Z-man Elaztech

[Hawnjigs]

Getting spanked by the local regulars at the Sutherland Inlet targeting smaller wallys ended yesterday. It appears the Z-man opening night color Slim SwimZ caught more wallys than anyone throwing the preferred Keitech boot tails except for the reigning champ Jason & his unsurpassed presentation skills. Today the bite had unsurprisingly dialed down after the previous day pressure but the Slim SwimZ appeared to again outfish others surprisingly including Jason.

Also contributory was discontinuing mimicking the lift drop tekneek employed by everyone else in favor of a slower than usual twitch bottom bump retrieve facilitated by mostly snag free terrain.

The wallys were all keeper size 15-18" (released) and hoping warming weather will bring in some biguns.

 

[hookup]

Any idea what the opening night color was?

 

[Hawnjigs]

 

[SPOONMINNOW]

Never caught a walleye. Like yellow perch, I bet it's as good to eat.

 

[Hawnjigs]

Nearby spots lack sufficient catch & keep size & quantities of perch so I've never eaten one. Everyone here shoots for the 4 walleye between 15 & 21" limit, some every day. Can only keep one 22" & over within the 4.

The Elaztech bait wasn't an everyday magic bullet, 2 days ago everyone was catching wallys except me so hit the shop for the local fave Keitech Easy Shiner 3" to try and yesterday it ended up being the latest greatest outcatching skilled wally jigger Tom who had spanked me the day before. In all fairness tho I decided to mimic & modify Tom's lift drop retrieve & my choice "Sexy Shad" color might have been more bite attractive that day than his choices. Apparently wallys tend to favor different colors on different days with 80 available. Tom packs three rods with a different color on each. I prefer a simple natural baitfish color but the shop suggested some garish multi color combo heavy glitter ones as being best sellers.


Don't like to copy others but as they say if you can't lick em join em. Old dogs can learn new tricks. Do you have a nearby walleye fishery?

 

[duffy]

Never caught a walleye. Like yellow perch, I bet it's as good to eat.

Very tasty, just like perch, lighter flavor than bass. The slot sizes are the best to me. The bigger one like 23-25 aren’t as good, not bad just not as good.

 

[duffy]

Fellow here uses a pearl-ish clear, dark fleck curly tail with good success. We always had the best success with just a jig and a night crawler. That’s #1 than the curly grubs. I haven’t been fishing for so dang long don’t know if I remember how.

 

[Hawnjigs]

Pearlish opaque white + clear fleck lam colors are popular here, but hardly anyone uses twisters here favoring Keitech 3" Easy Shiner paddle tails. Prior to fishing the 2 reservoir inlet canals this year for cold season wallys I thought they would bite most anything, not anymore., they are very picky about color and retrieve tekneek and I haven't figgered it out yet. Almost 60 yrs experience at the spot I fished today has enabled Preston to outfish everyone else every day and even with his advice I can't get bit like he can.

Observing Preston's retrieve tekneek it requires a precise speed & distance of rod lift, followed by a precise timing slow drop and hold in the current, likely enabled by a precise weight jig head.

Guessing most are tossing 1/4 or 3/16 oz heads tipped with Keitechs, and skilled jiggers like Preston appear to outfish the few bait dunkers.

 

[hookup]

Pearl white's a good color to have in the tackle box. So is something green and something with blue.

Walleye were made for the fillet knife. imho - a pan-sized walleye is the best.

 

[Hawnjigs]

Got tired of fumbling with someone else's method so hit another spot I know well with my current small wally fave 3" Elaztech opening night Slim SwimZ. 2 days total 6 wallys including 4 nice ones around 20" which is exceptional for this continually meathead hammered EZ access spot. Trick was to get on the water early before the crowd arrived.

The Slim SwimZ may not work anywhere anytime but when it does it shines with a slow twitch near bottom retrieve.

 

[Hawnjigs]

BTW I've been getting my Z-man baits and Keitechs here at discounted prices and shipping $3.99 under $59 and free over.

Z-Man: ElaZtech

Z-Man’s proprietary ElaZtech® material is remarkably soft, pliable, and 10X Tougher than traditional soft plastics. ElaZtech resists nicks, cuts, and tears better than other soft baits and boasts one of the highest fish-per-bait ratings in the industry. Save on Z Man now at Discount Tackle. Save...

discounttackle.com

 

[hookup]

Thx for sharing - been a while since I bought anything from Discount Tackle. Some good deals if you find what you want

 

[Hawnjigs]

Mr. Hookup reminded me that pearl white is particularly effective for night wallys, and sure enuf I got some and put em to good use. Today 4am to 7:30am session pearl white 2-1/2" Slim SwimZ in the dark and same size opening night color after sunrise total 18 keeper size 15-22" all released. The canal does not support wallys as big as Lake Mac, nonetheless the catch was best ever for the spot.

 

[hookup]

That's some nice size. We got them locally but not in numbers. Usually a bonus fish a couple times a year

 

[Hawnjigs]

The Z-man 2-1/2" pearl Slim SwimZ continues to shine the night before enticing 3 unusually nice wallys up to 24" from my fave usually fished out meathead dunking spot + bonus dozen white bass. Most bites & catches drag the bait down off the bead collar, but the near indestructible soft Elaztech material doesn't tear so slide the bait back onto the collar and good to go.

 

[Pup]

Hey Hawn,

Keepin' up the site I see...

A couple of more purchases and I hope to be back at it. Pouring jigs will become part of my repertoire now that I'm retired. I do want to rejuvenate myself and begin making jigs again. Good to see you're posting.

 

[Hawnjigs]

Haven't seen your creations posted for awhile Pup. Catching fish out in Indy? Does being retired mean more water time?

I like to change lures to compare what works better, so this AM shortened the 2-1/2" Slim SwimZ to 2" mounted on a smaller hook #2 head. Altho pearl has been getting bit well switched to my original choice Elaztech color "opening night. Altho I rarely use painted heads pinned the plastic on Bill Binkelman's #1 walleye attractive color fluorescent orange. Altho the white bass catch #s declined from a dozen to just one 2 wallys 17" & biggest of the Summer 25" at my fave meathead dunking spot rewarded extensive search casting effort.

Bill Binkelman's gone but his legacy lives on.

 

[Pup]

Water time is in the works. Fishing licenses are cheap for retirees. There are nice-sized smallmouth, as well as spotted bass, in my local river near me. Cannot start catching too many as I'll never get back into jig tying /making, which is something I really loved doing.

Brought back a couple of molds (bullet nose & perfect replica bullet nose with sickle hooks) to the house from Goodwill today. These are Do-It and Hilts molds, respectively. The Do-It mold looks like a real winner for Ned rigs. I look forward to the start of my pouring once I purchase a pouring pot. When that occurs, I hope that you and Hookup won't mind a few questions every now and then from a very raw rookie to pouring.

 

[Hawnjigs]

Better late than never, eh? Lead molds at Goodwill?!! The bullet nose design likely won't sit upright like the Midwest Finesse head. The skinny bait holder barbs are bendy and work better if you snip off a bit of the barb tips. The required heavy wire hooks may not be best choice for your apps.

 

[Hawnjigs]

Better late than never, eh? Lead molds at Goodwill?!! The bullet nose design likely won't sit upright like the Midwest Finesse head. The skinny bait holder barbs are bendy and work better if you snip off a bit of the barb tips. The required heavy wire hooks may not be best choice for your apps.

My Win7 might be causing some posting problems.