One of the newest additions to my tournament arsenal of late has been the ZMan product line. Based in South Carolina, ZMan is well known in the world of bass fishing and they are now actively marketing to the inshore coastal arena.
Thanks to Pat Malone at the HT Tournament trail, I was introduced to ZMan and have been fortunate to forge a relationship with the company as a pro staff member. Partnering with a company I knew nothing about was a first for me, but my tour partner Jamie Havard and I have been pleasantly surprised by the quality and performance of their baits. Here is a breakdown of our favorite products so far and a little insight into how they have benefited our tournament results of late.
Starting at the top, and incidentally the first thing I tried is the StreakZ jerkbait. At first glance I pretty much figured this to be a standard issue bait - you've seen one jerkbait and you've pretty much seen them all but when I started working with it I noticed a difference - it was very hard to rig! Basically, they have developed a soft plastic that is VERY durable yet soft so it is hard to puncture with the standard hitchhiker that my favorite Slayer Lures hooks use. Once I got it on and into the water, the second unusual thing happened - the bait floated!
We were fishing a HT Redfish Series event in the Mosquito Lagoon and anybody who has fished there can attest to how much the seagrass impacts lure selection - at this time of year the grass was dead and would really snag a lure. We were fishing in a strong wind so we had to use heavier weighted hook shafts than normal to keep a tight line and feel the hits. Other brands I tried first would nestle down in the grass and get hung all of the time but the ZMan bait had just enough extra floatation to keep the bait riding perfectly above the structure which was a key to our 6th place finish. Not to mention that I tied on one bait in the morning and never switched after catching at least a dozen trout and six reds - the ElaZtech formula was up to the challenge for sure. This thing is going to be a topwater trout killer when the water warms up and they get aggressive.
Next on the list was the MinnowZ - again a pretty standard issue paddletail grub until you tie one on and see what it will do. Like the StreakZ, this bait is very soft but at the same time far more durable than any other soft plastic I have used. My best testimonial for this product was a side to side comparison to another brand Jamie was using. We were fishing a Florida Lure Anglers tournament for redfish and trout and we parked in a small creek with a deep hole in hopes of getting a keeper trout after several unsuccessful hours on the water. I went with the chartreuse/silver on a red Slayer Lures 1/4oz jig and he went with the same jig and bait size/profile but a different brand.
I got on a bite and he didn't...so he started switching colors to match mine with no luck. Being the good partner that I am, I refused to share any MinnowZ baits with him and kept wearing the trout out. Just kidding, of course, but we did notice one key which I am sure factored into the lure's success. Thanks to the ElaZtech formula, the bait is very soft and therefore has much better action than the brand Jamie used. When I jigged mine, the bait would drop straight down and the tail would swim on the fall exactly like it should - the opposing brand would swim fine on the uptick, but on the fall the tail refused to flutter and the bait would corkscrew to the bottom.
Since all of my bites were happening on the fall, to me the action had to make the difference. Incidentally, since the Slayer jig head I use has bait keepers on both sides of the shaft the plastic stays put. I literally have the same jig and plastic tied on several weeks and dozens of fish later - you literally can't destroy this plastic. It was certainly the key to our 3rd place finish in this event.
Another bait that played a key in a tournament that I forgot to photograph was the CrawdadZ that we used to catch one of our winning redfish on a very tough February day. We really like to downsize and throw dark colored crustacean patterns during the winter so for this Florida Lure Anglers tournament I went with a 1/4oz ABT standup jighead and the black/red craw. Why was the ZMan bait different? Because the ElaZtech plastic floats which meant that the claws would sit upright in the current and wave without falling over when worked VERY slowly. I'm a firm believer that these subtle little things make all of the difference when you are faced with a tough bite. Another quality of this plastic is that it will absorb scent and later release it - you can actually see it enlarge if you soak it in attractant so I let these craws simmer in some crab flavored Lunker Sauce for that extra bit of punch. The engineers at ZMan told me that in the near future they will be releasing some exciting new technology in the scented bait arena so keep an eye out.
If you know me, you know I love to spinnerbait fish and the MinnowZ and StreakZ Curly TailZ are perfect companions for both inline and r-bend style frames. When rigging my inlines, I do use a drop of superglue to adhere the bait to the hook shaft because it will slide down a bit after opening up to accommodate the keel weighted hook shaft. But, that minor hassle is made up for by the fact that I won't have to replace the plastic all day long because it is so durable. They have a good color selection and the size and shape of the plastics are a perfect match to the lures.
Finally, we have the company's flagship lure - the Chatterbait. Now, I will be honest and tell everybody on the record that I thought this was a silly looking bait that wouldn't tempt any self respecting redfish. But, I did choose to give it some testing and I am glad I did because it paid off in the Jacksonville HT Cup tournament where we finished 2nd.
The first time I tried the bait I immediately noticed that it sends out a TREMENDOUS amount of vibration. Way more than a spinnerbait or crankbait - you can literally can hear it vibrating the line as it goes through your guides. Although I didn't catch anything the first try, I put that vibration factor into my memory and it came back to me a couple of months later in the HT tournament.
The harsh winter in Jacksonville has been very hard on our fishery and the reds are acting strange. During the tournament, we would drift over large flats with very soft mud bottom and noticed that we would spook reds but never see them....we would only see muddy puffs where they had been. The fish would never wake off but just seemed to stir up a little and settle right back down in the mud. We were methodically working these fish and had certainly presented baits to them but were having no luck. So, I told Jamie I was going to try something crazy and put on a Chatterbait Mini in hopes that the vibration would stir up a reaction bite. The very brown colored one pictured did the trick - I tipped it with an Exude mite and it worked! I would rip it, let it fall, pause, and rip it again and it really called them out of the mud and got them moving. I am confident this is going to be a lure that will bring many redfish and flounder to the scales for us - the combination of size, profile, flash, vibration, and color is a winner for sure.
Check out their website for a full description of their product line http://www.zmanfishing.com/
good info and great reports!
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