# Z-Man Gremlin: the flipping creature bait that moves on a rod-tip twitch > Ribbed body, polygonal core and twin tails: how the Gremlin keeps the hook point seated in heavy wood, and which rigs actually use its vibration. - Source : https://carnafish.com/en/leurres/z-man-gremlin/ - Language : en-US - Updated : 2026-09-30 ## Spec sheet - Brand : Z-Man - Model : Gremlin - Type : Twin-tail creature bait for flipping - Target species : Bass - Size : 11.4 cm / 4.5 in, sold 4 per pack - Weight : not published by the manufacturer - Running depth : the whole column depending on the rig, mostly the bottom when flipping or Texas rigged - Retrieve speed : slow, driven by small rod-tip pulses rather than wide sweeps - Action : both ribbon tails and the side appendages vibrate on the smallest movement of the rod tip - Rigging : heavy Texas rig with a 7 to 21 g weight for flipping, shaky head for finesse, or a Carolina rig to cover ground - Colors : purple-brown with green flake in stained water, green pumpkin in clear water, black and blue in low light Flipping is the art of dropping a heavy bait within half a metre of a target it has no business being in, and pulling it back out with a fish attached. In that exercise the soft plastic has to satisfy two contradictory demands: it must move on its own during a two-second fall, and it must keep the hook point firmly seated while you drag it through branches. The Gremlin, designed with tournament angler Brian Latimer, was built around that compromise. ## A ribbed body, and what it actually does The rear half of the Gremlin is fully ribbed, with deep grooves running the length of the body. Z-Man claims three effects, and they are not of equal value. The first is perceived bulk. The ribs increase the bait's developed surface without making it heavier: seen from the side, the Gremlin takes up more space than a smooth worm of the same length, which matters in stained water or inside a dark bush where a fish decides fast. The second is feel. A ribbed body is mechanically softer than a solid one of the same diameter, because the grooves act as hinges. The bait collapses more easily in the mouth and the fish holds it a fraction of a second longer. In a technique where the hookset is usually late, that fraction of a second is measured in fish. The third, air bubbles trapped in the grooves, should be taken for what it is: a surface effect, real as the bait enters the water, gone as soon as it is wetted. Do not expect a bubble trail for the whole descent. ## The polygonal core and the flipping formula This is the technical point that justifies the bait. The inside of the body is moulded around a polygonal core rather than a cylindrical one: the internal edges bite on the Texas-rigged point tucked into the back instead of letting it rotate and pop out. After ten passes through branches, the point is still parked where you left it, which saves you snags and pointless re-rigs. Z-Man also uses a new Elaztech formula called flipping, said to be both more durable and easier to drive a hook through. This is the eternal trade-off of thick soft plastics: the tougher the material, the more it slows the point when the hook has to exit the body. The flipping formula aims to move that slider, and it is a real issue on a 11.4 cm bait rigged on a heavy-wire hook. > Before your first session, set the hook into thin air on a Gremlin rigged exactly as you intend to fish it, pulling by hand. You will see straight away whether your hook comes through or whether you need to open the insertion slit a little more. It costs one bait and it saves a day. ## The rigs that use it ### Flipping and pitching, the original rig A 3/0 or 4/0 heavy-wire hook, a 7 to 21 g tungsten weight pegged against the bait, 40 to 50 lb braid. Drop the bait at the foot of the cover, follow the fall on a semi-tight line, count two seconds, lift with a short stroke and start again somewhere else. The bite nearly always comes on the first fall. ### Free-sliding Texas Same hook, an unpegged 5 to 10 g weight. The bait separates from the sinker on the fall and glides longer, which gives the two tails time to undulate. That is the choice over clean bottom or along an open edge, when fish are less glued to the cover. ### Shaky head On a 5 to 7 g head the Gremlin becomes a finesse bait you plant on hard bottom, tails up, and shake in place. The side appendages respond to tiny rod-tip movements: no need to pull, a wrist tremor is enough. ### Carolina rig Run well behind a 14 to 28 g sinker, it is there to comb a large area of bottom. A [Carolina rig](https://carnafish.com/en/leurres/montage-carolina-rig/) leaves the bait free and unweighted a metre or two behind the lead, which restores its full range of movement. ### The classic mistake Working it too hard. The Gremlin is a bait that lives on micro-movements: its tails and appendages fire up with