Elaztech baits are one of the most unique and effective products in the fishing market.
The are much different from other soft plastics, and give you a number of advantages that catch more fish and save more money.
Elaztech is a soft plastic, composite material created by Z-Man. I’m not going to bore you with the details of everything inside of elaztech.
All you really need to know are it’s properties that result from that composite formula.
Elaztech is a very durable, stretchy, and soft material that is perfect for a bunch of soft plastic fishing scenarios.
Without a doubt, durability is the biggest advantage of elaztech baits.
Most soft plastic baits out there are actually extremely fragile. Once you catch 2-3 fish on one, the bait is usually all torn up and you need to get a new one.
But with elaztech, you can literally catch dozens and dozens of fish on a single bait.
My current record is 108 bass on just one elaztech bait. This was one of the finesse TRD baits.
The package says, “10X Tough”. But in reality, it’s actually much more than that in a lot of situations.
This durability is incredibly convenient as well as useful. You don’t need to constantly re-rig or fumble around looking for a soft plastic bait in good condition.
Just rig up one elaztech bait and forget about it. This also means you don’t need to constantly buy new packs of baits.
One 6-pack of these will quite literally catch you hundreds of fish, so a single pack can last you months.
Now the stretch is essentially the same thing as durability. But it’s cool enough that I wanted to give it a little more focus.
Like the old stretchy-man toy, you can pull and tug on these things as much as you want.
They stretch and stretch 10-20 times their own length.
Of course, the main advantage of this stretch is just the durability, but I had to give it some more credit.
Plus, they are super fun to hold play around with.
So while the elaztech material is extremely stretchy and durable, it is also very soft and squishy.
This softness serves two purposes. First, it feels very realistic and tasty to bass.
That soft material feels just like a real creature, and they often hold on to it a bit longer.
And secondly, it allows your hooks to come through the bait very easily when Texas rigged.
This way, to don’t need to Texpose your hooks. You can just leave the hook point slightly buried in the bait, and because of the soft plastic, the hook will become exposed much easier when a bass bites.
Again, this mainly comes back to the durability aspect.
Because of how many bass you can catch on a single bait, you won’t need to keep buying a bunch of new packs.
This will save you tons of money over longer periods of time, and is well worth it.
When you are rigging up the elaztech baits on a jig head, it can be very difficult to get over the bait keeper.
The tuff, stretchy material just doesn’t want to get pushed over the keeper.
So instead of trying to push the bait over the keeper like you normally would, grab the nose of the bait and pull it over.
One or two strong pulls from the top and bottom of the nose of your bait will get the bait over the keeper just fine.
And don’t worry about tearing the bait while doing this, as you can see above, they are plenty durable, so use some force when pulling and tugging the bait.
Because of the very soft nature of the elaztech material, you can very easily rig them up on straight shank or offset style hooks.
This is because you can keep the hook point hidden inside the bait, and it won’t have any trouble coming through the soft material when you set the hook.
These two hook styles have a bit higher hook up ratio and a more compact, natural profile compared to EWG hooks.
Now that doesn’t mean that you can’t use EWG hooks at all, it just gives you the option to use straight shank and offset hooks almost all the time.
Also Read: Offset vs Extra Wide Gap Hooks
The main thing you need to understand about storing elaztech baits is that you MUST NOT store them along with other soft plastic baits.
The elaztech material is incredibly absorbent as well as reactionary.
If you store the elaztech baits where they are able to touch other soft plastics, the two baits will infuse together and essentially melt into one another.
This will of course ruin both baits and make them unusable. It’s best to just store these baits inside the package that they come in.
Separate and sealed from all your other baits.
What I mean by this is to keep the baits straight, just like they come in the package.
The Z-Man packages will have a hard plastic section that keeps the baits straight and in the right position.
Elaztech has a bit more memory than other soft plastic materials.
So if you just throw them back in the back loosely, they will bend or twist in an awkward position that is hard to get rid of.
Elaztech baits stand out in the fishing market due to their exceptional durability, stretch, and softness, which make them incredibly effective and cost-efficient.
Their unique composite material ensures they last much longer than traditional soft plastics, allowing anglers to catch more fish without constantly replacing baits.
By mastering a few simple rigging techniques and storing Elaztech baits properly, fishermen can fully leverage these advantages.
Whether you’re looking to save money, reduce hassle, or improve your catch rate, Elaztech baits are a game-changer in various fishing scenarios.
