Lockdown list: your top 3 softbaits
Printed From: The Fishing Website
Category: Saltwater Fishing
Forum Name: Soft Bait Fishing
Forum Description: Anything to do with this latest and greatest way of catching our favourite species
URL: https://www.fishing.net.nz/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=133165
Printed Date: 20 Sep 2026 at 2:32am
Topic: Lockdown list: your top 3 softbaits
Posted By: The Tamure Kid
Subject: Lockdown list: your top 3 softbaits
Date 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... |
Replies:
Posted By: terrafish
Date 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 |
Posted By: Muppet
Date 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. |
Posted By: Downtown
Date 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 |
Posted By: Telecaster
Date 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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Posted By: The Tamure Kid
Date Posted: 27 Mar 2020 at 11:30am
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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Fish 4T wrote:Posted By: The Tamure Kid
Date 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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Posted By: Muppet
Date Posted: 27 Mar 2020 at 11:59am
 That does me most of the time |
Posted By: Johnny Watson
Date 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. |
Posted By: Muppet
Date Posted: 27 Mar 2020 at 2:02pm
| Yeah I use them in the pilchard run |
Posted By: John_Ra
Date 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..... ------------- http://www.legasea.co.nz" rel="nofollow"> 
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Posted By: The Tamure Kid
Date Posted: 27 Mar 2020 at 8:31pm
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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Posted By: Muppet
Date 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. |
Posted By: The Tamure Kid
Date Posted: 27 Mar 2020 at 11:15pm
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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Posted By: The Tamure Kid
Date Posted: 27 Mar 2020 at 11:20pm
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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Posted By: Nek minnit
Date Posted: 27 Mar 2020 at 11:22pm
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Gulp nuke chick Gulp lime tiger Gulp sapphire All 5in jerk shad |
Posted By: Muppet
Date 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. |
Posted By: Troutzilla
Date 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! |
Posted By: waynorth
Date 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 |
Posted By: The Tamure Kid
Date 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. |
Posted By: MB
Date Posted: 28 Mar 2020 at 10:32pm
| I thought paddle tails might be more popular. Any comments? |
Posted By: The Tamure Kid
Date Posted: 28 Mar 2020 at 11:54pm
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Good question, MB. They pop up a bit in the picks, but jerk shads or grubs seem more popular. I use them, but normally not my first choice. One cause might be that Gulp, which appears to have really driven the original growth of softbaiting here and still has a big share of the market, doesn't do any paddle tails in the Alive stinky juice range. So people started out with jerk shads or grubs and stuck with what they know. Another factor may be that Z Man doesn't do the Bruised Banana in 5" Paddlerz, or the Atomic Sunrise in either of the Paddlerz sizes; and the NZ distributor doesn't bring in a Motor Oil paddle tail at all (overseas you can get them in 4"). So that's 3 of the really popular colours and you have to go shad if you want 5" or larger. And see Muppet's comment above. He's one of the experts, and reckons shads are best on the drop (the dead baitfish twitch when falling slowly on a light jighead). Paddle tails need more weight to get the tail wagging on the drop, and if you're fishing shallow, that can mean snags. Paddle tails are very, very popular in Australia though, particularly in the estuary stuff up north where they cast into structure and do a rolling retrieve, rather than fish on the drop. They use 'weedless' weighted worm hooks a lot for that reason. They have heaps of brands that we don't have due to the size of their market and most seem to focus on 4-5" paddle tails. I reckon a 4" paddle tail would be the biggest seller over the Tasman.
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Posted By: Muppet
Date Posted: 29 Mar 2020 at 7:13am
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Jerk Shads are better for me because they get down faster in shallow water. I always regarded paddle tails as needing a heavier jig head and deeper water to get the tail wiggling on the way down. So they have chance to use the design given. As TK rightly pointed out. In the same manner I like grubs when dragging softies. I did all this years ago when fishing two rods and it used to snag me a lot more fish but I decided one rod would rule from about a few years ago. |
Posted By: The Tamure Kid
Date Posted: 29 Mar 2020 at 9:05am
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You've touched on another good point, Dan. Many Kiwi softbaiters lob ahead (rather than full on cast) and bounce/drag along the sand, so rightly love their grub tails for the long wiggly tail action bumping on the bottom. Whereas the cast ahead and fish the drop brigade targeting big fish in 3-12m reefy territory normally use shads. Maybe paddle tails get a bit lost in between those two styles - but clearly work in the hands of guys/gals who know how to fish them well, as per the lists above.
