DECOY - SV-67 BACHI HEAD JIG HEAD MADE IN JAPAN

Decoy SV-67 Bachi Head Jig Head — Made In Japan

Bachi is the Japanese word for the polychaete worms — ragworms and their relatives — that live in estuary mud, and bachi-nuke is what happens when they leave it to spawn. Over a handful of nights, usually on the spring tides around a new or full moon and on the run-out, the worms release from the bottom and drift in the current in huge numbers. Seabass gather on them and become almost impossible to catch on anything else: with thousands of thin, slow, barely-swimming worms going past, a fish locked onto that shape ignores anything fast or fat. Matching it means a slender profile drifting at current speed, close to horizontal — which is what the SV-67 is for.

The head shape is inherited from the Rocket Head, which gives two things at once: a horizontal swimming posture, so a slim worm bait tracks flat rather than nose-down, and the casting distance to cover a canal mouth or a bridge light line. The hook is a long shank with a narrow gape, so it does not sit in the way when a seabass inhales rather than attacks, and it is an up-point pattern, so even that soft suction takes the point into the roof of the mouth. A slim keeper holds a thin bait square and stops it sliding on the cast. Outside the bachi season it earns its place on the same marks during baitfish patterns when fish are finicky, and on flatfish and rockfish over sand and rubble.

Key Features

• Rocket Head-derived shape for horizontal swimming and extended casting distance
• Long shank, narrow gape hook that does not obstruct a soft, inhaling take
• Up-point hook geometry for solid hook-sets on weak bites
• Slim keeper that rigs slender worm baits straight and prevents slipping
• Designed for the bachi (worm) pattern; also effective on baitfish patterns, flatfish and rockfish
• NS Black hook finish; three sizes stocked from 2.5 g to 7 g

How To Rig It

• Dead drift the worm pattern — Cast across and slightly up-current, keep light tension, and let the head swing round at the speed of the flow with the rod tip low. If the tail is kicking, you are going too fast.
• Work the light lines — On bridge and jetty lights, drop into the dark side and let the current carry the bait through the seam into the lit water. Takes usually come at the edge.
• Slow straight retrieve — In still water, wind just fast enough to hold the head horizontal. Weight up to 7 g when wind or tide takes the line out of contact.
• Do not strike — A bachi-feeding seabass gives a soft, weight-only take. Keep winding, let the rod load, then sweep. Striking pulls the up-point hook out of a soft mouth.

Target Species By Region

• Southeast Asia — The regional parallel is the rainy-season worm and insect drift out of mangrove creeks and river mouths. Fish it slow on the run-out for barramundi (siakap), mangrove jack, estuary trevally and threadfin around drains, bridge lights and canal mouths.
• North America — The east coast worm hatch is the same event: striped bass on cinder worms in New England estuaries, plus speckled trout, flounder and redfish.
• Japan & East Asia — The home use: suzuki (seabass) on the bachi-nuke pattern in bay canals, river mouths and harbours, then hirame, mako-garei and kasago on the same head.
• Australia, Middle East & Europe — Estuary perch, bream and flathead in Australian systems; European seabass on Atlantic estuaries and harbour walls, where ragworm swarms cause the same behaviour.

Specifications

Model SV-67 Bachi Head. Made in Japan by Katsuichi (Decoy).

Recommended Pairing

• Seabass spinning rod around 8–9 ft rated to roughly 5–20 g, with a 2500–3000 size reel
• PE 0.6–1.0 braid to a 12–20 lb fluorocarbon leader
• Slim worm and needle-profile soft baits; thick shad bodies defeat the point of the head
• 2.5 g for calm, shallow canals, 3.5 g as the general choice, 7 g for wind, depth and moving tide