Hawaiibassfishing Forum

I was skimming reports on another site I post on, and I came across a guy mentioning some lures called ZipStrips that he had bought in Hawaii. After PMing him I found out that they were just strips of soft plastic. I was curious as to what they are used to fish for in Hawaii (I am guessing papio on a whipping rod), and if it is a unique or common style of lure. If anybody has any pictures or information on them and their uses I would appreciate it. I may even buy some to use in So.Cali. Thanks.

Hey bsp,

My friend Jason, as well as Stan, gave me some to use while I was in Hawaii. You can treat them as small plastic grubs. The strips has a thick end and a thin end. Just hook the thick end once and fish them on an egg sinker rig. You can twitch them as you retrieve to give them action.

I don't remember catching anything on them...but my friend Jason did. I think he caught a menpachi and a good size aholehole on those one night.

Try them out, they do work!

Ken

I've always heard them called "glitter strips". You can buy the 2" x 2" block and cut your own... or buy a pack already cut. ( about 98 cents or so) They are about 1/8" thick. and come in a wide variety of colorss. Clear with assorted color glitter mixed in seems to be very popular. I use a single #10 AH hook on about a 5 or 6 foot leader. A swivel connects the leader to the main line. On the main line is a sliding football type 1/8 oz weight.

You can use a plastic bubble insted of a lead weight. This allows you to adjust the weight for casting distance or how deep you want the "glitter strip rig" to run.

I remember my father-in-law mixing a kind of plastic with glow-in-the dark powder and baking it in the oven. Then cutting it into strips. I've also cut strips from rubber gloves. (and other "rubber" products)

I've used it to catch Papio and Lai in close to shore. At night for Mempachi, Deep sea for small tuna around the bouys. In Alaska for salmon, and in freshwater for schooling peacock bass. It will catch anything.

Those are my favorite for Papio from the shore behind a bubble bobber half full of water.

I will tell you now that its winter. This summer I was using the ones with eyes like a minnow on a small octopus hook threw the head freeline and whipping them for Peacock bass and catching alot of them.

Thanks for all the help! The way to use them seems to be pretty intuitive after the explanations. I am going to bring some drop-shot sinkers, and see how that works. I just think that an egg/football sinker would catch in the reef too much, but a slim drop-shot weight would not. Then you could also keep the bait at a constant level above the reef (like with a bubble, but without the long leader). There is only one last thing. Is there a particular brand/color/length or any combination of the three that people seem to prefer for a certain species. I am asking this because in Southern California Big Hammer is a really popular brand for swimbaits and grubs, and people use specific colors and sizes for certain fish ( like #63, Bay Smelt, in 3in or 4in for halibut, 4-5in X-mas tree for bass, and 3inCity Shrimp for everything else).