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Posted By: Muppet
Date Posted: 29 Mar 2020 at 10:03am
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I saw loads of big snapper on the covers on fishing mags with paddle tails hanging out their gobs. This was years ago at the start of the SB trend so naturally copied. I was having next to zero success on them no matter where I tried. So the switch to shads was made and the second rod did 6 inch gulp grubs. My catches through spring were insane to the point when I retired the second rod. Looking back now I realize the front page paddletail catches had two things going for them. One was they were mainly experts who get out a lot or actual product distributers who get out a lot more than me. The other thing was a lot were up north where the snapper are highly predatory. My changes were made to make my fishing as successful as possible in the short windows I have. And I think I have the right mix. |
Posted By: The Tamure Kid
Date Posted: 29 Mar 2020 at 11:27am
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Again, good call mate. I'm enjoying this thread. I've still got some of those mags, and many of the pics were taken on Berkeley product testing missions on Assassin out at the Mokes etc. The Berkley Powerbaits at that stage had quite a few paddle tail models, before the Gulp Alive juice versions started to dominate.The Aussies used heavy-ish jigheads dropping down the wash into pretty deep water, and also did a bit of elevator rigs in deeper water which are great with paddle tails (Paul Senior started bringing in the 6" Z Man Swimmerz and nailing fish in workups on his Cyclops rigs). Again, lots of big fish pics for NZ Fishing News. That method seems to have mostly disappeared in favour of various kabura and inchiku jigs now, out in the gulf. And an article I read recently talked about how the Australians (who were coming over to introduce Berkeley here) used a much faster, more aggressive retrieve - as per my comment earlier, that's what they were used to back home for their salt water species. The big predator snapper sure went for them.
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Posted By: Muppet
Date Posted: 29 Mar 2020 at 11:42am
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I had a word with some expert guys at a kayak meet up once years ago about all the monster snapper they caught. I was a complete newbie to fishing from the kayak. I asked how many in the Auckland region. None was the answer. Now I knew that was not entirely right as I also met a few guys and one lady from the Hibiscus kayak Club who did well. And bumping into them at car parks, quite often most did not fare well it was the old adage the top guys knew what was what. So there it was for me, a problem that needed a look at, get from zilching to getting nice fish. I started from scratch listening to advice from the tackle shops, looking at maps and reading about the fish and of course the sage advice in the mags and on here. I guess I branched off a little judging by the gasps from my scenario that I drawn in kayak thread 😂 I do know Pjay would probably like my sketches. |
Posted By: The Tamure Kid
Date Posted: 29 Mar 2020 at 5:08pm
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you're right about PJay, if it's the same PJ who's written a couple of articles for NZ Fishing News. He was adamant about casting down current, not down wind.
Paul Senior says exactly the same thing in this vid (from a boat, and he's using a sea anchor, but wind v tide and he is casting directly into the wind but down current). It's a useful summary of soft baiting, i think. The bit about casting direction is about half way through. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bwPOw7q1RJI&t=5s" rel="nofollow - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bwPOw7q1RJI&t=5s |
Posted By: Muppet
Date Posted: 29 Mar 2020 at 6:37pm
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Pretty good explanation from Paul the only real difference between us is I like the bail arm open and the line to zoom off the spool. Dunno if it was just the video but I don’t take attention off the line when the bait is dropping. |
Posted By: The Tamure Kid
Date Posted: 29 Mar 2020 at 8:23pm
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Haha, thought that myself. I think it's just because he's doing the vid. His mate Mark Kitteridge watches his line like a hawk in the vids he does for OA.
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Posted By: Bounty Hunter
Date Posted: 29 Mar 2020 at 8:29pm
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help me understand the last few posts - the summary is; paddletails not much chop grub-type - useful on a second rod in a 'dragging' situ perhaps? shad-style baits are the go to - and should be fished/retrieved into the current, regardless of drift or wind direction? ------------- No disintegrations! |
Posted By: MB
Date Posted: 29 Mar 2020 at 9:01pm
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I'm certainly not a pro soft bait angler. I pretty much gave up on them around the time I left Auckland 6 years ago, but most of my fish in Auckland fell to grub tails dragged behind a kayak. Interesting comments about paddle tails, thanks. Good thread
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Posted By: Muppet
Date Posted: 29 Mar 2020 at 10:30pm
| If I fished deeper water for sure would use paddletails. |
Posted By: The Tamure Kid
Date Posted: 29 Mar 2020 at 11:25pm
Yeah, like Muppet said, I don't think any of us are writing off paddle tails (as you can see from the top 3 lists above, quite a few people rate them highly). See Waynorth's post re the pros of paddle tails. They just need to be pulled through the water, or taken fast to the bottom with a heavier weight, to get the best from their tail design. Fishing with a heavy-ish weight around shallower rocky areas can prove to be expensive. Yes, grubs seem to be excellent bounced on the bottom with a fairly heavy jighead (Z Mans and Catch Livies are buoyant, so sit face first, tail up - which is ideal over sandy/muddy areas). Many fish are caught by Mr Rod Holder on a dragged grub. Though i have a favourite 5" version which has caught me some nice fish on a single long lift and drop back to the bottom retrieve, and also on winding in. But I've taken note of Muppet's big vote for shads... And yes, as Muppet (who you probably know is an expert kayak softbaiter) says, casting with the current is ideal. He's got a thread going in the kayak section at the mo with clear diagrams. He focuses on the drop, when the most aggressive fish go after his free falling jerk shads (he leaves his bail arm open until the line shoots off and he clicks into gear).
