Entry 145-4

Shaw Grigsby on Fishing Saltwater with Strike King

Zuluing Tarpon

Editor’s Note: Shaw Grigsby of Gainesville, Florida, is one of Strike King’s most-visible pros with his TV show, his participation in Bassmasters tournaments and the promotions he does at boat shows, fishing events and anywhere sportsmen gather. Grigsby has taken Strike King Products into saltwater as well as freshwater, and this week, Grigsby will tell you some of the ways that Strike King lures have helped him to catch fish in both brackish water and saltwater. With Strike King in your tackle box, anywhere there’s water, you can go fishing and catch fish.

Grigsby: I’ve caught so many tarpon on the Zulu before that it’s unbelievable. You can throw that Zulu out on the surface with a big hook in it and twitch it along on top to make tarpon come up and crush it. If the tarpon are close to the surface, you want to use a bait that hits the water quietly and can be moved through the water without giving off a lot of commotion.

On one particular day, I was seeing tarpon roll just out of casting range of my Zulu. So, I took a light jighead, Superglued the Zulu to the jighead and then cast to the tarpon. On this day, I was fishing with Captain Tom Rowland in Key West, Florida, who had some Z TOO baits, Strike King’s freshwater Zulu that’s impregnated with salt, weighs more than the regular Zulu and sinks instead of floats. Tom started rigging the Z TOO weedless, and because of the weight of the Z TOO he could cast as far if not further than I could using the jighead on my Zulu. He would also get a nice slow fall out of the Z TOO.

When we started fishing these two baits, the tarpon went absolutely nuts. We brought 12 fish to the boat and actually released them. We jumped another 14 to 15 fish that we didn’t get to the boat. This day was the most-amazing morning of tarpon fishing I’d ever had in my life. Tarpon seemed to be everywhere. We were into the Zulus with the jigheads and hooking tarpon just as fast as we could fish. We never had to worry about changing baits or re-rigging. Those Zulus and Z TOO’s didn’t get destroyed by the fish. These tarpon were 10 to 35 pounders, and they were everywhere. They would come out of the water and do double somersaults. I’d never had a more-exciting morning of tarpon fishing in my life. I was catching these fish on a 7-foot, medium-heavy-action Quantum rod and a wide-spool reel. I was fishing Stren Superbraid line with Stren 40-pound-test Fluorocarbon leader.

And you can be sure of one thing. The next time I go tarpon fishing, I won’t just have Zulus. I’ll also carry several packs of those Z TOO’s with me, because I’ve learned you get added range with the Z TOO, and the tarpon will take the bait as a fall bait as well as they will when you work it on top. I have caught tarpon that weigh as much 120 pounds fishing the Zulu when I rig it weightless with just the hook and use 60-pound-test Fluorocarbon. When I barely twitch that Zulu on the surface, those big tarpon will come up under it and slurp it off the surface just like they will a baitfish.

Next: Snook

Contents:

• Part 1: Grigsby’s Double Zulu Rig...
• Part 2: The Magic of the Redfish Magic
• Part 3: The Glass Minnow – Stick It to ‘Em
• Part 4: Zuluing Tarpon
• Part 5: Snook