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Natural Presentations

Jay Noble

In my local area of the Gold Coast in southeast Queensland we are lucky enough to have a large range of local fresh and saltwater systems in which to target a good number of fish species. These areas also offer many different opportunities in terms of fishing styles and available structure to target these sometimes finicky and lure shy fish. From deep weeded sand banks, many bridges, rock walls, under water pipe lines, pontoons and the natural rock bars and fallen trees that litter the river banks. All these areas are home to really good numbers of baitfish, including mullet and herring, along with prawns and crabs.

Being a highly regarded tourist destination the Gold Coast is a popular place to holiday and live. This area has a lot of pressure on it but not just for the fisherman, there are hundreds of jet skis, wake boats and other users on this beautiful waterway on a daily basis. This can make finding a decent fish difficult at times and this is why I believe that natural coloured lures have helped me to get a few fish in the boat by effectively matching the hatch.

ZMan have a huge range of lures and with so many to choose from it can be difficult to decide what to throw next. There is one lure though that I have found to be a great all-rounder and that's the ZMan 3" MinnowZ, with its tail beating body roll action often proving to be too much to resist in the fresh and saltwater for most species. Two other great, proven baitfish profile lures are the ZMan 4" SwimmerZ and the ZMan 4" DieZel MinnowZ. All of these lures mentioned match the bait fish perfectly and in my area they seem to fish well, even when the area is under a fair bit of pressure and the fish have shut down, with the natural style and colours working really well.

The ZMan SwimmerZ are one of the most natural looking mullet imitations on the market and I'm sure you will quickly become a fan of this plastic. They match the hatch perfectly if you are fishing an area with schools of mullet, for species such as mangrove jack, jew, trevally and flathead, just to quickly name a few.

The 3" MinnowZ and 4" DieZel MinnowZ come in a huge range of colours to match just about any bait or small fish you could find. The Houdini, Opening Night, Pinfish, New Penny and my favourite Pearl Blue Glimmer are all designed to resemble a baitfish fleeing from danger.

Often when I'm fishing an area with a lot of bait and I find myself using the natural colours, I like to mix up my retrieve if the slow roll doesn't produce a bite after a while. Mixing up your retrieve can often increase your chances of attracting some extra attention to your plastic. Slow hops off the bottom, a steady roll with small raises of the rod tip to impart the look of an injured and fleeing baitfish, or just a quick retrieve can often grab the fish's attention.

So in local areas like mine, that are pressured environments, I have found it very beneficial to keep my lure presentations as natural and as close to the resident bait in the area as possible. Select a plastic that has a natural baitfish profile, a realistic action and in colours that match the bait in that system.

This is just a quick overview of what has worked for me and hopefully some of these tips on flicking the correct lure and the information about matching the bait in your local area will have you locked into a cracker real soon!

Until then, see you out there...