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Posted By: MB
Date Posted: 30 Mar 2020 at 7:43am
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Following on from this, it would help newbies if it was made clear that there are three distinct styles of soft bait fishing and to summarise the advice given above. Broadly speaking, each style works best with a particular pattern of soft bait. 1. Casting ahead and twitching back to boat (shads) 2. Dragging behind boat (grubs) 3. Fishing vertically (paddle tails) Fair comment?
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Posted By: Muppet
Date Posted: 30 Mar 2020 at 8:04am
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Yeah I would say that. |
Posted By: Muppet
Date Posted: 30 Mar 2020 at 8:07am
Yeah on the shads. If I were to fish deeper more often paddletails would be used more. I have mates who do very well on them to be fair but for me not so much. |
Posted By: The Tamure Kid
Date Posted: 30 Mar 2020 at 10:32am
That seems a fair generalisation.
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Posted By: Muppet
Date Posted: 30 Mar 2020 at 10:43am
| I did laugh at Paul saying he did not fish under the boat. Atari style has nailed me lots though I don’t do it much now. The other advantage of kayaks. |
Posted By: MB
Date Posted: 30 Mar 2020 at 11:00am
The first point is kind of extreme! I sort of get it though, see my next post. I guess there's a couple of other things you can do with a softie, I would add trolling for the sake of completeness.
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Posted By: MB
Date Posted: 30 Mar 2020 at 11:03am
When I use microjigs in shallow water (fished just like a cast ahead softie), I can almost guarantee that if I'm going to get a fish, it will be on the drop or on the first twitch. The rest of the retrieve is somewhat going through the motions. The further the lure is away from the boat the better. It's one of the reasons I prefer metal, they cast like rockets compared to the same weight jighead/softie combo. |
Posted By: Muppet
Date Posted: 30 Mar 2020 at 11:50am
| So if you see a big school of fish under your vessel don’t you just drop straight over the side? |
Posted By: kaveman
Date Posted: 30 Mar 2020 at 11:59am
Same for me mate BUT i find 90% of my microjigs get hit on the drop so 1st cast is always going to be the best. I normally fish 30-50m so boat disturbence is usually minimal. Bit different if fishing 5-20m I find that the grub tails do fish best in deeper water so i use them a lot to great efect, way better than jerkshads in deep water imo Also been trialling new squid softbaits, these are BIG fish magnets  -------------  www.kavemantackle.co.nz
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Posted By: Downtown
Date Posted: 30 Mar 2020 at 12:08pm
| A paddle tail or curly tail can be just as affective if not more than a shad on the drop. Not trying to convert or change anyones fishing styles, do what works for you. Fishing dirctly underneath you can be a very effective way of fishing. You see the fish on the sounder you drop a softy down more often then not the fish will rise to take the softy on the drop, like muppet said advantage of yakfishing. Will happily use a paddlerz 4 or 5" on a 1/2oz jighead from the wash to the deep fished in many different ways. Would be cautious putting general rules around certain styles and techneques. |
Posted By: MB
Date Posted: 30 Mar 2020 at 12:30pm
If I'm fishing vertically in deeper water (30 metres plus), then I'll usually only put a jig down if there is some sign on the sounder. That's 90% of my fishing and it's usually pretty successful. I was referring to the remaining 10% of my fishing which occurs in 20 metres or shallower. I will chuck a jig down on to hot sign, but I'm amazed how few bites I get under these circumstances. I get the odd fish, but it's not consistent.
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Posted By: Muppet
Date Posted: 30 Mar 2020 at 12:38pm
I refined my Atari technique on my old black and white fish finder in the Rangi channel 😂 |
Posted By: The Tamure Kid
Date Posted: 30 Mar 2020 at 12:38pm
I used to watch the guy on Jetskifishing channel - Kirk? - and he did that pretty much exclusively. Looked for sign, then did a little lob and basically fished straight to the bottom. Which was opposite to what i was reading/watching elsewhere. I adopted the cast well ahead method in most situations because I normally fish in 5-15m, but have done the drop-into-sign thing a few times in 18-25 with success. If there's a solid patch of fish and they're feeding, bingo.
