It will drive you nuts trying.....Originally Posted by TroyBoy30
It will drive you nuts trying.....
Not only that but one of nasty little bastages always finds its way up against some sort of plastic or in a Plano box creating a huge gooey mess.
Ive got a few bags of them but I handle them like they're radioactive. Separate bags only, where I normally keep all my plastics in Plano boxes.
Don't worry Ma'am....
I'm only here for the Bass.
I saw Hackney stretch and pull them to get some of the salt out to increase the buoyancy and adjust the rate of fall to see what the fish wanted.
good idea
Fish it the rest of the year and see if you still like it next spring. Get back with us on your thoughts
Been using zman worms for the last 10yrs. Shaky head here on ky lake all yr long with same worm. Catch 100s of fish on same worm. Wife never has to re rig when catches fish. I always keep one up on deck. Never have had any melt on me. You just store them always in same bag. They will melt when contacting other baits.
Probably my least favorite brand of plastics. Give me SK Rage, Zoom, Keitech, RI, Roboworm, and Berkley
Here's what I've learned from trial and error over the years.
For shakyhead, I look for a jighead with a lead barb on the shank. Z-Man ShakyheadZ, BOSS Brent Ehler head, Strike King. There's probably some others too.
A screwlock head can be done, but it's not as simple as the barb. If you do use a screwlock, use the hook point first to get a hole started (about 1/4" deep in the head). Or heat as someone else suggested. Then screw it in. A little superglue on the screwlock helps it stay. Takes a few extra seconds, but you can usually use the same worm all day.
Texas rigging is simple, but I get much better hookups using an offset round bend over an EWG. Don't rig them Tex-posed. The point should be angled out, but under the skin. An EWG tends to dig back into the plastic, which is ok with regular plastics because they tear easily on the hookset. Elaztech penetrates easily, but won't tear.
Elaztech takes a few adjustments, but to me it's worth it for the benefits of being buoyant, super-soft and long-lasting. Just like fluorocarbon line...Many use it for the benefits it offers, but it's not without its adjustments too.
Thanks for sharing that info. ek.
I got some tubes when they first came out. All the little tentacles stuck together when it got wet. Kinda ruined it for me.
im already seeing its tough to get perfect when you rig a ned up. I never have problems rigging any type of soft plastic baits....but this ned rig isnt 100% centered....even tho i followed SOP! im debating whether I should waste a few neds to try and perfect rigging it so its perfectly center....or is being centered not as important with ned heads since they float?
Try getting over a regular bait keeper wire
Dang thing just pushes right back off the keeper
Not to mention it melts all other plastics including tackle boxes
Last but not least "Not all baits should float"
"The handicapped angler"
Elaztech=pain in the butt
Looks like you are finding out why every bait company does not use it. You are answering your own question.
ended up wasting a bait....but I nailed it.....but I agree. Im a perfectionist nerd who pay attention to all those little details.....and I dont think most of the fishing population is as bad as I am about it. I rigged it the first time and it stood upward....but just wasnt right in the middle when Id look at the hook. Other times when I rigged it it just looked funky....so it definitely has a learning curve. And im not sure id call it "user friendly" the first time you touch it....and I could see how this would turn people off. Might be an even bigger pain in the ass when you have baits bigger than a finesse TRD.
Guess I did answer it! lol I still really, really like it and wish there were some beavers or other creatures made out of it! A Elaztech D-Bomb on a carolina rig would be deadly!!! Closest thing Z man has is the crusteaz....and i dont like that shape much imo.
Also....I think the Fatty Wormz is gonna be killer on a neko rig. Anyone ever us it for that....figure I might need to heat up my nail weight before inserting tho?....going back to it not being user friendly! lol
Last edited by FishInTheDesert; 07-22-2018 at 02:16 PM. Reason: neko
I can’t stand them.I use a screw shakey head,it’s impossible to get them on.
