The traditional bobber and worm combo has been a staple for catching panfish of all kinds through the years. It’s simple, easy, and panfish absolutely devour worms. Then the Z-Man Micro bait series came along, and bream and crappie are attacking these artificial baits with a vengeance—no live bait required. If you love to catch panfish, you need to try this easy-to-use micro bait system.
THE Z-MAN PANFISH STARTING LINE
This lineup of tiny morsels has been around for a couple of years, with Z-Man adding a few new colors and designs along the way. They have lifelike features and realistic profiles that mimic small baitfish and grubs very well, enticing even the most stubborn fish. The smaller profile means both bluegills and crappie can easily inhale these baits, and the super-sharp hooks pin the fish easily.
Anglers can create a multitude of color combinations, but the hue doesn’t seem to matter much. Whether the water is clear or murky, these baits break textbook practices. For the most part, anglers are used to throwing natural colors in clear water and pinks, whites, chartreuse and other bright colors in the dirtier waters. It seems that with these baits it doesn’t matter!
A good friend, Jordan Rhodes, joined me on a local pond to put these micro baits to the test. I also fished several small lakes and ponds across Nebraska and Iowa recently and found that whether the water was crystal clear or discolored, we could use just about every color of bait and still catch. Not only did we catch a lot of gills and slabs but they were the biggest in the lake!
BABY BALLERZ
The most productive bait for us was the Baby BallerZ on a Micro Shad HeadZ. It seemed to catch fish on all of the lakes we fished. The body of this bait is ribbed, which can increase water displacement and create a bubble trail that fish can hone in on. The tail has a subtle action that looks very nervous.
SHAD FRYZ
The Shad FryZ is a paddle tail-style swimbait that resembles a tiny shad. We were pleasantly surprised by the motion the ElaZtech plastic in this tiny swimbait produces, and had no problem hooking up with both gills and slabs. We paired it with the Micro Shad HeadZ and reeled it through bait balls that crappie and bluegill were feeding on at the time. It is so realistic I even mistook it for the real thing a couple of times!
STINGERZ
We didn’t want to limit ourselves to this one baitfish imitation, so we checked out Z-Man’s 2-inch straight tail micro baitfish. The StingerZ looks and feels just like a young of the year shad, and rigs easily on the Micro Shad HeadZ. Both the Shad FryZ and StingerZ are great options when the panfish are targeting those tiny shad, but the StingerZ has a slightly different action from the swinging tail.
MICRO GOAT
Another bait we prized was the Micro Goat. It can mimic just about everything that crawls or swims in the water. The flutter action of this bait attracts fish, whether you fish it fast or slow. You can even downsize it further by cutting off a portion of the head area. But, we found that the Micro Goat right out of the package worked just fine.
MICRO TRD
The Micro TRD is just like its big brother, the TRD. This Ned-style bait is just as reliable when catching panfish. It has a twirling action as it drops to the bottom; that is if it makes it there! Green pumpkin was our favorite here on a Micro Finesse ShroomZ head in 1/15 or 1/20th ounce size.
TINY TICKLERZ
A cousin to the Micro TRD is the Tiny TicklerZ, which is a smaller version of the Z-Man TRD TicklerZ, one of the top Ned-style baits out there. It is super buoyant, thanks to the 10X tough ElaZtech material, and comes in a variety of colors that make it a big hit with panfish. This bait can also be paired with the Micro Finesse ShroomZ.
LARVAZ
The 1.75-inch long LarvaZ is an imitation of invertebrates, with big bulging eyes and a tapered, ribbed body with a segmented, nervous tail. At first glance this bait looks a bit fragile, but don’t let that fool you as it is very durable, and will last quite a while on a Micro Finesse ShroomZ head. Even with its smaller size, it grabbed the attention of the fish. We really liked using the green pumpkin color but that red one is the bomb, even catching a few smallies! And this bait can be fished in the ol’ bobber and worm style.
GETTING JIGGY WITH IT
To keep things simple, Z-Man offers two basic jig heads to pair with the panfish-size baits. When we took the Micro Shad HeadZ out of the package we were pleased at the quality and engineering. The ShroomZ is a traditional mushroom-shaped head with lifelike eyes that will entice fish to bite, and comes in four sizes ranging from 1/10th to 1/30 ounce. They both have sharp, light wire hooks and keepers that hold the baits tightly.
Because of the tough nature of ElaZtech, there is a trick to getting the bait over the holders though. You need to pinch the bait and pull away and over the keeper to properly place the bait. This is done on both sides of the bait. We never had to replace the plastic as it stayed on perfectly with numerous catches.
ANY WAY YOU LIKE IT
These bite-sized morsels can be fished just about every way you wish. They can be trolled, pitched, dead sticked. We found that vertical jigging was just as good. One thing you might do is use a loop knot when using the Micro Shad HeadZ. The baits are very buoyant, and the loop knot allows it to stay horizontal.
There are a multitude of techniques you can use when targeting panfish with these Micro baits. And they’re a good value, as they are priced right and you will save a lot of time and money because of their durability. Pick a couple to start with and see what works best for you. There is no doubt that you will catch a lot of fish and have lots of fun.
