Entry 228-5

Strike King Intervenes to Save the Day with Tim Ungaro

Part 5: If You See Them, You Can Catch Them

Question: How are you catching redfish on the Zulu?

Ungaro: Basically, we’re sight-fishing for the reds. Many times we can actually see the redfish before we cast to them. At other times, we’ll only see swirls and mud clouds as the fish are feeding in shallow water, and then we blind-cast to them. When I was fishing in Florida, I threw a Zulu to a speckled trout that didn’t take the bait, basically because I made a bad cast to the fish. However, on the second cast I made, I put the bait in front of a redfish, just past the fish. So when I began to twitch the Zulu, the redfish saw the bait and took it. There’s not really any magic to fishing the Zulu. The Zulu has the magic built into it. You can twitch it, and it will dart. When the Zulu darts or swims from side to side, the redfish will eat it.

Question: How are you catching speckled trout with it?

Ungaro: I catch speckled trout the same way I catch the tarpon. I cast the bait out past the speck, in front of the fish. Then I hold my rod tip high, so that my line has a belly in it. I simply pop the belly in the line off the water. This way I can keep the bait close to the fish but always have it moving. Anytime I’m sight-fishing, I’ll usually use this tactic.

Question: When you’re in shallow water inshore, are you mainly fishing for speckled trout, redfish or tarpon?

Ungaro: No, not really. I’m a fisherman; I like to catch fish, all kinds of fish, plenty of fish and lots of fish all day long. When I start out in the morning, I may be intending to catch tarpon or speckled trout or another particular species. However, if I see a school of speckled trout, bluefish, king mackerel or lady fish, I’ll cast to them. When we go out of the country fly-fishing, we’ll usually be fishing for bonefish, permit or tarpon. But we always keep a spinning rod with a Strike King Zulu tied on in case we see other fish we want to catch, or, if the wind and water conditions change to keep us from fishing with our fly-rods.

Using a spinning rod with a Zulu allows us to catch any fish we want to take, generally regardless of the conditions. In years past I fished with a bait called a Cuda Tube, which was piece of rubber with a lot of treble hooks in it that was used primarily for catching barracuda. We had a rod with a Cuda Tube, a spinning rod with a Zulu and a fly-rod. However, on this last trip, I threw my Zulu to a barracuda and caught that fish without any problem. Even though my Zulu only had one hook in it, I really believe that I got a better hook set using the Zulu than I did using the Cuda Tube with all its treble hooks.

Question: How big were the barracuda you were catching on the Zulu?

Ungaro: These weren’t the magnum barracudas, and these barracudas only weighed about 30-pounds each.

Question: Wait a minute, Tim. I know barracudas have double-sided razor blades for teeth, and they slash, cut and kill baitfish like a deli-meat slicer. Weren’t they cutting the Zulus all to pieces?

Ungaro: No, they weren’t, and I was sort of surprised. But I’ve never caught any fish that I’ve had completely demolish a Zulu. We were fishing for these barracudas on wire leader, so if the cuda got the Zulu well into its mouth like the fish is supposed to before you set the hook, those razor-blade teeth are coming in contact with the wire and not with the Zulu.

Question: You’re catching those barracuda on 12-pound-test line with a wire leader and a Zulu, is that right?

Ungaro: That’s right.

Question: What size of hooks are you using?

Ungaro: We’re fishing with No. 2/0 up to No. 4/0 size hooks. I’ve lost more fish fishing top-water lures with treble hooks than I have fishing a Zulu with a single hook. From what I’ve learned by fishing both freshwater and saltwater, if you’re fishing and you don’t know what bait to use, fish a white Zulu. If you’re going to be fishing for a fish you’ve never fished before and don’t know what baits to use, use a white Zulu. If I can only put one bait in my box to fish anywhere in both freshwater or saltwater, it’ll be that white Zulu.

Contents:

• Part 1: I’m Going to Get Me Some of Those Zulus
• Part 2: The Teeth Tell the Tale
• Part 3: Tarpon and the Zulu
• Part 4: The Bass Bonanza
• Part 5: If You See Them, You Can Catch Them