Hope no one minds the folks from Z-Man chiming in, but we thought we could add a little bit to this thread! ElaZtech is a proprietary thermoplastic elastomer formulation that, as you've noted, is far more durable that conventional plastics and is naturally buoyant, which is advantageous in many situations. Unlike most other plastics, it also contains no phthalates and is 100% non-toxic, meaning that is not harmful to fish or humans and doesn't leach harmful chemicals into the water or soil when discarded.
We have been manufacturing ElaZtech in our South Carolina plant for nearly 15 years, and it has really been catching on among bass fishermen over the last few years. The original Cyberflexxx material that Terminator and Strike King introduced in the early 2000s was a similar material chemically, but it was extremely soft and very tacky/sticky. The current ElaZtech formula solves many of the complaints anglers had about Cyberflexxx. We currently manufacture the 3X plastics for Strike King and also supply a few other brands on a much smaller scale.
The main reasons why other companies aren't using materials similar to ElaZtech are because our manufacturing processes and material formulations are proprietary, and because the manufacturing equipment itself is more involved and expensive than what is needed to inject or pour plastisol baits. In addition, we compound our own material (ie, material with the properties of our ElaZtech plastic is not commercially available), and the material itself is approximately 10X the cost of traditional plastics.
ElaZtech is a completely different kind of material than that used in traditional soft plastics, so as others have noted, rigging and storage is a little bit different. A good analogy for regular plastics vs ElaZtech is monofilament vs superbraid fishing lines. I'm sure most of you remember that when braided line first came out, there was a bit of a learning curve; the same knots that most anglers used at the time slipped when tied with superbraids, and many anglers found that they needed to adjust their rods, reels, drag settings, how they spooled up reels, and fishing techniques to account for thin diameter, lack of stretch, and slick finish. ElaZtech is similar in that anglers have found that they need to adjust the style of hooks/jigheads slightly and take a little bit more care with how baits are rigged and stored.
That said, in our eyes, the advantages of ElaZtech - namely the durability and buoyancy - far outweigh any minor inconveniences mentioned above. Sure, there's a bit of a learning curve, but there are some easy tips that will help folks get up to speed quickly and that will shorten the curve (for instance, when rigging ElaZtech on a jighead, stretch and pull the nose of the bait over the keepers rather than trying to push it on like you would do with a normal plastic bait). We've got a lot of videos on our YouTube channel that explain how to rig and use ElaZetch, as well as some bait comparison videos that show how our baits act differently underwater than comparable regular plastic baits.
Is ElaZtech the perfect answer for every scenario and will it completely displace plastisol baits? Of course not. But the bottom line is that there a number of scenarios where the buoyancy of ElaZtech will help it outfish traditional plastics, and the time and monetary savings can't be ignored. A few weeks ago, an angler placed in the top 10 of an FLW event on Champlain using only 2 of our Trick ShotZ the entire tournament - that's a lot of time saved scrambling for and re-rigging a replacement bait, not to mention the money saved. We're routinely hearing from our customers about catching 100 or more fish on a single bait, and a lot of pros who are sponsored by other plastics companies are using our stuff now for a variety of different applications.
We appreciate the interest in our baits, and if anyone has any questions, please feel free to get in touch!
I wouldn't worry too much about getting your Ned rig perfect. The fish will hit it every which way, including backwards. I do take a little extra care rigging up Z-Man swimbaits, but I do that with any swimbait.
As far as a Beaver bait, what you're looking for is the Palmetto BugZ.
Here's a suggestion for rigging the FattyZ neko-style: I save my well-used Finesse ShroomZ for this. Clip off the hook at the bend, clip off the eye, and you've got a nice easy neko weight for Elaztech. The wire barb on the shank holds really well.
I haven't tried a regular neko weight, but my suggestion would be the same as I mentioned before for screwlock rigging. Run a 5/0 hook or similar into the head to make a channel, then insert the weight.
I literally surfed TW before I posted that so I wouldnt look stupid. Guess I should try harder next time! LMAO
Good to hear about the ned rigs....and the neko tip too! Ended up stocking up on 6 packs of ned hooks at dicks recently too so Ill definitely keep that in mind! Thanks man....unfortunately for you I might start messaging you with anymore ned questions since you seems to know it pretty well! lol gift and a curse
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