Three years ago this week the Z-Man TRD and Ned Rig landed in the UK.
The story begins with Paul Parnell and Dan Sissons some how convincing me to bring the Finesse TRD into the UK with mutterings of how it could work for Perch. Now I wasn’t overly impressed with what I had seen previously, it looked, well, just boring – how on earth would a fish find that appealing let alone an angler. TBH when the shipment turned up and I was surrounded by the things in a multitude of colours my heart sank and I thought I had made a serious error of judgement making a mental note to myself “Don’t take any notice of Paul and Dan again,” how wrong I was.
Later in the week I forced myself out to see what they could do. I had done my research and listened to old man Ned on Youtube so I was happy how to present the Ned Rig but still had my doubts. I fished a well know stretch of the Gloucester Sharpness Canal, hammered day in day out, these Perch had seen everything. Well to my surprise I caught 5 of the biggest Perch I had caught from the venue in less than an hour and a half and as many of you know I am far from the best angler around.
Weeks went by and it appeared that I wasn’t the only one finding that the Ned Rig really did work. Orders starting coming in on the site followed swiftly by trade enquiries as well. Now we all remember the drop shot fad of 4 years ago. I was convinced this would go the same way but no, year on year the TRD and its Z-man variants continue to grow in popularity and it would appear that the Ned Rig has become a staple technique here in the UK.
What I’m trying to say is thank you to all of you out there, friends and family who have helped this happen, you know who you are. To the guys and gals who originally bought the lures from my website right through to all the shops that now stock not just the TRD but have embraced the Z-Man brand as well.
Going forward with the continued support of the great team at Z-Man in the States Lure Lounge will continue to bring you Z-Man as well as a host of other quality lure equipment from St Croix to Favorite, TT Lures to Pro-Cure. Shortly you’ll be finding the new TRD CrawZ and TRD MinnowZ in the shops along with the amazing JackHammer Chatterbaits plus much more. Once again thanks all for your support in the past, now and the future.
Martin