Z-Man Sweeps ICAST Soft Lure Awards

Z-Man® ElaZtech® Baits Win Freshwater & Saltwater Sweep

New Shadtron™ LT and PrawnstarZ™ superplastics earn Best Soft Lure Awards at ICAST 2024

 Ladson, SC (July 23, 2024) – You know it when you see it is one way to evaluate a fishing lure. But when its underwater rhythms and motions match and even exceed the bait’s authentic physique, the it factor skyrockets to the highest levels of fish-catching achievement.

For the third consecutive year, Z-Man® Fishing won two ICAST trophies, this time earning awards in the prestigious Best Freshwater Soft Lure and Best Saltwater Soft Lure categories.

Among an array of impressive saltwater softbaits, the jaw-droppingly lifelike PrawnstarZ™ shrimp lure earned winning votes at the annual fishing industry celebration, July 17 to 19 in Orlando, Florida.

But just after accepting the award, dapping up and exiting stage-left, the Z-Man team heard its name announced once more. This time, the innovative lure company hoisted the prestigious Best Freshwater Soft Lure trophy, winning the ultra competitive category with its new Shadtron™ LT swimbait.

It was a powerful, one-two punch of a statement, delivering an irrefutable message that Z-Man and its original ElaZtech® superplastics had perhaps ascended to the top of the softbait mountain. Voted upon by the fishing industry’s professional media and fishing tackle buyers, the New Product Showcase reveals scores of new lures and other angling accoutrements.

 

For Z-Man, ICAST 2024 also heralded a threepeat win for Best Saltwater Soft Lure. (Z-Man’s Mulletron™ LT swimbait won the category in 2023; Kicker CrabZ™ won in 2022.)

“Winning with the PrawnstarZ is a super exciting achievement for Z-Man because it’s a testament to what’s become possible with ElaZtech superplastics, thanks to years of lab and on-water R&D,” suggests Z-Man Director of Product Development Jose Chavez.

“In terms of intricate anatomical details and lifelike, multidimensional color finishes, this is a pretty persuasive bait. But what sets the PrawnstarZ further apart from all other shrimp baits is its complex crustacean-like movements—from its free-flowing tail beats to the subtle quivering motions of its swimming legs as it parachutes toward bottom. Maybe for the first time ever, fish are seeing not only a convincing anatomical profile but multilayered body animations that exactly mimic a live shrimp. It’s perhaps the perfect bait for tricky sight-fishing scenarios or for just getting bit under a popping cork.”

Perfectly weighted and balanced to maintain an authentic horizontal posture as the bait freefalls and when it sits on bottom, the pre-rigged PrawnstarZ excels at an array of inshore applications.

The PrawnstarZ leans on an optimized blend of its durable, buoyant ElaZtech body and precision-balanced weight structure to retain a natural, horizontal, shrimp-like posture at all times. Driven by its active crustacean anatomy, the new PrawnstarZ isn’t just stylized with lively-looking appendages, it’s brought to life with these structures. Even on audible levels, the bait performs like a live shrimp, internal glass rattle clicking with each bottom contact or shake of the rodtip.

The new PrawnstarZ shrimp replica fools a Texas-sized seatrout.

For its freshwater encore, Z-Man’s new award-winning Shadtron LT swimbait laid bare equally eye-catching talents in terms of natural baitfish physique and underwater action.

“We knew early on that the Shadtron was something pretty special,” notes Chavez, a longtime lure designer with numerous ICAST awards to his credit. “Not only do the Shadtron and last year’s best saltwater softbait, the Mulletron, exhibit vivid body sculpting, radical baitfish patterns and super dialed in swimming actions, each is equipped with a custom-engineered line-through harness that assures every bite converts to a big fish in the boat. The Shadtron, however, takes things to another level.”

A true-to-nature shad-mimicking swimbait in 4.5- and 6-inch sizes, Shadtron LT is equipped with an industry-first over/under line-through harness that allows for both dorsal rigging with an included single hook or belly rigging with a treble hook (not included).

Generating the most realistic shad-swimming action attainable, the Shadtron’s rounded wedge-shaped tail empowers a versatile range of motions—from slow-roll to escape velocity. Further imitating the locomotion of a live shad, the Shadtron swims with minimal body roll and just a hint of head wag—all in the name of persuading eagle-eyed predators.

Winner of ICAST 2024's Best Freshwater Soft Lure - Z-Man's new Shadtron LT swimbait.

“To win both ICAST awards in two of the most competitive categories, and to receive this level of recognition for Z-Man baits three years in a row . . . it’s just a super cool, satisfying achievement for our whole team,” adds Chavez.

“Truthfully, we couldn’t be happier that anglers everywhere will now enjoy the same success and excitement as we’ve had testing these baits. To be recognized by our friends in the sportfishing community and to go home with two more ICAST trophies is an incredible honor. Gives us all kinds of motivation to take lure design even further in the future. Stay tuned!”