Tackle Tactics » Tips-Techniques » Saltwater-Estuary » Breamin' with ZMan TRD BugZ
Breamin' with ZMan TRD BugZ
One of my favourite types of fishing is chasing bream on big tides. In the warmer months in south east Queensland we get bigger daytime high tides which allows me to target bream in places I can't on the smaller tides. The most productive place and technique that I find for targeting bigger bream is casting soft plastics against and underneath mangrove edges. Mangrove edges provide shade and their roots provide the perfect hunting ground for bream to forage for food.
Recently I got my hands on a couple of packets of the new ZMan 2.75" TRD BugZ. At the first look I knew these were going to be perfect for targeting big bream in the mangroves. Their bigger profile immediately screamed big bream to me, with their critter like presentation being perfect for imitating small crabs and yabbies. The ZMan TRD BugZ have a chunky little body, with ribs that run around the outside of its main section. These ribs provide the perfect cavities for holding scent, such as Pro-Cure Super Gel. The plastic has two main arms and two small arms that come off the back of it and when fished fast it perfectly imitates a fleeing yabby or crayfish. Accompanied with a TT Lures HeadlockZ 1/12oz #1 jighead, I now had the perfect critter bait for targeting bream in the mangroves.
(Note: Remember that the two large arms are joined and should be separated by breaking the small piece of ElaZtech material joining them to ensure maximum action)
Eager to get out and give my new plastics a go, I checked the tide guide and looked for a larger tide that would allow me to fish my desired area. Once hitting the water, I soon realized that the TRD BugZ were going to be my new go-to lure for chasing bream. On the first cast the BugZ was taken and a solid bream hit the deck. This continued every few casts for an hour, until the tide had dropped out of the mangroves and the bream had moved to deeper water.
The TRD BugZ skip cast better than anything that I've used and this allowed me to get the plastics right back underneath overhanging trees and into the shade where the bream love to hunt. I fished them a lot faster than I normally would, to try and imitate a fleeing yabby and the bream had no troubles at all finding the hook. A steady wind and a couple of small shakes of the rod tip was all that was required to get the BugZ working. Once I had retrieved my plastic away from the mangrove fringe, I would leave it to sink to the bottom and the buoyancy of the ZMan plastic would allow the BugZ to sit upright and entice any bottom dwellers, such as flathead.
Although I've only used them once, I'm sure they will be perfect for chasing bass, flathead and snapper and will also be perfect for throwing around rocky and reef country for reefies and anything that eats a yabby or crab. Do yourself a favour and add a few packets of ZMan TRD BugZ to your arsenal, you won't be disappointed.
Gear Used:
ZMan 2.75" TRD BugZ
TT Lures HeadlockZ Finesse Jigheads
TT Lures HeadlockZ HD Jigheads