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Faust's Top 5 from Zerek

By The Wells Brothers

After first introducing Zerek to Peter Faust Dam back in 2013, the highly popular brand has gone from strength to strength. Casting Ripper Divers for hours on end trying to get that magic bite didn't always come easy.

Maybe it's the repetitiveness that makes you wonder if what you're doing is right. After a few solid hours in the sun, the switch was flicked. Our first barra caught on a Zerek lure. The elation was soaked up with strong spirits as we looked at each other and said "They work!".

When anglers asked at the boat ramp or back at Camp Kanga what lures we were using, we'd show them our Zerek stash. Many would say they'd never seen or heard of them before. That's certainly not the case today.

We've driven the Zerek name hard at Faust and rightfully so - they produce the goods.

It's always a special feeling when an underdog lure can work for the angler. Many dedicated sponsored anglers know this. New models and new techniques developed to suit the new brand of lure is the ultimate goal on uncharted waters.

Zerek has been at the forefront of the barra Impoundment scene for many years now and it's not an easy scene to crack. Fastidious anglers and finnicky fish can soon be lost to one hit wonders.

Zerek Live Mullet 5.5"

The Live Mullet showed up in 2017 and was an instant hit. We were fishing and filming at Faust with Harro just after they were released and after a few good meteries his words were "Nice one boys, it's a bloody game changer". We first fished them on a rising dam and the smaller profile was great for fishing right up in the shallows in the newly flooded grass and sticks.

We like to fish the Mullet in depths ranging from 3 - 12 foot of water but it can also be very productive fishing deeper. The versatility of this soft lure is amazing. Fish it as hard and fast or as soft and gentle as you like, the life-like tail will be pumping from the first turn of your reel to the last.

A medium to fast retrieve with a few quick rips of the rod gets the mullet dancing around the water column and can help to get that reaction bite out of those lock jawed fish.

For a lot of applications, it can be fished straight out of the box, but we like to upgrade the treble to a size 1/0 Mustad Saltism for that extra bit of sting and strength. The extra width of the 1/0's gauge can also help to pin those inquisitive, swiping fish. Our colours of choice for Faust are Min Min, Fat Betty, Temmy and Orange Gill.

Zerek Live Swimbait 8''

This was the lure everyone was waiting for. A Live Mullet on steroids if you will, with some very innovative design features. In an era dominated by big baits, the Live Swimbait ticked all the boxes.

Highly durable TPE body, one-piece wire frame, prominent eyes and life-like swimming action are just some of the features of this outstanding lure.

Taking the lure to the next level is the design ingenuity. The one-piece wire frame makes this soft swimbait virtually unbreakable and it also has multiple hangers attached for a variety of different applications.

Due to the thick TPE being highly buoyant, a hanger is located under the chin to attach chin weights. When fishing Faust, unless throwing on top of thick weed beds, we always run Mustad Fastach Football Weights. Even though the lure weighs in at 70 grams, weights are a must for putting the lure in the strike zone.

Both the 3/8oz and 1/2oz weights are our preferred ones. When fishing over sunken points 10 -15-foot-deep, the 1/2oz weight is optimum. For depths up to 10ft the 3/8oz is perfect.

Due to the life-like tail action, thanks to the strong Kevlar webbing, there's no right or wrong way to work it. We love to pause and let it flutter back down before slowly retrieving it again. Then on slow bites it doesn't hurt to give the rod tip a few upwards twitches every 5 or so metres.

Fishable straight out of the box, these are ready to tangle with the toughest of Faust.

Our favourite colours for Faust are Min Min, Flying Bear and Orange Gill, but with 12 fish catching colours in the range, it's as simple as tying one on and hanging on.

A little tip, tying your leader to the lure via a loop knot will give the maximum swimming action.

Zerek Flat Shad 7"

After the development and success of the Flat Shad , it was quite evident Zerek meant business. A newly designed soft plastic with different game changing characteristics blew open the Impoundment scene and tackle shop doors - and it still does.

Session after session they were our go-to lure. Thirty fish sessions weren't uncommon for us at Faust, sometimes even more.

The 7" is our main choice, simply because of the bigger profile, but it's not too big. It has prominent eyes and a unique swimming action as well as the patented slits on the side. These slits help to crush the lure down more when a fish strikes. They also produce bubbles and lots of vibes when cranked hard.

Big lures are a hit at Faust, firstly because there's a million barra over a metre in the dam and secondly there's a lot of big bait. So many times, when lifting the barra in the boat they cough up big boney bream, which gives us a fair indication of the size of the bait they are eating.

The Flat Shad comes pre rigged but to be honest, the weedless hook set up just doesn't cut it in the impoundments. So we designed our own jigheads in collaboration with Darkwood Lures that we've tried and tested extensively with great success.

