Lockdown list: your top 3 softbaits

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    Posted: 26 Mar 2020 at 11:08pm
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Team, while we're in lockdown, how about we nominate our top 3 softbaits for a mythical trip tomorrow...maybe brand, model/size, colour?

Three gives a bit of scope to cover different conditions/methods, but also means you probably have to leave out one or two of your go-to lures. Unless you're one of those guys who carries 3 packets of the same lure, that's it.

My list:

1. Z Man 5" Curly Tailz (Midnight Oil)
2. Gulp 6" Grub (New Penny)
3. Jackall 3" Clone Fry (to cover selective feeding around anchovy/whitebait work ups).

Honourable mention: Gulp Crazy Legs 5" (New Penny), and Z Man Jerk Shadz 7" (Coral Trout).

Look forward to seeing what you come up with...

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Post Options Post Options   Likes (0) Likes(0)   Quote terrafish Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 27 Mar 2020 at 1:57am
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1 z man curly tailz nuked chicken
2 zman 7in jerk shad bruised banana
3 gulp 6in grub chartruesse

and if there is a honourable mention list then it would have to be any other z man
Part time Devils Advocate, Fulltime procrastinator
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Post Options Post Options   Likes (1) Likes(1)   Quote Muppet Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 27 Mar 2020 at 6:41am
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1. Z Man New Penny 5" Shad
2. Z Man Bruised Banana 5" Shad
3. Gulp Sapphire Shine 5" Shad

Not a huge fan of curly tails as I have found they don't get smacked on the drop anywhere near as much as a shad.
My top 3 is actually a top two as I rely on them 98% of the time. And there are very few situations they don't deliver. And it makes my SB collection cheap and effective.
And I can fish them on 3/8 for 80% of the time.
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Post Options Post Options   Likes (0) Likes(0)   Quote Downtown Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 27 Mar 2020 at 7:39am
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Top 3 shapes and sizes are easy being

Zman 4inch paddle tail
Zman 5inch paddle tail
Zman 5inch curly tail

Colour is tough though but my go tos would be opening night, new penny and bruised banana for the paddle tails and midnight oil in the curly caught my last 20 on this bait. If I had and endless supply of gulp crazy legs and 6inch grubs I’d use them but havent brought any gulps for several years now
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Post Options Post Options   Likes (0) Likes(0)   Quote Telecaster Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 27 Mar 2020 at 9:44am
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1: zman 7" bruised banaa shad
2: zman 5" electric chicken paddle-tail
3: zman 4" new penny curly tail

I did pick up a shape I haven't used before, 3.75" jerk shad in Redbone which I reckon will go real good on a light jighead around the ancovy schools (if there are still anchovies around after lockdown)
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Post Options Post Options   Likes (0) Likes(0)   Quote The Tamure Kid Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 27 Mar 2020 at 11:30am
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Originally posted by Fish 4T Fish 4T wrote:


1. Z Man 5" Curly Tailz (UV Motor Oil) these are hard to find, 
few sell motor oil but not motor oil UV.
Got some from OZ a couple of years ago but all gone now.

That's interesting. I have some from Australia with that sticker on too, but to my eyes when I put a UV torch on them, there's no discernible difference between how they light up from ones i got direct from the US.

They are all made in the USA, so should be similar - with small variations batch to batch. For example, under a UV torch the Bruised Bananas I have in one size (I think 7") light up a bit, whereas the 5" don't at all. So obviously a different compound was used for each size.
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Post Options Post Options   Likes (0) Likes(0)   Quote The Tamure Kid Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 27 Mar 2020 at 11:32am
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This is fascinating - particularly how many of you have the same colours on your lists. 

Thanks for joining the fun and explaining your choices. I'm picking up a lot of great tips.
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Post Options Post Options   Likes (0) Likes(0)   Quote Muppet Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 27 Mar 2020 at 11:59am
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That does me most of the time
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Post Options Post Options   Likes (0) Likes(0)   Quote Johnny Watson Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 27 Mar 2020 at 1:38pm
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Those "shiner" baits at the bottom of your container Dan used to be one of my go to's, and performed as good as any.

I hardly softbait at all these days due to consistent success on large snapper, kingfish and John Dory on dead and live baits, but when I do/did softbait-

1. Zman 3.75" nuked chicken shad for sheer numbers of fish and converted hook up to bite ratio (likely due to its size).

2. Zman 4" atomic sunrise shad (relatively new color that worked well from the get go).

3.. Zman 5" nuked chicken shad as a consistent performer, or Zman 7" nuked pilchard shad if targeting bigger spring snapper.

That's 4 lol.

Another very consistent bait in the Tamaki Straight was the Gulp 4" camo swimming mullet. That was deadly, but as with other Gulps not very resilient.
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Post Options Post Options   Likes (0) Likes(0)   Quote Muppet Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 27 Mar 2020 at 2:02pm
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Yeah I use them in the pilchard run
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Post Options Post Options   Likes (0) Likes(0)   Quote John_Ra Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 27 Mar 2020 at 6:02pm
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Z Man curly Tail- Motor oil & Atomic Sunrise.
These 2. Just kill it...