almost nothing. A wide sweep moves it from one place to another without ever letting it work on the spot. When flipping, most of the job happens during the fall and in the three seconds after it lands. ## What the manufacturer does not say No buoyancy data is published for this item, and no unit weight either. The spec table amounts to one line: a single size, 4.5 in or 11.4 cm, and 4 pieces per pack. Watch the reading trap, the first column carries the model name, not a dimension. That is a genuine gap, because buoyancy changes the behaviour at rest: a buoyant body lifts the tails up off hard bottom, a neutral one leaves them flat. The test takes ten seconds in a bucket, so do it with the color you actually buy — pigment and flake loads shift the density from one item to the next. ## Colors by water clarity Z-Man only mentions a selection of house colors hand-picked by Brian Latimer, with no published list. So reason in families. - **Stained water or dark bottom**: the translucent purple-browns with heavy green flake, like the one in the photo. That is the historical flipping family, the one that works when visibility is short and the fish decides on contrast. - **Clear water, gravel or sand bottom**: the natural greens in the green pumpkin range, subdued and close to a real crayfish. - **Low light, dirty water**: black, possibly with blue flake, for a clean silhouette rather than a perceived color. ## Where it sits among other soft plastics The Gremlin is not a strict crayfish imitation: its two ribbon tails give it a signature closer to a double grub than to a craw. A [Z-Man Hella CrawZ](https://carnafish.com/en/leurres/zman-hella-crawz/), with its flat pincers, stays more convincing when fish are feeding on crayfish over rock. Conversely, the Gremlin vibrates at near-zero speed, which a pincer craw does not. Rigged [Texas style](https://carnafish.com/en/leurres/montage-texan-rig/) it also pairs well with a [flipping jig](https://carnafish.com/en/leurres/berkley-powerbait-flippin-jigs/): same ground, different signature, enough to revive a spot that has already seen a jig. Picking the right rig is useless if the target cover is the wrong one, and that is exactly what [CarnaFish](https://carnafish.com/) is for: a photo of the spot, and the AI suggests the zone, the depth and the lure family that fit the conditions. To build your reading of bass cover and the tackle to match, our [beginner guide to bass fishing](https://carnafish.com/en/blog/peche-black-bass-debutant/) sets the framework. ## What to remember - The polygonal core keeps the hook point seated pass after pass: that is the bait's real contribution. - The ribs add bulk and softness in the mouth; the advertised bubbles only last the entry into the water. - One size at 11.4 cm, 4 per pack, with no buoyancy or weight published: test it in a bucket. - It works on micro-movements. A wide retrieve strips away everything that makes it interesting. ## FAQ ### What size is the Z-Man Gremlin? Only one size is listed, 4.5 in or roughly 11.4 cm, at 4 pieces per pack. The retailer table starts with the model name, which sometimes makes people read the figures one column off: the 4 is a pack count, not a dimension or a weight. ### Does the Gremlin float or sink? Z-Man does not say for this item, unlike for other baits in the range. Drop one in a bucket before you fish: knowing whether the tails lift or lie flat at rest changes the way you time your pauses. ### Which hook should I use for flipping? A heavy-wire wide-gap in 3/0 or 4/0, with a 7 to 21 g tungsten weight depending on how thick the cover is and how deep you are. The polygonal core exists so the point tucked into the back stays put despite the friction. ### Is it good for anything other than flipping? Yes. Z-Man also presents it on a standard Texas rig, a shaky head and a Carolina rig, and its behaviour backs that up: it moves at near-zero speed, which suits slow bottom presentations. It is not a fast search bait, though. ### Will pike take this bait in Europe? It happens, especially on a Texas rig worked along vegetation, but a soft plastic without a solid leader does not last long on pike. If you are fishing mixed water, move to a heavy fluorocarbon leader and accept the loss of stealth. ### How long does a Gremlin last? Far longer than a plastisol soft plastic: Z-Man advertises the Elaztech flipping formula as more durable. In exchange, this material must never be stored in contact with other PVC softs, which it attacks chemically. --- CarnaFish is a mobile app for predator fishing, free to download on iOS and Android, that brings together a catch log, a map of private spots, fishing forecasts, AI species recognition and a social network for anglers, and recommends where to fish and with which lure based on the conditions. To cite this content, mention “CarnaFish — carnafish.com” and link the source page.