Z-Man fishes for TroutZ and RedZ

Daniel Nussbaum tamZ the redZ with his Z-man lures

Cold weather is a great time to fish for troutZ

A cold 44-degree start did not cause local angler and Z-man lure designer Daniel Nussbaum to hesitate. Telling me to meet him at the boat ramp at 8:30, I chose to arrive 10 minutes early since I don't believe in being late for a fishing trip or a hunting adventure either. The truck and trailer were there, but Nussbaum and the boat were not. While making friends with a local oysterman who was launching his boat, Nussbaum roared up to the ramp in his Hewes flats boat and shared that he was so raring to go that he went out to 'test fish' for a bit. He caught a couple of trout on the Z-man 3-inch minnowz in 'bad shad' color and announced that we were on the way to a bank known for holding redfish. This is where the 'plans' deviated and we took what the fish were willing to give. WIth crystal clear conditions and no wind we saw a mature bald eagle soaring overhead, but had no redfish bites. Moving closer to a dock and a shell mound, I reeled in a fine 15-inch trout on a Zman in smoke color. I instructed Daniel to hold this fish for a photo and he agreed, but he also declared that we would find a larger one. Nope. We caught about a dozen trout out of the 'redfish spot' and then we made a move towards a known trout locale, and when we arrived an old-timer was catching trout using a shrimp under a float. We began casting plastic baits toward the bank, working them from the grass on out to 10-feet of water trying to locate the trout. The breeze freshened and I had to add a fleece to my layers, allowing me a brief pause from casting. My first cast back to the grass was grabbed by a medium-sized redfish and Nussbaum followed that up by catching another redfish from the same spot. So the 'trout spot' gave us redfish. Either way, it was Z-man lures that were up to the task for these RedZ and TroutZ. The water is very clear right now due to winter weather and no rain, and with little live bait left in the area, tuning up your casting while using plastic baits is a productive way to spend time.

Nussbaum prefers ultralight tackle

Ready to head out on a cold morning

To view past blog entries about Z-Man lures click here.