Ladson, SC —Z‑Man Fishing Products has expanded one of its most trusted and tournament‑proven bait families with the launch of the new 6″ Scented Jerk ShadZ™, a supersized soft minnow engineered for the modern bass angler and the rapidly evolving world of forward‑facing sonar (FFS).
For years, the Scented Jerk ShadZ has been a powerhouse in both professional and grassroots tournament circles, used by Z-Man pros and non-sponsored anglers alike. The bait’s popularity has been fueled its ElaZtech® construction, offering two key advantages: natural buoyancy that keeps it sitting in a perfectly horizontal, lifelike posture at rest, and extreme durability that lets anglers fish longer and harder without constantly replacing baits. Its reputation was cemented on the biggest stage when Jeff “Gussy” Gustafson won the Bassmaster Classic using the bait as the centerpiece of his winning system.
Today, with FFS reshaping how anglers target suspended fish, the demand for larger, more visible minnow style baits has surged. The new 6-inch size answers that call. It provides a bigger presence on sonar, draws more attention from quality fish, and is perfectly suited for the jighead/minnow technique dominating tournaments nationwide.
That trend was on full display last month when Garrett Ellenson won the WON Bass Winter Open on Clear Lake, stacking up more than 98 pounds of bass across three days while relying solely on the 6″ Scented Jerk ShadZ in Smoky Shad to locate and trigger big fish with forward‑facing sonar. His commanding performance underscores exactly why this new size exists—and how quickly it’s becoming a go‑to tool for serious anglers…