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Adam Barnes - Flathead Classic Wrap 2018
By Adam Barnes
Hi Guys, it has certainly taken a bit to process all that was the 2018 Gold Coast Flathead Classic. It was in our wildest dreams that we would / could end up with the final placings that Team Viper Strike did; 1st Place 2 Person Team and 2nd Place Overall Team, 2nd Place Individual Angler and also a 2 Person Team with over 3800 points. An epic three days that we'll never forget and for me, I have no doubt, a majority of my / this success truly comes back to the mighty ZMan soft plastic.
Where It Began
My story with this amazing product started way back, about 8-10 years ago, when I bought my first packet of ZMan 2.5" GrubZ in Watermelon Red colour. I was fishing a canal for garfish, just before sundown and with a bucket full of gar, I grabbed this little lure and with no word of a lie, first cast, twitch, twitch... boom and I found myself battling an 83cm croc! It was landed and photographed, I was over the moon with this little plastic and from that day on I never fished with bait again.
My next packet was the ZMan 3" MinnowZ in Redbone Glow colour, which I rigged on a 1/4oz 3/0H TT Lures jighead, walked down to the park, found a sandy bank and first cast... twitch, twitch... boom! My PB 85cm flatty was now on the bank and thanks to the lady that was walking by who took a quick snap. There was no turning back for me, ZMan it is and always will be.
Now don't be mistaken, I have bought and tried pretty much every other brand of plastic and will honestly say all do work and catch fish, the issue for me was and always has been, value for money and ZMan is certainly second to none in my book. Some brands are now getting closer and running some of these new plastics but just cannot get close to ZMan in terms of the durability of the plastic.
I have MinnowZ that have caught 70+ fish and are still in the packet, like new, ready to go. Other plastics fail after 3-5 fish. Rather than spend more money replacing your favourite lure, you can now try new colour varieties instead.
The Classic
The 2018 Flatty Classic for me was a no brainer and with some intense pre-fishing, I narrowed the selection from 100+ down to 6-8 different profiles and colours of ZMan plastics and with some slight tweaking in how I presented them, I believe I had the main key to catching so many quality fish.
I knew when and where, I just had to find what colour and profile the fish were liking. With only 6-8 to choose from, it didn't take long to work it out. There were two main ZMan lures that I had the most success with, in a couple of different colours that never failed to entice quality fish.
Firstly, the 3" MinnowZ (Colours: Shrimp, Midnight Oil and Rootbeer/Gold) rigged with 1/4oz and 3/8oz 3/0H TT Lures DemonZ Jigheads. I found the Pearl and Pink colours to be most effective. I feel that having a jighead colour that makes your plastic pop, makes a big difference.
Secondly, the newer to me Trick ShotZ (Colours: Twighlight and Coppertreuse). These I rigged differently, some on a weedless 2/0 or 3/0 TT Lures SnakelockZ jighead and I varied the jighead weight according to the area being fished and the current. I also coloured the detachable weight to again make it pop. Also fishing the Trick ShotZ coupled with some 1/4oz 2/0 TT Lures DemonZ jigheads just kept the fish coming.
I truly couldn't recommend enough for you to invest in the ZMan range of plastics. I'm not sponsored in any way by ZMan, this is all from 10 years of trying them for myself. The 2018 Flathead Dash4Cash is just around the corner and yours truly can't wait to get the MinnowZ back into action for a win. THANK YOU ZMAN!
Adam Barnes (TVS)