WHAT IS IT?
Z-Man ChatterBait JackHammer Baby Jack
WHAT SETS IT APART?
Inspired by its larger namesake being in the mainstream lure sphere, this downsized version is ideal for highly pressured fisheries. Sharing the JackHammer’s acclaimed instant-start vibration, the Baby Jack leans on its direct blade-to-jighead connection to deflect cover, produces relentless blade/jighead collisions and all of it on a slightly higher vibrational frequency.
Master lure designers Brett Hite and Morizo Shimizu recognized bass on pressured lakes are now attuned to the full-size JackHammer. That’s a tribute to the innovative lure’s success and popularity among anglers. They answered the call with an even more refined bladed jig that chatters to bass on a slightly altered octave. Built on the same foundation with the familiar sound and vibration, yet something different with subtle revisions to the JackHammer’s underwater frequency, action and profile. The result is the Baby Jack.
No compromises were made with the hardware. The Baby Jack comes armed with a 3/0 custom Japanese Decoy hook, which is lighter in gauge but strong as ever. The same Japanese Decoy Egg Snap remains, albeit in a smaller size.
Available in three sizes: 1/4, 3/8 and 1/2 ounces. Available in 10 realistic colors.
HOW DO I USE IT?
When pressured fish and tough conditions call for a finesse approach, the Baby Jack is your new go-to choice. With the smaller blade, you get a wider range of retrieve speeds, reduced water resistance and faster retrieve speeds, all beneficial when searching for the strike mood of finicky bass. The Baby Jack also casts like a bullet, even in wind, and it won’t blow out when burned over shallow grass or skinny water cover.
To achieve all of that, the designers shrunk the size of the head and shifted more weight to an enlarged, restructured collar, which acts like a boat keel. Doing so ensures the Baby Jack stays within the desired water column while swimming with a balanced, natural horizontal position.
Complete the package with the new 3.5-inchg Z-Man ChatterShad as a balanced trailer. It’s diamond-shaped cross section enhances vibration with V-shaped ridges for added motion.
HOW MUCH?
$15.99
MORE INFORMATION:
ANGLER’S INSIGHT:
What excited me the most about the arrival of the Baby Jack are the options for finesse applications that require tweaking and adjustments on the go. Think finnicky and moody bass that are pressured by anglers or post-frontal weather conditions.
I tested the Baby Jack in late April on my home waters, a 3,600-acre manmade lake in southern Middle Tennessee, known for mixed vegetation, lily pads and docks.
The Baby Jack’s anatomy as described above allowed me to alter retrieve speeds and lure presentations with a crank of the reel handle or twitch of the rod tip. The possibilities are endless until you dial into what the bass are wanting. What’s more, compromising a given strike zone within a water column depth isn’t a requirement with the Baby Jack.
The compact size of the head and body profile allowed me to skip beneath docks with ease, which adds a new tactic to my bladed jig repertoire. I burned it over emergent vegetation without the lure blowing out. Water temps were still a bit cool to put it to the ultimate test in ultra-skinny water, but the test drive proved it will certainly produce strikes later in spring.
I reviewed the Baby Jack with a Daiwa Tatula 100 spooled with 12-pound Sunline Shooter Fluorocarbon on a 7-foot, 1-inch Daiwa Tatula medium action rod.
I like being able to use a wider range of lines to customize even more the action and depth range for subtle finesse applications.
A Baby Jack will always be on my front deck, ready for action. Whenever a finesse application is needed, I will cast it with the same confidence I get with the full-sized JackHammer.
