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TT Lures NedlockZ EWG Jigheads
By Sean Bekkers
Over the weekend I had the opportunity to give Tackle Tactics new TT Lures NedlockZ EWG (weedless) Ned Rig jigheads a go and after a session fishing the creeks I believe that this little jighead is going to be a game changer.
For those of you that aren't familiar with the Ned Rig system of fishing, this presentation can be deadly when allowing the plastic to sit in amongst the structure or on the bottom. By having a combination of a buoyant soft plastic, matched up with the mushroom style jighead, the plastic stands up vertically, allowing it to move about in the current, resembling a defending yabby or feeding bait fish.
Over the last year I've had plenty of successful sessions with the traditional style TT Lures NedlockZ jighead, in particular the orange colour, when chasing bream and flathead. However, like fishing all jigheads that aren't weedless, I find myself pulling up a little short when casting into gnarly structure. This is obviously to avoid getting snagged, however as luck would have it, I wasn't the only one and Tackle Tactics have come up with the TT Lures Nedlockz EWG.
The Hook Up:
First session and first impressions, the hook itself looks a little funky. If you're familiar with the TT Lures SnakelockZ and ChinlockZ series of hooks by Tackle Tactics you'll notice a lot of similarities, with the most obvious difference being that the NedlockZ EWG hook is built into the head to stand up vertically like the standard TT NedlockZ. The hook has been custom built for the NedlockZ EWG and is a heavy duty VMC black nickel chemically sharpened hook.
Whilst on a recent kayak session with Justin from Tackle Tactics I was able to give the NedlockZ EWG in 1/10oz (Orange) a go. I chose to rig it up with a ZMan 2.75" TRD BugZ, both in Hot Snakes and The Deal colours. We ended up working the upper reaches of a creek to avoid the wind, so structure like mangrove edge with the occasional sunken tree greeted us.
It didn't take long for Justin to open his account with a couple of bream that happily took the presentation and found the hook. After a little while I opened my account on a mid-40's flathead that picked the presentation up off the bottom whilst on a pause and, following some net issues, I got it into the kayak. On closer inspection the hook had found it's mark in the upper jaw. Being an EWG style hook, it was locked in quite well and my initial thoughts were that the flathead may find it harder to throw the plastic.
I managed to nail another flathead of a similar size towards the end of my session and this time instead of nailing the presentation on the bottom, the fish chased it up the water column, from structure on the bottom, to nail it basically at the yak. Once again, I was intrigued to see where the hook found its mark and impressed to see yet again it was pinned right in the top of the jaw as before.
Like all weedless hooks, you can make them really snag resistant by burying the hook into the plastic and imbedding the hook point into the plastic a little also. The TT NedlockZ EWG is no different. I chose to keep the hook flat against the plastic, but not buried, meaning it would be pretty snag resistant and still allow for a good hook up rate. It is always a bit of a balancing act between hook up rate and snag resistance, lol.
So, for the ultimate test, casting into snags. Due to some funky casting my presentation managed to find its way into a lot of mangroves, both above and below the waterline and apart from absolutely wrapping my lure around the branches 3 or 4 times or 10, LOL, the lure would track its way back out by slowly winding it out over all the structure. For the most part of the session I was able to send it right into the back of the structure and let the presentation settle there without the fear of getting snagged. I believe Justin fished the session without jighead loss, however I did lose one jighead to the depths, as it was caught up on some deep structure... however this would be nothing compared to fishing the area that we fished with standard NedlockZ jigheads. By the end of the session I was pretty stoked with the new jighead and already planning a trip to target river bass using them.
In short, this little jighead is going to be a game changer, especially when using a ZMan Ned Rig style plastics. Although I haven't had a chance to use it in anger as yet, the ZMan 2.5" GrubZ also rigs up really nicely on the TT Lures NedlockZ EWG jighead, and with the long mesmerising GrubZ tail, I think it will be a dynamite combination on the weed banks for bream, grunter and of course flathead.
Cheers and I hope your finding a few fish. Screaming Dragz