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Posted By: Muppet
Date Posted: 30 Mar 2020 at 12:48pm
Well it depends DT. I don’t spend half my trips softbaiting, I will determine what I am going to do depending on tide, wind etc due to past experiences. What the aim is I guess is sharing what works most of the time. If someone else finds they have a consistent method on certain spots they will go back and try. And rightly so. Paddlerz do work shallow, seen it myself. But my main point is that the vast majority of the fish you saw gracing the mags for example are caught in conditions generally favourable for the technique. |
Posted By: The Tamure Kid
Date Posted: 30 Mar 2020 at 12:55pm
It is, but what some people do - usually specialists who fish from boats in close and it's not very productive fishing right back to the boat, and the chance of snags increases to some extent. But I've had a couple of very surprising hook ups when winding in in the past year, so now do that methodically rather than assuming it's dead fishing time.
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Posted By: MB
Date Posted: 30 Mar 2020 at 1:22pm
Well, fishing rule #1 you can't catch fish if they're not there
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Posted By: Muppet
Date Posted: 30 Mar 2020 at 1:36pm
| Very true |
Posted By: Muppet
Date Posted: 30 Mar 2020 at 2:10pm
 Sorting through gear some jig head experiments over the years for various types of softies. |
Posted By: Muppet
Date Posted: 30 Mar 2020 at 2:11pm
 Got a heap of good 1/4 Nitros the old good type |
Posted By: Muppet
Date Posted: 30 Mar 2020 at 2:13pm
 Barely used |
Posted By: Downtown
Date Posted: 30 Mar 2020 at 2:13pm
Agree with you completely on using different teqeneques in there ideal conditions is going to produce the goods more consistantly and that is what you do to get your results. I'm a different animal, I softbait every trip as my main method. I do try and line up as many factors as i can but very rarely does everything line up. I place more importance in having the experience/knowledge on how to produce the goods when conditions arent favourable. |
Posted By: Muppet
Date Posted: 30 Mar 2020 at 2:17pm
| That is where you and I differ DT. I happily will drop the softbaits if I think live baiting or bait fishing will be better. |
Posted By: Muppet
Date Posted: 30 Mar 2020 at 2:46pm
 More |
Posted By: NZWest
Date Posted: 30 Mar 2020 at 2:55pm
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1: Zman 5" Motor Oil Jerk Shad 2: Zman 5" Houdini Paddle-tail 3: Zman 7" Nuked Pilchard Jerk Shad I fish mainly shallow coastal locations 2-15m (tiger country) I use lightbulbs 1/4 and 3/8 weights, short and long shank (the colour glow does matter! )Cant wait for BKK to come into the market with some jig heads! Always come home with something!
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Posted By: The Tamure Kid
Date Posted: 30 Mar 2020 at 6:36pm
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Nice one, NZWest, that's an interesting selection. I just got some 7" Z Man Diezel Minnows in Houdini from Australia. They look really good for a flick around places that kingies frequent.
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Posted By: The Tamure Kid
Date Posted: 30 Mar 2020 at 6:56pm
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That's a pretty comprehensive jighead collection, Dan. I recognised the Trokar Flippin, maybe an Atomic Seeker or two, plenty of Nitros. Maybe a Mustad Darter? Here are some interesting jigheads i've bought from overseas. I'm keen to see if the coloured heads, and in particular the bold eye, adds an x-factor. Pic 1: the first two are TT Lures 'Big Eyez' which use Mustad hooks - the first one is pink (but looks red in the pic), second one is black on the 'back', silver on the side; and the eyes on both are lumo. The second two are ZMan Redfish Eye jigheads from the US- use Mustad Ultrapoint hooks. The white eye is lumo. So far, i've caught some really nice fish on the chartreuse eye. Not easy to get the body on the hook, but once on they don't come off. They do a Trout Eye too, on a smaller hook which look fantastic with a small minnow or paddle tail in work ups. Got a skipjack one up north about this time last year. Haven't had a chance to try the TT lures yet, just arrived 10 days ago!! Pic 2 is a TT Lures 'Demonz', which comes on a lighter gauge Gamakatsu hook. Keen to try with a Bruised Banana or Houdini. The TT Lures jigheads have the headlock design specifically to stop the stretchy Z Mans from slipping. I've been impressed with their plain jigheads, so thought i'd try the coloured/eyed ones.   |
Posted By: Kandrew
Date Posted: 30 Mar 2020 at 7:05pm
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I fish most methods around Whangaparaoa depending on the wind and depth. I find drop and drag works well on the sand along the front of Orewa and down the southern side of the peninsula on the worm beds with both curly tails and paddle tails And I even had pretty good success with paddle tails out at the 40 metre mark with the big cyclops style heads. No matter what style you like the first thing I make sure of is my bait on the bottom. Shads work good for cast forward but curly tails work fine to. Z Man for me New Penny Bursied banana and Nuked chicken in early spring I carry other colours depending on the time of the year. I do like the mustard darter heads, lightbulbs split the curly tails and are really only good for drop and drag IMO. Sometimes I like to fish a stiffer rod if l need to work the bait a lot and I use a 8 footer for cast ahead, I like big long casts along the front of the peninsula in the tiri channel just off the weed on the sand at low tide. |
Posted By: The Tamure Kid
Date Posted: 30 Mar 2020 at 8:31pm
I've always wondered why Electric Chicken is seldom mentioned as a killer colour, given the combo of that limey-green and pink - and its high UV reactivity. I haven't really given it a good go, but have a packet in my collection. |
Posted By: The Tamure Kid
Date Posted: 30 Mar 2020 at 8:40pm
Forgot to mention, the afternoon before lockdown a guy we had around to our place to unblock a drain (thank GOD we got it done!) is a huge fisherman, and he showed me pics of two very nice kingies he got out near the Noises two weeks ago trolling 7" Z Man Nuked Chicken shads through bait bust ups. They still had the lures hanging out of their mouth in the pics. He said the top water guys were coming up empty...
