Z-Man Report
Few fishing lures redefine a sport. Even fewer create an entirely new category.
In the mid-2000s, Z-Man was known primarily as a behind-the-scenes manufacturer of silicone skirts and components supplied to other brands. The company was respected, but its growth had plateaued.
“We got to a point where our sales had kind of leveled off,” recounts Daniel Nussbaum, President of Z-Man Fishing Products. “The owners wanted us to control our own destiny — to build the brand into something more than being just a supplier of components.”
Zucker understood that growth required moving beyond OEM margins and into the consumer space.
Ron Davis, Jr. recalls the late Jerry Zucker emphasizing the need for that business shift in a meeting. “We have the capability. Let’s pick up a successful lure type that has legs and go with it.”
That lure type was the bladed jig.
Garage Innovation Meets Strategic Opportunity
Introduced in 2005, the ChatterBait bladed jig was the result of years of experimentation by Ron Davis, Sr., a lifelong tinkerer with a background in research and development who refined blade shape, placement and vibration.
“It’s not as simple as just attaching a blade to the front of a jig,” Nussbaum explains in the film. “It’s years and years of Mr. Davis playing around in his garage… marrying the vibration and sound of a spinnerbait onto a jig.”
Early adoption was slow. Many anglers dismissed the bait as a novelty — until 2006.
That year, a young pro named Brian Thrift won at Lake Okeechobee throwing a ChatterBait lure and publicly credited it for his success.
“I go on to win the event… with this newfound bait that nobody had ever heard of before,” Thrift recounts. “That single moment brought the ChatterBait to be a household name.”
Demand skyrocketed. The Davises struggled to keep up as orders piled up.
Z-Man stepped in to help scale production. What followed wasn’t just an acquisition — it was stewardship.
“We didn’t just take it and keep it rolling just like it was,” Nussbaum says. “We turned the product the Davises invented into the Original ChatterBait. And we used that as a springboard into other concepts.”
At around the same time as the acquisition, Z-Man was advancing another breakthrough: its ElaZtech superplastic material.
Zucker recognized that thermoplastic elastomers (TPEs) could redefine soft-plastic lure performance. Z-Man’s proprietary TPE blend, branded ElaZtech, offered unmatched durability and buoyancy. When paired with a ChatterBait bladed jig as a trailer, the way the two complemented each other was undeniable.
“The relationship between ChatterBait and ElaZtech has really been synergistic,” Nussbaum says. “One helped introduce the other to anglers.”
Together, they propelled Z-Man from a component supplier to a major consumer brand distributed nationwide.
“ChatterBait helped Z-Man get on the map,” Nussbaum notes.
Building a Brand, Not Just a Bait
Under Z-Man’s leadership, the ChatterBait lure evolved into a diversified lineup — each model engineered for specific fishing conditions.
While Thrift ignited its rise, Brett Hite helped cement its staying power. Beginning in 2008, Hite’s tour-level victories demonstrated that the ChatterBait lure was not a passing trend, but a dominant tournament-winning technique.
The ChatterBaitJackHammer, developed in collaboration with Japan’s Evergreen International, would go on to become one of the most successful tournament lures in professional bass fishing. Hite’s continued success helped elevate the bait to elite status.
Timing, Vision, and a Little Luck
Looking back, the success of the ChatterBait bladed jig — and Z-Man — was not the result of a single moment, but the convergence of invention, vision and timing.
The Davises created something unique. Thrift’s victory ignited awareness. Zucker recognized the opportunity and empowered his team to act boldly.
“When you look back on it,” Nussbaum reflects, “timing is everything.”
Twenty years later, the ChatterBait bladed jig remains a cornerstone of modern bass fishing — a lure that didn’t just win tournaments but created a category. It has also proven highly effective as a multi-species lure, producing a wide range of freshwater and saltwater gamefish across North America and beyond.
“We have more new ChatterBait products in the works right now than we ever have,” Nussbaum says. “Even after 20 years, we still feel like we’re just scratching the surface.”
From garage prototype to category creator, the ChatterBait story is one of entrepreneurial vision, relentless refinement and a belief in building something better — not just for anglers, but for the industry itself.