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5 Go To ZMan Plastics
By Adam Barnes
Adam Barnes is a keen tournament and social angler based on the Gold Coast that spends plenty of time on the water chasing bream, flathead, mangrove jack and more. Here’s five ZMan plastics that have cemented themselves as go-to plastics in his kit. Fish on!
I am always one to give a little bit of personal experience when talking about amazing products and I certainly have done that with ZMan soft plastics. Taking you back around 10-12 years is where it all started for me, heading to my garfish spot fishing with light handlines, floats and sliced bread. I also brought along my first packet of ZMan soft plastics and a light 6lb bream stick, to have a flick once I’d caught enough garfish. It’s funny how you never forget the first fish on a lure and in every detail… it still feels like yesterday.
ZMan 2.5” GrubZ
I packed the bucket away, full of bread and garfish, pulled out the pack of ZMan 2.5” GrubZ in Watermelon Red colour, rigged one on a 1/12oz #1 TT jighead and tied it on. The first cast was just beyond the drop off, one twitch, two twitch and the rod tip went down with drag screaming! The battle seemed to go on forever and finally a croc of a flathead, at 83cm, was lying on the sand. From that moment on it was ZMan for me and to this day I still have ZMan 2.5” GrubZ packed ready to go at any time to fish for pretty much any species from whiting to GTs in the estuaries. This little performer never fails to produce, being a solid number one go-to ZMan lure. It’s a must for any angler, from beginner to advanced, with its 10X Tough ElaZtech material catching more fish per plastic than any other on the market.
ZMan 3” MinnowZ
The ZMan 3” MinnowZ would hands down be my number one go-to lure when specifically targeting larger species and especially big flathead. The larger profile allows for a wide selection of rigging techniques and jighead weights/sizes to be used with this amazing lure. It has singlehandedly helped me to land more flathead than any other plastic, with its mind blowing Elaztech material catching fish after fish, without the need to replace the plastic.
This is also a big plus when targeting mangrove jack and other toothy critters. With the Elaztech being naturally buoyant it’s also perfect for rigging weedless on a 3/0 TT jighead, allowing you to cast deeper into that structure and lure out the trophy fish. It’s then just as happy rigged on a standard 3/8oz to 1/2oz 3/0 TT jighead for hopping off the bottom in deep water. There’s nowhere you can’t fish or medium to large species you can’t target with the 3” MinnowZ.
ZMan 3.5” EZ ShrimpZ
At certain times of the year, you will see different types of bait schools move around the areas that you fish and at that time of the year when you see prawns and other crustaceans in large numbers, you can’t go past the mighty 3.5” EZ ShrimpZ. Go-to number three lure for me, this ZMan soft plastic is eaten by just about every species in the estuary and is easily rigged weedless or on a TT HeadlockZ jighead in a 3/0, allowing it to be fished everywhere from deep in the weed beds and other structure to hopped down open ledges. This plastic also has a belly slot, allowing for a good application of Pro-Cure Scent to keep the fish biting and holding on longer.
ZMan 3” Baby GOAT
Every now and then a new member comes along to join the family and the latest has the attributes of a few lures rolled into one. The ZMan 3” Baby GOAT quickly became a major go-to lure for me, rigged on the relatively new TT NedlockZ jighead. This mushroom shaped jighead gives the plastic a vertical drop and when at rest on the bottom, with its buoyant material, it sits straight up in a feeding position that often triggers a strike on the pause.
From the first time that I used the 3” Baby GOAT, in a selection of colours, it out-performed my expectations with 35+ fish sessions not uncommon. A shallow water performer for me, given the lighter weights of the NedlockZ range of jigheads, this plastic is also suited perfectly to weedless rigging on a TT SnakelockZ / SnakelockZ Finesse jighead, with weights available for fishing deeper. It is also a perfect skipping lure on surface for a hot jack strike or over the flats for a flathead, rigged weightless on a TT ChinlockZ / ChinlockZ Finesse. Turn it side on and you’ve now got a baitfish profile on a standard jighead, with double paddle tails for maximum impact on a variety of species. Whichever way you look at it, the ZMan 3” Baby GOAT is a versatile option and an absolute must for the serious angler.
ZMan 2.5” Slim SwimZ
The next candidate on my go-to list of ZMan plastics has been around for a while and when the fish aren’t interested in anything else, open a pack or two of the ZMan 2.5” Slim SwimZ. I’ve lost count of the number of trophy fish that have fallen victim to this pocket rocket of a paddle tail plastic. Fresh or salt water you cannot go wrong with one of these rigged up. Perfectly designed for a more finesse style of fishing, these lures can be rigged with TT HWS (Hidden Weight System) jighead for ultimate concealment and natural look, when targeting more fickle species of fish like bream or bass. Small but mighty strong, made from 10X Tough ElaZtech material, you can guarantee that each lure will be with you for the long haul and always ready to catch fish.
If there’s one thing that I’ve learnt over the last fifteen years of fishing soft plastics is that variety is often the key to a day’s successful fishing. Having the ability and availability to quickly fish a range of profiles and work out what the fish are feeding on or the lure that they prefer on the day. What I can guarantee you is that if you have any or a few of the ZMan lures that I’ve talked about here, you can’t go wrong.
Just make sure that you get your hands on quality brands and I finish off my kit with TT Rods, Okuma reels and Platypus braids and leaders for the ultimate confidence in my fishing gear. The second part of the story is finding them and working out where they like to be on certain tides, certain winds, sunny days or overcast days. That’s another story for a bit later. As always, I hope this information helps you get that big strike and trophy fish and when you do catch that fish of a lifetime using the gear, take a good pic and send it our way. The team at Tackle Tactics would love to see it and hear your story.
Cheers, Adam Barnes
(Tackle Tactics Pro Team)