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Posted By: MB
Date Posted: 30 Mar 2020 at 8:43pm
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Some more random thoughts. 1. I gave unweighted softies a good go for kingies (Hogy) and snapper (big Gulp). Unfortunately, casting distance was rubbish and in the case of snapper fishing, I just couldn't tell where the lure was in the water column which was problematic. 2. Check this guy out. A real thinking angler. He's recently moved to Florida, but was based in New York state. I've done a lot of fishing over there. Different fish species to NZ, but a similar environment. His standard soft baiting approach is very different to ours, but catches a lot of fish. I was tempted to try the bucktail/Gulp combination and it worked very well for snapper fished vertically. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FIzCHC2FXDQ " rel="nofollow - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FIzCHC2FXDQ ; 3. How have people got on with other patterns that we haven't discussed i.e. shrimp? I
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Posted By: The Tamure Kid
Date Posted: 30 Mar 2020 at 9:08pm
See Muppet's post above, with his 'seldom use' box. Z Man Shrimp, and some Chasebaits squid - which look fantastic. you'd think they would go off around the rocky coast when squid are on the menu. But I saw in a review of the Chasebaits that they are very fragile - and that is never a good quality when snapper are involved! i believe JW, now a charter skipper, did quite well on the Z Man shrimps with opaque body and chartreuse tail, especially first thing. Below is an Almost Alive Lures softbait that I had big hopes for - got a couple of snapper in a harbour up north as soon as I put one on dragging and when we pulled the pin it had teeth marks all over it and hadn't come apart, but for some reason haven't given it a good try around Auckland. My purpose for buying a couple in an order of various stuff from the US was actually to cast one from the shore for flats kingies in Tauranga when on holiday at Waihi Beach. And they do look amazing on a jighead, bouncing right side up and disturbing the mud, with a pale belly flashing. No kingies around that day, though.  |
Posted By: MB
Date Posted: 31 Mar 2020 at 12:14am
| Sometimes lures look good to us, but not the fish, and the other way around of course! |
Posted By: Muppet
Date Posted: 31 Mar 2020 at 6:30am
| To be fair I have other little shrimp patterns that have caught a few pannies. Just nothing near what the shads get. |
Posted By: The Tamure Kid
Date Posted: 31 Mar 2020 at 9:02am
Bang on. I learned that through trout fishing. Some people tie up incredibly realistic koura (crayfish) and various nymph imitations which it'd be hard to tell apart from the real thing. Intricate legs, antennae etc. But invariably they are stiff and don't move in the water like the real thing floating down the river, or in a lake. Works of art, but not good fish catchers. Having said that, there are some amazingly realistic softbait prawn imitations available in Australia which are very successful on mangrove jacks and other inshore tropical species - where large prawns are a huge part of the fish species' diet. I just don't think prawns feature as much in the fish diet here, compared to say small baitfish, shellfish, various worms and shrimps. Savage Gear has had some in the market in NZ for a while, but to my knowledge they haven't taken off in a big way.
