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Plenty of NEW things from Tackle Tactics As you read this, most likely you have had some time to relax and enjoy everything that the Christmas/New Year period has to offer. It certainly feels like some form of normality has returned, so I hope you have had a great Christmas and New Year. For me it certainly felt like Christmas had come early when I went and picked up an array of products for this testing booth from the team at Tackle Tactics. They have certainly come a long way from the small shed, office space and the specialty range of jigheads and lures they had, when I met them many years ago. Their portfolio of brands has expanded well beyond the name Tackle Tactics (TT’s as we all know it) and includes brands we all know like ZMan, Platypus, Okuma, Pro Cure, Toadfish and a number of others. So, as you can imagine they had plenty of new product hitting the shelves in late 2022 and early 2023. You will find an image within this testing booth that shows you the products that I picked up to be used and tested. The one thing missing is the Okuma Ceymar HD spin reel. It has arrived now, but I will test it individually, as I want a bit more time to put it through its paces. Let the testing begin.
them correctly. I tend to keep them in their original packaging, which keeps them out of harms way. They do react with other plastics and if left out the sun can change shape, so store them correctly and you will have plastics that last longer than most in the market. TT BLACK MAMBA FISHING RODS Tackle Tactics recently added a rod range into its portfolio of products. There are three ranges within this portfolio ranging from the entry level Copperhead series,
Just a few of the new releases from Tackle Tactics in 2023. FYI the Okuma ITX reels are an old favorite. The new Okuma Ceymar HD reels will be tested in a future issue of the magazine.
This Enoggera Reservoir bass couldn’t resist a ST GrubZ slow rolled through the lily pads in the image. ZMAN ST GRUBZ AND ZMAN PRAWNZ SOFT PLASTICS Two new shapes have been added to the extensive range of ZMan soft plastics in the form of the 2.5” ST GrubZ and 2.5” PrawnZ. They are available in 12 and 15 colours respectively, including some two-
This small mulloway didn’t read the script. It ate a ST GrubZ meant for a bream. 56
JANUARY 2023
tone laminate options and a number of new colour releases for the new season like Dirty Oil, Laguna Shrimp, Slam Shady and Blood Oil which has a great story behind it. Motor Oil and Blood Worm have always been some of the most popular colours within the ZMan range and within that group of anglers, there were many that liked to place the two colours together in a tackle tray to let the two colours leach together forming a hybrid colour. Tackle Tactics have saved anglers that effort with the Blood Oil colour as it is the combination of the Bloodworm and Motor Oil colours. These two soft plastics are at the finesse end of the scale, when it comes to soft plastics, but that is where their similarities end. The PrawnZ requires the angler to impart the majority of the action (it does have a nice little tail flip) while the ST GrubZ with its split tail design and body micro ribbing offers maximum action with minimal movement of the lure. In simple terms an angler new to fishing with soft plastics will find the ST GrubZ a little easier to use. As far as rigging each of them, the TT Lures HeadlockZ range is your best option. The design of this jighead assists the plastic to hold position if you are getting tentative bites, minimising the plastic from being pulled from the grub keeper. Having said that I have always loved rigging a prawn style plastic in
a slightly different way using the TT tournament series HWS (Hidden Weight System) jigheads, which makes the lure sink in a horizontal position and offers a weedless presentation, perfect if your fishing areas that are structure orientated. There will be a picture within this test showing this rigging option. Although there are many species you can target and will catch with either of these two lures, I believe bream anglers will love them. The colour options are spot on and the different presentation and retrieve options will excite many anglers. Scent is another component that many anglers like to use, so the ribbing on the ST GrubZ may tip a few people towards it, as the ribs hold plenty of scent to add a bit more attraction to your lure. A small warning with these plastics and ZMan plastics in general is to store
Most fish love eating prawns, so the new ZMan 2.5” PrawnZ will be a good option for any number of species. medium price point Red Belly range and then finally the Black Mamba range. All have spin and baitcast options. I was given a couple of the Black Mamba spin rods to try (the 7’ 1-3kg and 2-4kg rods). I matched them with a couple of the Okuma ITX reels (a 1000 on the 1-3kg rod and a 2500 on the 2-4kg rod) and them with 6lb Platypus Pulse X8 braid and 8lb Platypus Bionic X9 braid. In my mind great set ups for our saltwater bread and butter species, bream and flathead. As already
The three rigging options the author used with the 2.5” PrawnZ. A weedless presentation using a TT HWS jighead (top), a standard TT HWS jighead presentation (middle) and a TT HeadlockZ finesse jighead (bottom).
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