Entry 83-3

Shaw Grigsby on 3X Salt Impregnated Soft Plastic Lures

How to Fish the New Strike King ZToo

Editor's Note: New this year from Strike King is the 3X Salt Impregnated soft plastic lures. This week, well-known professional bass fisherman Shaw Grigsby of Gainesville, Florida, will tell us how, where and why to fish them.

Grigsby: When Strike King's Zulu first came out, I set out to see how many different species of fish I could catch on it. I caught tons of fish, both fresh water and salt water, on the original Zulu. Originally when I fished the Zulu, I'd twitch it across the surface and catch fish, or add a bigger hook to it and twitch it under the surface like a suspend bait. However, now with the ZToo, I also can twitch the bait across the surface like a live baitfish and stop the bait, and it will fall just like an injured baitfish. I can let it go all the way to the bottom and twitch it up off the bottom and let it fall back to the bottom like a dying baitfish.

I've caught bass that would weigh 7 and 8 pounds on the ZToo, and I've caught bass and had two or three other bass come to the surface trying to get the Zulu away from the fish I've hooked. All I had to fish with was hand-poured samples, and generally samples don't fish nearly as well as the production-run baits do. So, I can't wait to get my hands on the production-run ZToos. Another advantage I've noticed with Strike King's salt impregnated lures is they don't feel as tacky as the original 3X material did. Although the sticky feeling hasn't affected the fish-catching ability of the lure, I feel that the salt keeps these lures from feeling so sticky, and I just like them better. With the addition of the ZToos in the Zulu line, the fisherman now has all the great properties of his original Zulu with the new Zulu that will sink.

Another trick that I do with the Zulu is I also Texas-rig this bait. Many times in the fall, an area will have a shad kill, with lots of the shad dying off and falling to the bottom. At that time of the year, the ZToo is perfect when rigged Texas-style because you can twitch it across the surface and let it fall. It will look exactly like a dying shad. Like the original Zulu, the ZToo is just as effective in salt water as it is in fresh water. Because you can cast this lure without a weight, when it hits the water, it makes a real soft presentation so you don't spook the fish you're trying to catch. This makes the ZToo a productive bait for speckled trout and redfish when they're in real shallow water.




 

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