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Posted By: Muppet
Date Posted: 31 Mar 2020 at 10:30am
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If you really want to get funky cook up some cheap sausages and take them fishing, Seen it done and it worked amazing 😂 |
Posted By: MB
Date Posted: 31 Mar 2020 at 10:49am
| When I was doing a lot of diving at the Poor Knights, I used an underwater marker to help with navigation and mark interesting critters in the rocks. It consisted of a small polystyrene float tied to a sinker with cord. The snapper smashed that float all day and it often needed replacing! What I learnt was it often doesn't matter what you put under a snapper's nose, but you do have to put it under their nose! |
Posted By: Troutzilla
Date Posted: 31 Mar 2020 at 11:52am
I fished with an Aussie guy, a real good angler, in the far north last year. His go to softbait in the shallows was a really life like squidgie prawn and he nailed plenty of snapper. https://www.squidgies.com.au/content/squidgies/oceania/au/en/homepage/product-detail.P-SAF_STD_PROPRAWNWRIGGLER.html" rel="nofollow - https://www.squidgies.com.au/content/squidgies/oceania/au/en/homepage/product-detail.P-SAF_STD_PROPRAWNWRIGGLER.html ------------- It aint no use if it aint chartreuse! |
Posted By: Telecaster
Date Posted: 31 Mar 2020 at 1:39pm
I had a great run using the same one on the same 1/2oz head a few years ago, got a snapper over 10lb three trips in a row to Orere. It cemented a place in my lineup. Probably just blind luck.
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Posted By: Kandrew
Date Posted: 31 Mar 2020 at 1:59pm
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I used to fish the original squggie flick bait years ago made from PVC and caught a few fish on them, that had a new penny type colour that worked well. Rigged them on a worm hook because they were quite thin. Got given some Bio Tough good baits I like the curly tails. |
Posted By: The Tamure Kid
Date Posted: 31 Mar 2020 at 5:24pm
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[/QUOTE] I fished with an Aussie guy, a real good angler, in the far north last year. His go to softbait in the shallows was a really life like squidgie prawn and he nailed plenty of snapper. https://www.squidgies.com.au/content/squidgies/oceania/au/en/homepage/product-detail.P-SAF_STD_PROPRAWNWRIGGLER.html" rel="nofollow - https://www.squidgies.com.au/content/squidgies/oceania/au/en/homepage/product-detail.P-SAF_STD_PROPRAWNWRIGGLER.html [/QUOTE]
Very interesting. I've got a packet of them that an Aussie mate gave me over on the Gold Coast. The clear ones. They certainly look good. Matt Watson used sponsored Squidgies flick baits in his early series. Did pretty well as i recall. Squidgies are still a mainstay of the fishing scene over there, but just didn't take off here, from what I can see (though I came into softbaiting relatively late in the piece). The fate of Rapala's Trigger X softbaits is interesting. Bargain bins all over the place still have piles of them - particularly Top Catch. They just didn't sell, despite being from one of the global giants in fishing lures. |
Posted By: Muppet
Date Posted: 31 Mar 2020 at 5:55pm
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They were like Slam II I did warn my good mate at Shimano they won’t sell. Greg has tried a few brands at Gofish before begrudgingly stoking Z Man on top of his Gulp range. He has the little jack small soft bait range in numbers. |
Posted By: Muppet
Date Posted: 31 Mar 2020 at 5:57pm
 Got these last time done ok on the smaller ones but glad he got slightly larger ones. |
Posted By: Kandrew
Date Posted: 31 Mar 2020 at 5:57pm
I fished with an Aussie guy, a real good angler, in the far north last year. His go to softbait in the shallows was a really life like squidgie prawn and he nailed plenty of snapper. https://www.squidgies.com.au/content/squidgies/oceania/au/en/homepage/product-detail.P-SAF_STD_PROPRAWNWRIGGLER.html" rel="nofollow - https://www.squidgies.com.au/content/squidgies/oceania/au/en/homepage/product-detail.P-SAF_STD_PROPRAWNWRIGGLER.html [/QUOTE]Very interesting. I've got a packet of them that an Aussie mate gave me over on the Gold Coast. The clear ones. They certainly look good. Matt Watson used sponsored Squidgies flick baits in his early series. Did pretty well as i recall. Squidgies are still a mainstay of the fishing scene over there, but just didn't take off here, from what I can see (though I came into softbaiting relatively late in the piece). The fate of Rapala's Trigger X softbaits is interesting. Bargain bins all over the place still have piles of them - particularly Top Catch. They just didn't sell, despite being from one of the global giants in fishing lures. Have you or any one on here ever used them, I haven’t so I would be interested to find out why they weren’t popular. Also I really only fish in the gulf so it Would be interesting to see what people are using in other parts of NZ |
Posted By: Kandrew
Date Posted: 31 Mar 2020 at 6:19pm
