EUROTACKLE Z-Viber Mini

The EUROTACKLE Z-Viber Mini is a bit different than most of the other lures offered on Finesse-Fishing.com. As you probably can tell from the name, Eurotackle is not a Japanese company. The Z-Viber Mini is not a JDM lure. Eurotackle is an American company concentrating on lures and soft plastics that are European or European-inspired. 

JDM or not, the Z-Viber Mini is on these pages for two reasons:  it comes with a single hook rather than a treble, and it catches trout! The hook has a micro-barb, but if you wish to fish barbless it is easy to bend down.

The lure is designed to be a cross between a blade bait, a lipless crankbait and a drop jig. Those terms are more commonly used by crappie or bass anglers than trout anglers, and I suspect the lure was initially designed with crappie anglers in mind (Eurotackle offers a larger version of the lure for bass anglers and a smaller version, which should be ideal for sunfish). However, as the photos on this page prove, the Z-Viber Mini works for trout!

For me, the key features are the single hook and the size of the lure. The Z-Viber Mini is an inch long. That's about the size of the very successful Daiwa Crusader 2.5 gram spoon. It is large enough to interest 18 or 20 inch trout, yet small enough that 7 or 8 inch trout will hit it as well. The Z-Viber Mini weighs 1/16 oz, which is a very reasonable weight for the ultralight spinning rods carried on Finesse-Fishing.com.

The package says the Z-Viber is designed for loud and powerful vibration. It didn't actually vibrate as much as I had expected, but then again the vibration may have been sufficient for the trout to pick up on their lateral lines, because it certainly did catch fish.

I found that an irregular retrieve made the Z-Viber Mini dart from one side to the other, somewhat similar to the Daiwa Step Dart but on a smaller scale. It was certainly easy to manipulate the lure to make it look like an injured or disoriented baitfish trying to get away. That was enough to trigger a predatory response!

Another advantage of the Eurotackle Z-Viber Mini for finesse trout fishermen is that it gives them a lure with a different look and a different action than the Daiwa spoons and plugs. Perhaps the best attribute, besides the fact that it catches fish, of course, is that it's only $6.50. Some of the Japanese plugs are three times that, and the hand made Japanese plugs are six or seven times that.

Give the Z-Viber Mini a try. I think you might decide it is a very worthy addition to your gear.

I no longer sell the Eurotackle Z-Viber. Google probably can find a shop that does.

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