The Z-Man HellraiZer is a one-of-a-kind bass fishing lure. The owner of the Original ChatterBait, Z-Man prides itself as a company in being on the leading edge of innovation.
They’ve certainly done it again with their new vibrating jig/topwater hybrid lure. It might be a bit of a visual overload when you first see it the pack but the HellraiZer quickly instills confidence when you first see it in the water. I’ve been fishing with it a lot recently and have been more than impressed by its unique action. If you’re fishing pressured waters especially, I think you’re going to fall in love with this unique bait.
Let’s go through it and see if it works for your particular applications.
The basic idea of the Z-Man HellraiZer
Z-Man apparently set out to produce a topwater bait that still had the thump of a ChatterBait and they certainly succeeded. On the tail-end of a thin and long composite body, Z-Man hung a counter-weighted blade along with a feathered treble hook. This was meant to achieve a big surface disturbance and a lot of flashy action.
Action
As far as action goes, the Z-Man HellraiZer has loads of it. The contraption on the end causes the nose of the body to ride up and wobble side to side, while the tail-end goes haywire as soon as you start to reel the bait. This all comes together with a bit of flash and a whole lot of vibration. I’ve also really liked how quickly the bait comes to the surface when you start the retrieve. You don’t have to burn it immediately after it lands and you can also reel it along at a moderate pace without it sinking below the surface.
The Wired2fish crew has already had a lot of questions about it from anglers who especially frequent clear-water fisheries. Whether the bass are eating threadfin shad or chasing herring in open water, this lure is likely to be a major producer.
Hooks
There’s a massive hook near the midsection of the bait and a smaller feathered treble on the tail end. The hook positioning isn’t even across the whole bait but because the front-half of the bait is mostly out of the water, and only the back half is submerged, the hooks are positioned well to connect with fish attacking from below and behind the bait.
This offset hook positioning also ensures this bait lands correctly in the water. When I say that, I mean that the front treble hook isn’t going to hook onto the bill or the fishing line which, if you fish topwaters a lot, you know how frustrating this issue can be. You won’t have wasted casts with this bait which is an awesome quality in a topwater lure. When you see the bass come to the surface schooling, you can fire the Z-Man HellraiZer to ‘em and know it’s going to work and look how it’s supposed to.
How to fish it
This bait is great for longtime anglers and beginners alike. It offers something radically different for the seasoned angler’s tackle box and is as easy to fish as any other bait on the market for the beginner.
Any angler can simply tie this on, throw it out and reel as fast as is necessary to keep the bait on the surface. There really isn’t much for the angler to do when fishing this particular topwater lure. You don’t have to worry about much throughout the retrieve and even though it might seem super simple, you can still expect plenty of bites.
Price point and colors
Available in 10 different color combinations, there’s a HellraiZer to mimic almost any natural prey you’d likely see scurrying across the surface. At $14.99, this lure is reasonably priced considering it will last a long time. With components primarily made of metal and a high-density composite body, the bass will have to work hard to tear this one up. You can expect these to last several years and all kinds of topwater blowups.
The bottom line
Check out the HellraiZer in action in our YouTube Short:
The Z-Man HellraiZer is drastically different from anything else on the market and it most definitely catches fish. Pairing the vibration of a ChatterBait with the visual attraction of a topwater lure, Z-Man has invented a whole new genre of bait with the HellraiZer. Equipped with two strong and sharp wide-gap treble hooks, there’s plenty of business on the bottom-end of this bait. To make it even more appealing, it’s a great bait for an angler of any skill level. Simply tie it on, cast it out, reel it in and get ready to hold on tight.