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This is another manufacturer that use the same plastic as Zman. Caveman also has a range I haven’t tried them but his jigs are great. https://www.strikeking.com/products/category/soft-baits" rel="nofollow - https://www.strikeking.com/products/category/soft-baits Keep an eye on this site they have some great prices on gulp just wait for the right colour and type to be on special. http://www.ffo-tackle.com/ffo-baits/" rel="nofollow - http://www.ffo-tackle.com/ffo-baits/ I also jig fish a lot and have been catching a few fish on black sliders has anyone tried black softbaits. |
Posted By: The Tamure Kid
Date Posted: 31 Mar 2020 at 7:49pm
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yeah, I noticed when trawling through the likes of Tackle Warehouse in the US that some of the Strike King models appear identical to Z Man (check out the paddle tails on the page you linked to, for example - the New Penny minnow is identical to the Z Man 4" Diezel Minnow). Presumably they roll out of the same factory, but maybe at different price point? Can't think why else you'd have two brands selling the same lure with a different name. I bought some of the Z Man creature style lures to try dragging over the Tamaki Strait shallows, being buoyant and so many wriggling parts I reckon they'd go well, but haven't had a chance yet. I did try the Gary Yamamoto creature, which is a huge seller in the US for bass, in my Tamaki shallows area. The snapper loved it, but destroyed them very quickly. Not up to NZ conditions. The Aussie distributor of ZMans often talks about the Gold Rush colour which is mostly black, with gold glitter. He says it's excellent in discoloured water, with the silhouette and gold sparkle. One i haven't tried, though. I'm probably starting to give the impression that i'm addicted to buying lures etc. Probably partly true, but fishing is my only hobby these days and main discretionary spend, and I enjoy trying different stuff. I was the same when fly tying in my trout days, always trying different materials. i'd rather buy a Daiwa BG or Shimano Stradic than a top end reel, and then spend the money saved on lures. Sure, I could do just as well using just 2-3 surefire shapes/colours, but I find it fun to search for that X factor lure, and just appreciate the designs and variation. End of the day, you could probably use a huge number of different lures and catch snapper on all of them if fished correctly in the right place, and as MB says, if the lure is in their face. |
Posted By: MB
Date Posted: 31 Mar 2020 at 8:24pm
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I have my go-to lures, but also like to experiment, mainly with AliExpress offerings because they are so cheap. I really like the look of this lure. Built in weight, assist hooks (which I prefer over jighead-style singles) and a true jig/softbait hybrid. Haven't got it wet yet because I'm scared the snapper are going to bite it!
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Posted By: Kandrew
Date Posted: 31 Mar 2020 at 8:47pm
Very nice |
Posted By: Kandrew
Date Posted: 31 Mar 2020 at 9:17pm
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Posted By: The Tamure Kid
Date Posted: 31 Mar 2020 at 9:33pm
That's a cheap copy of the Aussie-made Chasebaits squid that Muppet has in the earlier photo (white/lumo). But with a built in weight. They look fantastic, for sure, and have amazing rippling action under water. But in the MyLurebox YouTube review i watched, he pulled on a leg and it snapped off. So i hate to see what a NZ snapper or reefy will do... The new Savage Gear octopus and squid look amazing, and appear to be more robust (see Fishwisperers recent videos). Like your one above, they are hybrid jig/softbaits. Pretty expensive. But in a Sammy Hitzke vid I watched, he nailed some nice kingies on both off the coast of Brisbane. And yes, after I got rid of Sky Sports, watching fishing clips on YouTube is my evening relaxation after the kids are in bed!!
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Posted By: MB
Date Posted: 31 Mar 2020 at 10:22pm
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Those new Savage Gear lures do look amazing. The big single hooks on the octopus put me off, but I see that you can rig the squid with assist hooks. In NZ, I'd reserve these types of lure for kingfish since snapper would do too much damage. A few years ago, I wanted a heavy jig that could be fished slowly for kingfish, so made one. I loaded a hollow squid skirt with big sinkers. It weighed 280g and was reasonably successful.  |
Posted By: NZWest
Date Posted: 01 Apr 2020 at 9:59am
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I find the more natural colors work well in the shallow stuff. i also have more luck with the smaller sizes for big Snapper! The motoroil has a nice fluro green/yellow to it. this colour has caught me countless amounts of fish. |
Posted By: Grunta
Date Posted: 01 Apr 2020 at 4:34pm
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1. Gulp New Penny crazy legs 2. Gulp Sapphire Shine crazy legs 3. Z Man paddle tail 5" in New Penny and Bruised Banana a dead heat. Paddle-tails and wiggly things seem to be a bit more effective than std jerk shads but having said that 7" Atomic Sunrise and Motoroil jerkshads are always stashed somewhere in the kit. Only issue with Gulps is that damn juice seems to find it's way out of any container you put it in and into places that it doesn't belong like tackle bags, car boots and your lunch. Anyone solved that wee challenge?