Don't have a 3rd yet, tried others, gave em a really good shot, but soon as I put either of those on booya... 

love to try the uv motor oil.....
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Post Options Post Options   Likes (0) Likes(0)   Quote The Tamure Kid Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 27 Mar 2020 at 8:31pm
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Originally posted by Muppet Muppet wrote:

Yeah I use them in the pilchard run

Very interesting what you say re the jerk shad versus curly tail on the drop, Dan. food for thought, for me, when it comes to future missions.

I've had good luck on the Bruised Banana too. But silly as it sounds, I find myself sorting through the packet to find the ones with the biggest bit of yellow on them. As you can see in your pic, some are almost all brown with very little yellow, some in almost a camo pattern, and some very clear belly of yellow and back of brown. 
Probably makes no difference to the fish !!
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Post Options Post Options   Likes (0) Likes(0)   Quote Muppet Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 27 Mar 2020 at 10:17pm
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Never paid a second thought to the colour descrepancy.

I once complained about the moulding of Gulps on here much to the distain of some on here. That is all I care about for the price we pay I want a perfectly straight softbait on my jighead.
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Post Options Post Options   Likes (0) Likes(0)   Quote The Tamure Kid Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 27 Mar 2020 at 11:15pm
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Originally posted by Muppet Muppet wrote:

Never paid a second thought to the colour descrepancy.

I once complained about the moulding of Gulps on here much to the distain of some on here. That is all I care about for the price we pay I want a perfectly straight softbait on my jighead.

Cool. That ELaztech the Z Mans are made from has some powerful properties, that's for sure.

I see you have yours in a plastic container.
I tried that with Sistema and some of the common tackle boxes, and after a while the lids and dividers badly warped.
I've stuffed a few Z Mans by leaving them in their packet on a seat on the boat while I fished. The sun kind of melts them out of shape.
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Post Options Post Options   Likes (0) Likes(0)   Quote The Tamure Kid Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 27 Mar 2020 at 11:20pm
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Originally posted by John_Ra John_Ra wrote:


love to try the uv motor oil.....

As mentioned further up the thread, John: look at any of the Motor Oil Z Mans under a blue UV torch and they all light up incredibly bright - a light green.
For a while, TT Lures (the Z Man distributor in Australia) put "UV" on the colours which have high UV content. They've stopped doing that marketing ploy, but i am certain the UV content in the lures (which are all made in the USA) hasn't changed. 

I did a UV scan of my softbaits (Gulp, Z Man and Catch) a while ago and wrote down the results. I'll dig that list out and post in this thread.
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Post Options Post Options   Likes (0) Likes(0)   Quote Nek minnit Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 27 Mar 2020 at 11:22pm
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Gulp nuke chick
Gulp lime tiger
Gulp sapphire
All 5in jerk shad
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Post Options Post Options   Likes (0) Likes(0)   Quote Muppet Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 28 Mar 2020 at 6:29am
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Once upon a time my top three those.

I still like Sapphire in the shallows as a piper imitation.
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Post Options Post Options   Likes (0) Likes(0)   Quote Troutzilla Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 28 Mar 2020 at 9:48am
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Zman New Penny 7inch shad if a bit of wash lower light / 5 inch if calmer or brighter

Zman Redbone shad as above

Zman Nuke Chook 7 inch shad. Dawn and Dusk. 
Caught my biggest snapper on this so it goes straight to the hall of fame. Fishes well on West Coast in greener inshore water too. 

Honarary mention. Bruised Banana usually 5 inch
It aint no use if it aint chartreuse!
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Post Options Post Options   Likes (0) Likes(0)   Quote waynorth Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 28 Mar 2020 at 4:30pm
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ZMan paddle tails for me - I fish mostly in 15-40m and like the fact that they work going down, coming up, fast, slow - they even work from a rodholder if there's a bit of current.

Mostly 5" but 4" seem to work just as well.

1.  New Penny
2= Bleeding Banana/Bruised Banana.

Interesting seeing your other thread about UV performance TTK. Snapper seem to like yellow.
treat fish like fish
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Post Options Post Options   Likes (0) Likes(0)   Quote The Tamure Kid Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 28 Mar 2020 at 8:40pm
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Sure do. Thanks for putting up your list.

There have been thousands of words written about lure colours and how depth affects colour; and what fish actually see with their eyes and in the water versus what humans see holding a lure in their hands.

I always like the look of lures with two tones of contrast in the colouring - I just think most natural prey items are not one single colour. Fish such as jack mackerel would have many colours under water, and flash when they are wounded and twitching.

I'm not sure how to explain the success of Motor Oil or the likes of Atomic Sunrise, other than the UV and the way they stand out to fish.

As Troutzilla says, chartreuse is a legendary colour in salt lures and some classic freshwater flies. Even though nothing in nature seems to match it. 

And as you allude to, vibration and movement must play a part too.
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