Z Man Pop Shadz

[dsiekman]

I ordered some Z Man Pop Shadz soft plastic top water lures after seeing them on an ICast video. They came in the mail today. I, of course, had to open the package and check them out. Wow. Just wow. If you pinch it between your fingers and gently shake it, it feels like a live minnow. I cannot wait to get these things in the water! Has anyone fished them?

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[green commander]

Thanks for sharing I had not heard of these yet they look promising. I will definitely have to get some to try. Did you order them direct from Zman or somewhere else?

[dsiekman]

I got them online at Tackle Warehouse. I think they were around $6 for a three pack.

[ComeOnFish]

I used Z man ElazTech when bluefish are around when striper fishing.
They are bluefish tooth resistant lures. It can take 20-30 bluefish bites.

One bad thing about the ElazTech lures is that the lures will dissolve certain plastics (all plastic crank-baits, some trays on the tackle boxes, Styrofoam bobbers, plastic bobbers, soft grips on pliers, and other soft lures. So keep them in a sandwich bag (vinyl) once opened.

And a year later they dissolve themselves once the packages were opened.

Joe

[bruce19365]

No Zman product will ever be found in my tackle bag or kayak. Yes, it is purely personal.

[RavensDfense]

I have used them with some success. I caught a few mid 20's rock on them on the flats behind Assateague last fall. They can be a little tricky to rig though. You need to thread the worm hook into the bottom portion of the "face" on the popper. that way when you pop it, it doesn't nose dive into the water. A little trial and error is all it takes. Just like other z-man products, they can take a beating.

[dsiekman]

I have used them with some success. I caught a few mid 20's rock on them on the flats behind Assateague last fall. They can be a little tricky to rig though. You need to thread the worm hook into the bottom portion of the "face" on the popper. that way when you pop it, it doesn't nose dive into the water. A little trial and error is all it takes. Just like other z-man products, they can take a beating.

Thanks for the tip! I watched a YouTube video about rigging it with a treble hook.

Yes, I've heard you have to be really careful about keeping them separate. I was planning to just keep the original package.

[Cowpokey]

Yes, I've heard you have to be really careful about keeping them separate. I was planning to just keep the original package.

I've heard horror stories about Z-man plastics reacting with other plastics, but haven't had it happen with any of mine. I've had several in the round tub that came with my Hobie since July with no problem. The Hobie tub appears to be made out of the same plastic as current Plano boxes, which Z-man used to have a picture of their plastics in without bags on their website.

Most of my Z-man plastics are in original Z-man bags. I've heard they can be safely in Ziploc bags also.

[bunnielab]

I saw a video from Z-man (which of course I now cannot find) where the sales guy mentioned it was the plasticizers in PVC that their plastic reacts with. He specifically mentioned that most plano type boxes are PVC but that flambeau offers a tackle box that isnt PVC and should be safe for their baits.

I did a test where in I put a z-man senko and a yamamoto senko together in a small ziplock bag. Nothing happened for a few days but maybe a month or so later I rediscovered my "experiment" and sure enough the yamamoto worm was hard and brittle on the side that was touching the zman one. The z-man worm was odd, it was still supple, maybe even more so then when new, but had a stickiness to it.

[JohnE]

Zmans and vudu shrimp are the worst for melting when kept with other soft plastics. They are great otherwise, just need to be careful how you store them.

[J.A. Veil]

Zmans and vudu shrimp are the worst for melting when kept with other soft plastics. They are great otherwise, just need to be careful how you store them.

The soft plastics that come with Redfish Magic spinnerbaits are made of the same material. I had two of them melt and fuse with other soft plastics last summer.

[JohnE]

Forgot that one. Yes, I have also had the same thing happen with Redfish Magic spinners as well. Definitely add them to the list.

[Slobber Bob]

I saw a video from Z-man (which of course I now cannot find) where the sales guy mentioned it was the plasticizers in PVC that their plastic reacts with. He specifically mentioned that most plano type boxes are PVC but that flambeau offers a tackle box that isnt PVC and should be safe for their baits.

There's a thread on here somewhere that directly addresses this issue. I think Pc4sun may have started it (?) if you do a search.

Just store zmans in the original packaging and you'll have no problems.

[JohnE]

I took mine out and put them in plano boxes when I was organizing yesterday. The original bags are in the trash. Maybe zip locks would be better? I looked at my vudu shrimp collection, which has been in a plano box for a while and they seem to be doing fine.

[dsiekman]

I did a test where in I put a z-man senko and a yamamoto senko together in a small ziplock bag. Nothing happened for a few days but maybe a month or so later I rediscovered my "experiment" and sure enough the yamamoto worm was hard and brittle on the side that was touching the zman one. The z-man worm was odd, it was still supple, maybe even more so then when new, but had a stickiness to it.

I remember this sort of thing happening years ago with plastic worms. After a summer in a plastic tackle box in a hot garage you were left with a smelly, sticky mass of old worms and hooks.