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Posted By: Muppet
Date Posted: 01 Apr 2020 at 5:29pm
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Yep ZMan |
Posted By: Grunta
Date Posted: 01 Apr 2020 at 5:35pm
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Posted By: Downtown
Date Posted: 01 Apr 2020 at 5:36pm
Have caught some decent snaps on these 4” turbo crawz in blue claw. Didn’t seem to pick up the same numbers as other baits but did get the bigger fish.    Some different style paddle tails |
Posted By: Muppet
Date Posted: 01 Apr 2020 at 5:50pm
Had to make myself laugh Grunta |
Posted By: Muppet
Date Posted: 01 Apr 2020 at 5:52pm
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Some cool looking lures there DT. That is the type I would happily throw around up norf. |
Posted By: The Tamure Kid
Date Posted: 01 Apr 2020 at 6:16pm
Thanks for joining the thread, Grant. It's been really cool to have a great chat in lockdown. Re the Gulps, the best container I've found is this one from Plano. Got mine from Rebel when they had them. I wouldn't necessarily put one sitting upside down on the ute's passenger seat (unless it's Grant Dixon's) or your mother in laws' couch, but I have found them pretty reliable for day to day use in the boat, and driving on long road trips etc. They've ended up on their side with no ill effects. https://www.marine-deals.co.nz/softbait-xtras/plano-liqua-bait-bottle-and-bait-grabber?gclid=Cj0KCQjw1Iv0BRDaARIsAGTWD1soTlt9NPwKMOz_BCZFzGU-OxZWP_H22hVrD2p2KodW2w_SFhWTMrsaAmIbEALw_wcB" rel="nofollow - https://www.marine-deals.co.nz/softbait-xtras/plano-liqua-bait-bottle-and-bait-grabber?gclid=Cj0KCQjw1Iv0BRDaARIsAGTWD1soTlt9NPwKMOz_BCZFzGU-OxZWP_H22hVrD2p2KodW2w_SFhWTMrsaAmIbEALw_wcB The containers Gulps come in are crap, hence that plastic seal they put in them for shipping. The old ones were even worse. The individual packets are hopeless too. Sistema and other containers like that are not liquid tight. Good for storing packets of Z Man, though. |
Posted By: Grunta
Date Posted: 01 Apr 2020 at 6:23pm
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Yep you got me Muppet and it was a good shot to be fair. Will try those Lester - I've tried bloody near every container that's claimed to have a seal over the years but just somehow the stuff will sneak out into the old tackle-bag. |
Posted By: Muppet
Date Posted: 01 Apr 2020 at 6:24pm
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The juice probably eats rubber seals. Heard it is bad in aluminium too. |
Posted By: The Tamure Kid
Date Posted: 01 Apr 2020 at 6:25pm
I'd better check my garage - looks like you've raided my Z Mans! I think I have one or two in each style you have there, though i don't have the same colours. Great experimenter's minds think alike.I'm pretty sure I've even got that crayfish in the same colour. ...and I have that 8" paddle tail in Calico Candy, plus a few others. JW did well on that colour in 4" Diezel Minnowz up around Mahurangi coast. Keen to hear if you've had any luck with the 8" paddle tail, and how you rig it. I can't seem to rig it straight on the jighead. I got them to target kingies around marker buoys etc. It's interesting how the Z Man paddle tail models vary in the size and shape of the tail and tail wrist, giving different actions. Put a 4" Diezel Minnow, a 4" Swimmerz and a 4" Paddlerz side by side, and they are very different. I'll post a pic of some of mine tomorrow. |
Posted By: The Tamure Kid
Date Posted: 01 Apr 2020 at 7:16pm
That's great innovation, and a great result, mate. Check out this video from Sammy Hitzke - fishing the Savage Gear squid and octopus. Great action on SE Queensland kingies and got busted on some big fish of unknown variety. Near the end he mentions the issue you touched on re the single big hook - he cuts it off with side cutters and fits some assist hooks (says there's an attachment point for that). I like the look of the squid, in particular. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qeRY1XTxq8Y&t=1808s" rel="nofollow - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qeRY1XTxq8Y&t=1808s
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Posted By: Downtown
Date Posted: 01 Apr 2020 at 7:50pm
Haven’t used the 8” a lot but have caught snaps to around 10lb on them. Have just used 7/0 mustard or headlocks jig heads 8/0 would be better but haven’t seen any locally.  These would be more of my regulars 
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Posted By: Kandrew
Date Posted: 01 Apr 2020 at 8:39pm
| Nice range very similar to what I use. What method do you use and you use any sauce |
Posted By: Downtown
Date Posted: 01 Apr 2020 at 8:53pm
| Always sauce. Generally have 3 sets ready to roll that will cover most methods of soft baiting but 50/50 cast up ahead and fish directly below using the sounder. Don’t drag often at all now |
Posted By: MB
Date Posted: 02 Apr 2020 at 12:08pm
Thanks. Here's a closer look just because I'm bored. I used it on the Niagara and added a big Gulp grub to each hook. Pulled out some decent snapper from 120 metres!   |