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Upsize Me
Richard Quincey
I have been hooked on the ZMan 3" Scented ShrimpZ for the last year and have caught some great fish, including a variety of species. Barra, jack, cod, trevally, queenfish, blue salmon, threadfin salmon, bream, jew, grunter, flathead, fingermark... well, we all know that everything eats a prawn.?
When live baiting, the bigger the prawn the better, so I was happy to see some ZMan 4" Scented ShrimpZ kick into my local tackle shop recently and the tackle box soon had an addition to the range of 3" ShrimpZ it held. ?
During September and October, in the creeks south of Townsville, the larger ShrimpZ have performed well. They have accounted for some good barra and mangrove jack, as well as some thumping black bream. I have caught fish on the entire colour range however Natural and Holographic regularly appear when I review the day's photos.
When fishing over shallow flats or when the run in the creeks is slow, I prefer to fish them on a TT Lures SWS (snagless weight system - check out the new ChinlockZ SWS). This gives the ShrimpZ a natural horizontal sink and allows fish to take the bait in their own time. The ZMan 4" Scented ShrimpZ sit nicely on the 4/0 SWS, producing a good tail action on a solid hook. This also allows me to rig the 3" ShrimpZ on the 2/0 SWS, also producing free tail action. Just remember that a micro-dot of superglue on the hook shaft helps keep the plastic in place, or check out the latest release the ChinlockZ SWS with a built in 'chin lock' to secure the soft plastic in place.
When in a bit more run or fishing deeper water I fish the 4" ShrimpZ on the new TT Lures Snake Head jighead in a 4/0. This gets them down into the strike zone at the point where you land the cast. I like fishing light, rigging the ShrimpZ on as light as a 1/12 and 1/8oz jighead.
Fish of all sizes have proven willing to take the larger ShrimpZ, particularly the more aggressive species such as barra, fingermark and jack. Larger bream attack the plastic like it is a real prawn. If fish have been timid on the larger bait and have just followed it without a strike, a quick change back to the 3" ShrimpZ often sees their mood change.
I will admit to also tampering with both the 3 and 4" ShrimpZ at times. I often trim off the legs and find it gives them a very real banana prawn action - try a quick flick up off the bottom or out of a snag then let them slowly "glide" back down.
As always when using a ZMan plastic, after a day fishing I am amazed at how few I have used. A full day's fishing recently saw ShrimpZ account for a dozen barra of all sizes, three fingermark, ten large bream, 2 flathead and an assortment of smaller trevally and grunter. For the day I lost two 4" ShrimpZ - one buried deep in a snag by a large jack and another treated similarly by a small barra. I replaced one other 4" and one 3". It is great to have a realistic prawn that keeps on giving...