February 08, 2014
By Ned Kehde
On Jan. 31, we published a column featuring Glenn Young's methods of wielding a ZinkerZ spin. It was titled "ZinkerZ Update." On Feb. 3 Young, who resides in Blythewood, South Carolina, and is the National Sales Manager for Z-Man Fishing Products, filed another helpful explanation on how and where he wields the ZinkerZ spin, as well as the Hula StickZ spin.
He wrote: "First, readers need to understand that the lake I fish most of the time is nothing but sticks, grass and lily pads. Throwing anything with an open hook on it is asking for trouble. Therefore, unless I'm fishing a nearby river where it's nice and open with only boulders to obstruct my presentation, I pretty much have to rig my baits weedless or a close facsimile thereof."
"As I mentioned in the first update to the ZinkerZ spin, I started playing around with this presentation last year with a whole ZinkerZ when we had high and stained water. But after reading the column entitled 'The ZinkerZ spin and its precursors,' I decided to give the 2 ½-inch ZinkerZ a try on Saturday [Feb. 1]. After the harsh winter conditions we just endured, I figured that the largemouth bass would be less hesitant to go after the 2 ½-inch ZinkerZ than the five-incher.
"I rigged a 2 ½-inch PB&J ZinkerZ with a small gold Colorado blade attached to its tail on a 2/0 Gamakatsu G-Lock hook and used a very small bullet weight in the front of it. Since I didn't have a rubber weight stopper, I used a piece of 20-pound-test fluorocarbon line, which I used to tie a uni-knot onto my eight-pound-test leader, and after I tied the uni-knot, I tightened it and slid it down to the sinker to act as a stopper, and it worked pretty well. By rigging it this way, I was able to throw the bait into any place I wanted without fear of hanging it up or bringing back a bunch of aquatic vegetation.
"Saturday was the first warm day since the arctic front that hammered us last week. I wasn't sure what to expect as far as fish activity, but surprisingly the fish were fairly active and cruising some of the shallow areas around the timber and lily pads. I fished for a couple of hours and managed to land nine decent-size largemouth bass and hooked a couple others that came unbuttoned.
"It is a very versatile little rig. I can fish it really shallow, and I can also let it sink on the drop offs and experiment with a variety of slow retrieves.
"I also trimmed down a Hula StickZ, and it worked fairly well too. The Hula StickZ is a little more buoyant. So I used it in the shallow flats. Also, when I am banging these baits off of sticks and dragging it through and over lily pads, the Hula StickZ is a little more durable than the ZinkerZ. So far, the blades have held up well and I have not had one come off of any of the baits I've attached it to.
"For a finesse technique, the ZinkerZ and Hula StickZ spin are actually pretty good at covering a wide expanse of water. While most of my fish were caught with a slow retrieve near sloping banks, I caught a few out of the shallow flats using a faster retrieve to keep it up near the surface.
"I am sure this is a technique that I'll continue to play around with. I can see some good applications for this technique in certain sections of the river that I fish frequently. There will be more updates to come."
Endnotes
For more information, please examine the stories at these four links:
http://www.in-fisherman.com/2014/01/24/zinkerz-spin-precursors-3/
http://www.in-fisherman.com/2014/01/31/zinkerz-spin-update/
http://www.in-fisherman.com/2014/02/01/midwest-finesse-z-man-saga-canada/
http://www.bassmaster.com/video/how-keith-poche-rigs-stickworms
