Cutting-Edge Colors Enliven Z-Man’s Ultimate Ned Rig Bait

Cutting-Edge Colors Enliven Z-Man’s Ultimate Ned Rig Bait

An in-depth look at six new Finesse TRD patterns 

LADSON, SC (August 29, 2019) – “Lure color doesn’t matter,” contends Major League Fishing star Mark Daniels Jr., with a playful grin. “Until it matters.”

And when it matters, says the popular Alabama angler, “the right color can make or break your day on the water. Especially in clear or heavily fished water,” notes Daniels, “bass discern subtle shades of color and often respond by biting baits that reflect these specific, desirable hues, while rejecting others. In these situations, you don’t want to be the guy who runs out of that it color pattern.”

Expanding its roster of coveted Ned Rig baits, Z-Man recently unveiled six new colors of the Finesse TRD™. The fresh patterns include cutting-edge color combinations inspired by the West Coast finesse fishing scene, plus lively enhancements of classic earth-tones and innovative hatch-matching hues.

In total, Z-Man’s definitive finesse bait now gives anglers 28 intricate, fish-catching colors from which to choose.

Fresh off the 2018 Bassmaster Elite event on the St. Lawrence River, Daniels brought back ideas for a customized goby pattern. “Goby Bryant, man. Goby Bryant,” Daniels calls out the new baitfish pattern by name. “It’s a killer match of a lighter-phase round goby: olive-green-brown back with black and orange flake and a subdued, pearlescent belly. You gotta have this color when you’re fishing the St. Lawrence, the Great Lakes or any other place bass eat gobies. Goby Bryant’s been getting me lots of bites both on a Ned-rigged Finesse TRD and Z-Man’s dropshot hero, the Trick ShotZ™.”

From Great Lakes gobies and green pumpkins to West Coast exotics, Z-Man continues to pioneer new color processes for ElaZtech®—the generation-defining softbait material with radical, fish-catching properties.

FLW Tour pro and Ned Rig fan Brian “B-Lat” Latimer likes the new Meat Dog pattern Finesse TRD for good reason.

“The new Meat Dog pattern is Z-Man’s shot at mimicking the vibrant look and appeal of West Coast hand-poured worms,” says popular Washington-based bass pro Luke Clausen. “We’ve been fishing this sweet color sort of under the radar in the Finesse ShadZ™ for a few years. We’re stoked to now have it in the Finesse TRD, as well.

“In clear water Western reservoirs, showing bass different, contrasting hues—particularly mixes of browns and brighter iridescents— can make a huge difference,” Clausen explains. “In terms of number of bites, a Meat Dog TRD is sort of the West Coast equivalent of green pumpkin. Some days, it’s that good. But we’ve found these patterns also spill over into other clear water fisheries, like Lake Lanier, Georgia.”

Composed of what Clausen calls an electric purple back and subtle brown/chartreuse underside, Z-Man’s Meat Dog pattern lacks glitter by intent, and underwater, exhibits an almost translucent sheen. Named by FLW Tour angler Brian “B-Lat” Latimer, the Z-Man Meat Dog-pattern Finesse TRD has frequently been spotted tied to the rods of Clausen, Daniels and B-Lat himself.

Another new clear water / West Coast finesse color, Twilight features a two-tier lamination process, melding a vibrant purple back with an equally radiant pink belly. Twilight is now available in both the Finesse TRD and Big TRD™.

Mood Ring—a dark-hued coupling of black with blue glitter and deep purple—has previously proven itself as a saltwater color in Z-Man’s TroutTrick®. The subtle two-tone bait also represents a West Coast / finesse pattern, juxtaposing an earth tone with a softer iridescent.

A true Z-Man original, Bubble Gut melds a green pumpkin back with a pink/red flake belly. The eye-catching pattern amps up the classic finesse pattern with bright pink, a trending smallmouth color.

The sixth new Finesse TRD pattern comes from Ned Rig fanatics who have asked for a bait to throw where red-tinted crayfish abound. Hot Craw offers undeniable visual appeal, adding a red / gold flake underside to a green pumpkin back.

“Designing new colors is a lot of fun for us because with ElaZtech, it’s uncharted territory,” says Z-Man president Daniel Nussbaum. “We’re working with a totally unique material with superior fishing advantages like durability, softness and buoyancy. But it also means we’re writing our own playbook to develop new colors and to give anglers the bait patterns they need.

“Usually, we go through at least ten trials to get the color just the way we want it,” Nussbaum adds. “Sometimes, we wind up with a totally different look we didn’t anticipate, which ultimately catches more fish than our original vision—and that’s cool in our book.”

Among the foremost bass baits today, Z-Man’s Finesse TRD and full line of finesse superbaits continue to pioneer the Ned Rig category with shapes, actions and colors that consistently put fish in the boat. To tour the full line of Z-Man ElaZtech baits, visit www.zmanfishing.com.