Z-Man has created a wide array of baits that are crafted to excel in every platform. Specifically speaking, you can see that the Z-Man crew put some time and thought into how well the baits would perform in certain current systems. Let’s discuss which style of bait you should choose for different current systems.
When I’m fishing a spot where there is very minimal water flow or no current (i.e., approaching low tide, low tide, near high tide, or high tide), the first thing I like to do is downgrade the weight of my Trout Eye or Redfish Eye jighead. Downgrading my weight not only prevents me from getting hung up on the bottom, but the lighter weight will allows the buoyancy of the Z-Man bait to sit in the water column longer providing a slower descent which allows predator fish more time to observe and attack it. When I’m fishing in very shallow water (18" or less), I prefer to use weighted hooks.
Once I have the correct weight, I choose my plastic. For situations with little to no water flow, I prefer to throw stick baits like the Z-Man Finesse TRD or the Trout Trick baits. If these baits even get a chance to make it to the bottom before getting attacked, you can impose some serious action on the baits with very minor movements which tend to stand out on bottoms with little water flow. Also, these buoyant baits are going to sit up-right which helps make them a more attractive target. Another great bait I like to throw in these conditions are the rigged EZ ShrimpZ. I love to throw these around structure when targeting redfish. These come rigged from Z-Man with a weighted hook that you can adjust as you get into shallower water. This is critical as you have less water and more structure to fish around. One thing to keep in mind is that you are going to have to work these baits slower than you would a paddletail, they can still be used as search baits but the speed of your retrieve should be drastically reduced.
In moderate to heavy current situations obviously, we want to upgrade the weig