or have a negative change in their action. The SuWitch does not incur this fault; it swims true and tracks straight when retrieved quickly.
Regardless of the bib modification, the lure still possesses a truly mesmerising rolling swimbait action – it’s finish, action and versatility are outstanding.
Overall, the SuWitch is without question one of the most versatile lures I’ve ever used. Not just because you can fish it as a diving swimbait or as a wakebait, but because there are a variety of species that will eat the lure. From salt to freshwater, I have no doubt this lure will account for many more fish this summer.
Words & Images: Sammy Leys
