2025 Record Year On The Z-Man ToadZ

 

I caught 1,011 fish on a Z-Man Goat ToadZ in 2025, making it my most productive lure in a year, and it isn't even close. The previous best was 701 caught on T.H.E. Jig in 2021. My first fish caught on the ToadZ in 2025 was on May 13th. Here is the species breakdown:

BP's Top Bass Snatcher of 2022

 

In early July, a poster in the In-Depth Outdoors bass forum wrote about his success on a Z-Man GOAT Toadz. My ears perked up, seeing that he was talking about topwater explosions. I did some investigating. There are 4 different GOAT baits made by Z-Man. Three of them are different-sized grubs (Baby GOAT, The GOAT, Billy GOAT), and the fourth is the Toadz, which made its debut in 2022; they released the Grubs a year or two earlier. All I could get my hands on at first was The GOAT size. Immediately, fish were all over it, so I quickly placed an order at Tackle Warehouse because they had baits in stock, hoping to get some Toadz and Billy GOATs in time for a tournament on the Crow Wing River. Unfortunately, they got delayed in shipping and didn't make it. The Billy GOAT and Toadz were straight-fire for me until it finally got too cold for topwater. The Billy Goat was my #1 bass catcher in 2022, and the Toadz finished #2. Not counted are a significant number of fish that got off in the reeds or heavy slop. Also not figured into the numbers is that I used the Billy GOAT as a Chatterbait, Spinnerbait, Swim Jig Trailer, and the Toadz on buzzbaits. With this bait concept, Z-Man hit a home run; it draws strikes like a champion. 

Here are my Top 10 Bass Lures for 2022, by the numbers:

The Craw Tube's total put it into 3rd Place overall.
The Brovarney Jig caught an additional 26 largies putting it in 5th Place.

The eBay Chatterjig also caught 7 largies making it my 6th most productive bass lure of 2022.
    

Rainy Mystery Tackle Box Morning

16.25" V&M Wild Worm

5:00-8:30AM GOMH NE, Culvert, Bulldog, Rock, Peavy
Conditions: 60℉, Cloudy Light Rain, Calm to Windy ESE, water flowing into Sullivan pretty good.

Maybe the sky was spectacular this morning and I missed it because I was wearing the hood on my rain jacket.  The main objective this morning was to catch fish on the rest of my Mystery Tackle Box plastics.  I did just that and got a bonus fish on the Ima Pinjack.  First Bite was on the Buddha Baits Swagger Worm.

15" Buddha Baits Swagger Worm

I did some reading up last night on the V&M Wild Worm.  I was rigging it weightless, which is wrong because it's designed to be fished on a shaky head; The weight of the jig makes the thing swim.  The fish really liked it when I put the jig with it.  I lost a good one, then caught the 16.25" in the first picture and a 14" later on.

Chowed It On the Jighead

I then got missed a few hits on the Netbait Paca Slim on the Z-Man Shroomz Jig before I landed a 14" and 11" on the combo.

14" Z-Man Shroomz Jig/Netbait Paca Slim

The last fish of the morning was a pike on the Ima Pinjack.  The water at the GOMH is to shallow for the Pinjack, especially now with the low water.

21.5 Ima Pinjack

So I have now caught a fish on all the Mystery Tackle Box plastics.  I really like that Paca Slim.

Here's where I am in fish caught on MTB baits to this point.

Operation Mystery Tackle Box Is Underway

12.5" Z-Man Shroomz Micro Finesse Jig/Crusteaz 

8:30-9:45PM Platte River Culvert, GOMH NE
Conditions: 60℉, Partly Cloudy, NW Wind

14.5" Jenko Premium Spinnerbait

So tonight the aim was to catch fish on as many of the lures I got in my three Mystery Tackle Box's this winter as I could.  I started out fishing the River2Sea Double Plopper at the Platte River Culvert and had something small hit it but not hook up.  The same thing happened when I went to the GOMH.  I got the first bullhead of the night on the Z-Man Shroomz Micro Finesse Jig with Z-Man Crusteaz trailer.  Then I put on the Jenko Premium Spinnerbait and got the biggest fish of the trip on that.

14.5" Jenko Spinnerbait

   I then put on the LiveTarget Hunt For Center Crawfish Crankbait and got a bullhead on that after switching from the 6'4" Avid X Rod to the 6'8" Avid Rod.

13.5" LiveTarget HFC Craw Crank

Last bullhead of the night came on the Savage Gear Armor Tube Worm.

11.5" Armor Tube Worm

I originally had it on the hook Texas rigged, but switched to wacky after missing a coupe of bites.  I got the fish, but lost the worm.  I then tried a Netbait Baby Mad Paca and missed a couple of bites on it before the skeeters became to much.

So basically I got 4/6 of Box #3 taken care of,  1/5 of Box #1, and 0/5 of Box #2

  4 Jumpers (4.96lbs)

Mystery Tackle Box NOT Disappointed, Finally!

LiveTarget HFC Crawfish Crank:  Should be a real winner at the Grumpy Old Man Hole provided a pike doesn't steal it.

River2Sea Double Plopper:  I am aware the reviews on this bait have pretty uniformly registered disappointment.  I still wanted one anyway, but sure as heck wasn't going to pay to buy one for myself.  Now I have one for myself.  MTB came through with a topwater bait for me.

Z-Man Project Z-Shroomz Micro Finesse Jig and Crusteaz: This mini jig-n-pig combo is sure to be a fish catcher until a pike steals the two jigs from me.

Netbait Mad Paca: Brush Hog style creature baits are something I have never fished.  I guess you have to buy them to fish them and I never bought any.  If they live up to the hype, I'm pretty sure I'm  going through this bag fairly quickly; not because Netbait are a fragile plastic, but because this style of bait catches 'em so well.  If these prove to be a winner, and I have no reason to believe they won't be, I may add this creature bait to my bag of tricks.

Jenko Fishing Premium Spinnerbait: A very nice looking white spinnerbait made with quality components.  Absolutely will catch me some fish.

I am giving this box an A+

If all of the boxes were this good I would wholeheartedly recommend Mystery Tackle Box, unfortunately I don't believe they were.  If my opinion changes after fishing the baits I have received you can bet I will revisit my opinion in another blog.  Until then, good night and good fishing!  

The Boys At Tackle Tour Would Not Approve!

Although they might be impressed with the amount of fish caught.

In 2010, I and either one or two friends fished 127 times for a total of 509 hours. We traditionally fish from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. We caught 5570 black bass, which equals 43.8 bass per trip and 10.9 bass per hour. About 85% were caught on Z-Man’s soft-plastic baits.

A Guide to Frugal Fishing in 2011 By Ned Kehde from Felix Fishing blog. Go read for the gear costs breakdown.

I've been hearing a lot about that Z-Man ZinkerZ lately. Bait Monkey is tempted.