Catch smallmouths quickly from lakes, rivers, flowages, and streams. This 4-inch slender swimbait personifies fishing on the fly, in search of quick bites.
I quickly discovered the effectiveness, efficiency and productivity of Z-Man’s 4-inch Diezel Minnow during the ice-out period of April, 2022. Its fish catching powers continued to carry-over into the spring spawning period, then into mid-summer, and early fall of that year.
And it’s been my boat’s primary search lure and fish finder ever since.
Traditionally I would throw a larger profiled swimbait or paddletail with a casting setup. Mainly to weed thru dinks and focus only on the largest specimens available in the system. But as you know, our big fish are seeing more baits more often, and with that comes lots more rejection. Downsizing from a high octane 5 or 6 inch swimbait to the softer, slender shape and subtler profile and shimmy of a 4″ Diezel Minnow fished with spinning gear proved to be the difference-maker across many fisheries. It caught fish of all sizes, but many bigger ones I believe wouldn’t have been caught otherwise.
Unparalleled softness, action, and elaztech durability merge to create the most bulletproof swimbait on the market. Inspired by Z-Man’s renowned three-inch Minnowz, smallmouth anglers alike will find that the Diezel Minnow’s hook slot and split dorsal fin provide easy weedless rigging and problem-free hooksets.
Most finesse baits won’t last long. On the contrary the diezel minnow does. It is tough enough to catch several dozen smallmouths and still not need replacing. Outside of bite-offs, some of my diezel minnows lasted the entire year. It is an incredibly soft and durable bait. The hook slot in its belly expedites rigging, as well as hook sets. Its dorsal fin acts as a hook guard, preventing it from becoming snagged. The softness of its body allows its boot tail to wiggle more vigorously and alluringly at slower-paced retrieves.
The ElaZtech material works well with certain styles of hooks, but not so well with others. The rubbery plastic will fail to connect with jig heads lacking a wire keeper or sturdy collar.
My first recommendation is to pair it with Z-Man’s Finesse Eyez Jigheads. The slender head cuts through water, promoting further bait body swimming and tail kicking action. The 1/4 oz. size with a 3/0 hook launches like a dream with my preferred spinning gear – St. Croix Avid AVS70MHF with a size-30 reel spooled with 15 lb. Cortland Masterbraid. My reel of choice holds approximately 200 yards of line which can bomb-cast it.
Available in dozens of colors, I gravitate to the Ayu and Motor Oil colors most often. They just work on every water type and clarity. The Deal is another good one. Newly released Pro Team Perch and Disco Cisco got lots of usage this fall and both did well wherever perch or cisco were the dominant lake forage species.
The preeminent finesse jighead for systematic finesse, the Finesse EyeZ Jighead calls on a low-center-of-gravity head with Z-Man’s grooved Stabiltrack design to maintain perfect balance at all retrieve speeds, or when fished vertically. Oversized 3D eyeballs highlight four jig color patterns, focusing predatory attention and creating a pronounced strike target. Built around custom needle-point, light wire black nickel hooks, the Finesse EyeZ comes in two hook sizes and five jig weights: 1/12- to 3/8-oz with 1/0 or 3/0 hooks. A welded wire keeper facilitates easy, secure rigging of ElaZtech softbaits, locking them firmly into place.
I have found other jig heads work very well with it. They include a 1/4 oz. Northland Slurp! which has a wire keeper and launches even further with spinning gear. The other, a
3/8 oz and 1/2 oz. Freedom Tackle FT Series Swimbait Jigs which sports not one, BUT TWO, revolutionary keepers that eliminates slipping and tearing. This jig will make casting the diezel minnow possible with a baitcaster.
The 4-inch size works anytime, anywhere. But on some lakes and in certain seasons, you might find that the 5-inch Diezel Minnow catches them best. The smallmouths will tell you quickly.
Beyond smallmouths, everything that swims loves them. It caught walleyes, muskies, pike, largemouths and crappies throughout the year.