We favour shallow water points and flats when throwing the Flat Shads and Faust has both. With this in mind we wanted a jighead weight that could cater for this style of fishing. Two sizes were developed - 1/2 ounce and 5/8 ounce.

The 1/2 oz is perfect for depths of 2-8 ft and the 5/8 is better for 8 -15 feet.

All of our jigheads we fitted with stingers and you won't get a better treble than the Mustad Saltisms. Size 2 is the best set up with the 7'' Flat Shads.

Favourite colours - Chocolate Rose (CR) and Col 20 are the gun colours. Black and gold goes alright too if the water colour is right. Chocolate Rose late afternoon to sunset and colour 20 from sunset into the night. Especially on the full moon, colour 20 in the shallows with the moon penetrating the water is the bomb.

Tying on and simply casting is a sure-fire way to success but a few tweaks go a long way during the session. Throwing right up into the weed and slow rolling back is the best technique and easiest. We also throw plenty of pauses in during our retrieves and depending on the depth - ripping the lure up and letting it flutter down a few feet works a treat too. It's all these sporadic movements that turn the Barra on.

Zerek Fish Trap 95mm and 110mm

Deemed the most popular and versatile lure in the Zerek range, the notorious Fish Trap requires little introduction.

Another game changing lure with a few changes to your generic vibes, the Fish Trap boasts a life-like curly tail that puts it in its own league with a fishing market flooded with soft vibes.

No matter where we fish at Faust there is always a Fish Trap tied on. Fishing timber, points, weed edges or jigging the main basin, the Fish Trap will "trap the fish" for you.

We've had great success on both slow and fast retrieves but the better hook-ups have come from cranking it fast and stopping.

Another technique we use with the Fish Trap is the rip n roll. Sharp rips of the rod every 6 or so winds, just to get the maximum vibes out to any nearby fish.

Our go to Fish Trap is the 110mm in most applications but sometimes those full gutted big girls just want a small offering to top them up. This is where the 95mm comes into play.

Once again like all Zerek lures you can fish these straight out of the box, but as particular as we are, we upgrade our 110mm trebles to size 2 Mustad Saltisms.

Our favourite colours for Faust are Flying Bear, Fat Betty, Baby Barra and Barred Grunter.

Gearing up for Faust

Tree wraps, weed ridden acrobatics and turbo charged runs is just some of the adversity faced on Faust. Heavily timbered edges make for a barra obstacle course second to none. Barra know this too. No matter what tackle back you have, trust us, barra have the best. Their lure knowledge - second only to Frank Prokop - know the easiest way out.

The only thing on their mind from hook up to landing is removing the lure from their mouth. They have an uncanny knack for this that's almost like a ritual etched in the species.

Although the heavy tackle once deemed mandatory for years has now moved to the lighter side of the fence, there's no finesse in Faust. Top quality braids and leaders are paramount. As is rods and reels - the most important.

Wilson Fishing have moved ahead in leaps and bounds and are now virtually your one stop shop. Brands such as Venom, Zerek, ATC, Mustad just to name a few, are synonymous within the barra fraternity, and rightly so.

The Venom range is the best on the market, period.

Our preferred sticks are either the 7ft 6kg or the 7ft 8kg. These rods are beasts and can really put the hurt on the big Faust girls. Designed by gun barra angler Peter Price - his knowledge is apparent between these rods.

Achieving long casts can be a great tactic in Faust - the longer the working lure is in the water. The greater chance you have.

For Fish Traps, Live Mullet and the smaller Flat Shads the 6kg 7 footer is the go.

Heavier lures such as the bigger Flat Shads, Live Swimbaits and trolling Tango Shads, the 7 foot 8kg is all over it.

For tight heavy timber or cracking hardbodies around the trees, we like to use the 6"3" Crankbait PE 3-6.

Spin is also heavily used - pending situation.

Faust has plenty of prominent points that can run shallow a fair way out. Sitting a hundred meters off the point casting long is a really great technique - that works best spin fishing. When there's wind and trees - spin is a no go.

The 15 -40lb 7ft Venom spin is a good all-rounder on Faust. The ATC SW4000 makes up the perfect combination. We generally run 20lb Bionic Braid on our spin reels.

The ATC Combat 200 Plus is a beast of a baitcaster and matches up perfectly with the Venom range.

Most of our lures are fitted with Mustad Saltism trebles. They're barra strong and retain their ultra sharp tip even after landing 30 fish. 30 fish sessions can be frequent so be sure to have the gear to tackle them.

As mentioned above, Wilson Fishing has become the ultimate tackle factory.

Lures such as the Tango Shads, Ripper Divers, Skittish Dogs, Gecko, Bone Dash 90 and Barra X Pro have all performed at some point as well.

We've given insight into the lures and techniques that have given us the best results. Having 50 fish sessions on lures no one hardly knew anything about and driving the product towards success is the most satisfying reward of all.

The future is exciting - watch this space!