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Z-man Report
Z-Man Gobius Structure Swimbait
Beyond the Great Lakes, few fish have ever seen a living, breathing goby. Ditto for largemouths in your local bass lake, your favorite smallmouth stream or even the nearest blue ribbon brown trout river. So how to explain the allure and all the predatory kill shots aimed at Z-Man’s new invasive-imitating Gobius swimbait . . . even where gobies don’t exist?
As with all superplastics composed from 10X Tough ElaZtech, the answer resides in the bait’s free-flowing action, natural buoyancy and relentless ability to shake off violent strikes. Gumdrop-soft, lively and yet relentlessly resilient, the Z-Man Gobius structure swimbait is available for action now at your favorite outdoor retailer.
“Cast a Z-Man Gobius in Lake Erie and inevitably, you’ll catch a bunch of brown bass,” believes Z-Man pro Grae Buck, speaking from experience at lakes Erie and Ontario, where gobies have ballooned bass growth to freakish dimensions. “We all know smallmouths selectively target gobies in the Great Lakes. But the little secret is, Z-Man’s cool little bottom-hugging swimbait mimics so many other baitfish eagerly eaten by predators—mottled sculpins, darters, bullheads and even saltwater mud minnows. That makes the Gobius a total confidence bait, everywhere you cast it. But get past its lifelike skin, gills and fins and you discover a super smart bait design camouflaging some pretty impressive tricks.”
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Rapala Report
Rapala PXR Mavrik 110 Jerkbait
Every bite matters. Every fish counts. If it’s not in the boat, it doesn’t count. Period.
To maximize the number of fish in the boat, Rapala went to its roster of top bass pros to develop a premium suspending jerkbait. After countless prototypes and months of testing, Rapala is introducing the first lure in the new PXR family, the Mavrik 110 jerkbait.
If you’re looking for that extra edge, this is the jerkbait to turn to.
“This is the best suspending jerkbait that I’ve ever fished,” said Rapala pro Ott DeFoe, a Rapala Pro, Bassmaster Classic Champion and winner of 11 other top-tier Bassmaster and Major League Fishing (MLF) tournaments.
PXR stands for Precision, Xtreme®, Redline. The first in a series of elite, professional-grade lures to be introduced by Rapala, the PXR Mavrik is a suspending jerkbait made with the finest construction and unrivaled technical qualities demanded by Rapala’s pro staff.
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VMC Report
VMC Swingin’ Ned Rig Jig
VMC® has developed a new secret weapon that will surely fool the smartest and most pressured bass. It’s called the Swingin’ Ned Rig Jig.
This jig allows your bait to move independently from the jig head as it articulates at the joint where the hook connects to the jig head. This point of articulation ensures that an angler’s soft plastic moves naturally across the bottom with an incredible crawling action.
“It’s so cool to make a better mousetrap,” said Dan Quinn, RapalaVMC’s Director of Field Promotions and R&D. “No matter how the articulating jig lands or how heavy the jig is, your Ned bait is always able to float up. Having a floating worm on a Ned rig is a big deal – it gets you more bites. And, equally as important is the versatility of rigging, you can thread the worm on like a traditional Ned rig or Texas rig it for a weedless presentation.”
Available in sizes 1/16 oz., 1/8 oz., 3/16 oz., ¼ oz., and 3/8 oz., the new VMC Swingin’ Ned Rig Jig allows bass anglers to choose a size that meets their needs. According to Quinn, while most anglers may go with the 1/8 oz., Rapala pro Jacob Wheeler often uses the 3/8 oz., which allows for longer casts, and the ability to effectively fish a ned rig in much deeper water where they haven’t seen them before. The Swingin’ Ned Rig Jig allows for better bottom contact and deeper finesse presentations without sacrificing your bait’s ability to stand straight up.
The super sharp VMC long shank finesse Neko, wide gap, forged, size No. 1 single hook features a 3-degree offset point for more secure hook-ups. It features an adjustable fluorocarbon keeper for rigging plastics straight or weedless.
The new Swingin’ Ned Rig Jig is available in five weight sizes – 1/16 oz., 1/8 oz., 3/16 oz., ¼ oz., and 3/8 oz., and is available in three jig head colors – black, chartreuse and green pumpkin.
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Z-man Report
Z-Man Rattle-Snaker
Fans of Z-Man ElaZtech® baits can now add another valuable trick to their angling arsenals.
The new Z-Man Rattle-Snaker is a tool that effortlessly inserts glass rattles or tungsten weights into the body of any ElaZtech or other soft plastic bait.
Adding the benefits of sound attraction to your favorite softbait, the Z-Man Rattle-Snaker implants tiny rattles in a quick, safe two-step process. Its patented tool design employs a precision stainless hollow needle for quick, easy insertion. Implant the needle into the chosen bait location—tail, head or torso. Next, “load the chamber,” sliding a rattle or weight into the hollow needle. Finally, engage the integrated pushrod, plunging the rattle or weight through the needle and into the bait.
In seconds, you’re locked and loaded with fish-attracting sound or added weight and it’s in there to stay. The added benefits of Z-Man super plastics include an ability to “self-heal”—even after numerous lacerations and hook stabs—and grip the rattle or weight for keeps.
Equipped with a surgical steel grade needle protected by a silicone needle guard, the Z-Man Rattle-Snaker works with all soft plastic baits. Packaged with 10 glass rattles, the Rattle-Snaker features a built-in storage for rattles or tungsten weights (coming soon.) Replacement rattle 10-packs are also available at www.zmanfishing.com.
Suggested retail is $12.99.
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Z-man Report
Z-man Gremlin Creature Bait
Traditional creature baits exhibit three stand-out qualities: They crash through grass and kick around in woodcover like a wrecking ball. The baits elicit big bites in heavy cover. And if they’re made from run of the mill plastisol, one or two bass are all you get before adding another shredded bait to the scrap heap.
A quick glance at the new Z-Man Gremlin might mislead you to believe it’s like other baits in the category. But comparisons to every other creature end at the superficial level, as the Gremlin’s next-level anatomy reveals all kinds of sneaky-valuable bass catching talents. Built for off-road, heavy cover flipping and punching, the new Gremlin is equally effective on a Carolina rig, swimjig or swing head jig—or a gnarly looking trailer on the back of a ChatterBait® bladed jig.