FISHING TEST. Pontoon21 CrackJack 58 SP SR and ZipBaits Orbit 65 Slider

In April, a real spring arrives in our country, with longer and longer days, hot sunshine and, I think, an irresistible urge to pick up the rod and fly to the river. But this month is apparently also the most rewarding for spawning fish. This is the year when spawning is banned for salmon, sturgeon and, until the 21st of the month, pike. What is more, the vast majority of the whitefish have already left our rivers. However, die-hard anglers are not letting up and are targeting the smaller predators in our waters. In mid-spring, the trout, which are resident in cold streams, make a noticeable comeback, the shad wake up in the rivers, and stagnant-water lovers start to be delighted by the increasingly frequent hooking of perch.

These predators should not be offered too big a bite, and in this column it is time to pay tribute to the light-style anglers and small wobblers. It's still early days for bubble crankbaits, so in this Fishing Test we'll test two small minnows from Pontoon21 and ZipBaits. The first one is a Pontoon21 product, which has already earned the trust of anglers in our country. It comes from the very large CrackJack family, where we will find small 3.8cm wobblers and 9.8cm pike baits. The CrackJack is also available in three dive levels and three buoyancy levels. The choice is really huge, but for me the 5.8 cm. shallow diving and neutral buoyancy model was the most successful. I paired it with the Orbit 65 Slider, the smallest member of the legendary ZipBaits Orbit family, which weighs the same and is also neutral buoyant. The latter is much less popular, but whether it is deservedly so we will soon find out.

Exterior and interior

As I have already mentioned, both of these wobblers are classified as minnow type plastic lures. The Pontoon21 CrackJack 58 Sp Sr weighs 5.1g (label says 5g) and is 5.5cm long from tail to tip of nose, excluding the loop and tongue (label says 5.8cm). The wobbler is supplied with top quality Nr12 Owner BC36ST hooks with a total weight of 0.3g.

The Orbit 65 Slider weighs 5.2g (as indicated on the packaging) and is exactly 6.5cm long. This wobbler comes with size 10 hooks, but with thinner wire (both weighing 0.4g). If necessary, these trebles can be exchanged for Owner BC- 36ST No10 hooks, both of which weigh just one tenth of a gram more.

Both of these wobblers have moving weight balancing systems, but they are not identical. The CrackJack is a rattling model, using a single metal ball that slides from the tail to the middle of the wobbler, in the working position it sticks to a magnet in the middle of the wobbler. There is also a fixed ball in the head area, which has a little room to move and, as the wobbler is working, strikes the walls and makes a muffled sound.

The Orbit 65 Slider uses the classic silent ZipBaits sliding weight system, where a tungsten cone with a magnet attached to it slides on a pivot, one end of which is attached to the tail and the other connects to a metal plate close to the head of the wobbler, to which it sticks after casting. The Orbit also has a fixed low weight in the hump of the wobbler. This should really liven up the wobbler's side-to-side play (rolling).

Quality, engineering and colour variety are the strengths of both manufacturers. Both ZipBaits and Pontoon21 have many different colours in their palette. I'm probably not alone in noticing that many of the colours are almost identical, but I see only the pluses in this, as I can more easily buy my favourite colours. In terms of numbers, I counted as many as 50 different colours on the CrackJack 58 and 30 different colours on the Orbit 65 Slider.

When choosing colours, I take into account first of all what kind of fish I am going to catch. For trout, I first suggest the 050 bright and shiny trout imitation from the Pontoon21 palette, and the pale imitation of the same trout (colour 851R) from the ZipBaits range. For spring/autumn bream (I use cranks in summer) and salmon I would go for the 154 Pontoon21 colour, a slightly bluish-glossy red-grey. For perch, I would normally suggest the so-called "gold" colour - gold with a red belly and black back (050R in the ZipBaits catalogue).

Quality of the body, design details and resistance of the coating

Pontoon21 CrackJack, like other models from this manufacturer, I have no complaints about the strength of the body or the casting system. I have been fishing with them quite a lot since they appeared on the Lithuanian market, and I have had only one incident when, in near-zero temperatures, I accidentally hit the wobbler on a bridge and broke the tongue. I have not noticed or heard of any problems with the casting system or with the tightness of the casing.

The quality of the Pontoon21's paintwork is very similar to that of most Japanese-made wobblers. The areas where the treble hooks come into contact are getting dirty quite quickly.

The CrackJack decoration is really high end. The 3D eyes with the number 21 are the Pontoon21 trademark, from which you can easily distinguish what kind of wobbler it is. The original detail of the CrackJack model is also the line formed by micro dimples, extending from the beginning of the head to the tip of the tail, which imitates the fish's lateral line. The plastic textures are also visible, giving the illusion of fish scales.

The ZipBaits Orbit 65 is a pure-bred Japanese wobbler, with impeccable quality as befits it. I have heard with one ear that very rarely does the casting system fail when the magnet becomes unstuckfrom the tungsten weight sliding on the axle. I have personally cut the wobbler and checked the strength of this place, so at least this wobbler did not suffer this fate. It was only with great difficulty with a sturdy knife that I managed to separate them. Personally, I have never had a ZipBaits wobbler break, take on water or get snagged.

The resistance of the coating on ZipBaits wobblers is surprisingly good. The paint wears off much more slowly than on many Japanese-made wobblers. A closer look at the wobblers again suggests that the Pontoon21 designers had one eye on the ZipBaits creations when they designed their models. ZipBaits wobblers also have a very similar fine texture, imitating scales, but much more ingrained in the plastic. Depending on the colouring, there are 3D eyes in different colours and a beautiful tongue of highly transparent plastic.

Water play

Despite being visually quite similar, the wobblers have quite different behaviour in the water. The CrackJack 58 Sp Sr without a clip is ideally neutral in buoyancy, but with a small clip of size No18 with a swivel, it becomes slowly sinking. The Orbit 65 Slider also sinks, but even more slowly, when the same clip is attached to it. However, without any clip, the Orbit 65 rises to the surface and becomes buoyant. The truth is that for small wobblers an extra gram radically changes buoyancy.

Both models fall into the Shallow Runner (SR) category. In still water, the Orbit goes to a depth of 0.8m, while the CrackJack maxes out at 1m. In current, both dive about 20-30 centimetres less. Orbit 65 Slider pauses in the water and hangs its head about 45 degrees downwards, while CrackJack 58 is almost horizontal. The Orbit is quite passive during a slow pull, while the CrackJack is quite aggressive and active even during a very slow pull. Both of these wobblers have the ability to roll from side to side ("rolling"). It does this both when pulled steadily and during the pause after the sling. The Orbit 65 Slider works much more attractively in the twitching mode. It walks nicely from side to side when swinging rhythmically, and rolls nicely on its sides several times when paused. The CrackJack is more like a "crank". It can only be wiggled with very short, light tugs, otherwise it will turn 180 degrees and hook on the line. It is easy to see in practice that it is much more effective when either pulling steadily or when fishing with the stop & go technique.

Casting test

This section will show you how to cast these wobblers with three different spinning rods. I think I'm not alone in wondering how much casting distance depends on the length of the spinning rod and the casting test.

For the test I will be using a Tailwalk SaltyShape 96L (2.92m; 7-28g Fast action) rigged with an Okuma RTX 4000 reel with a 1.2 YGK G-Soul 8 strand braided shaft. The second spinning rod is a Golden Mean JJ Mac Air 7.9 KAKE (2.36m 2-10g Fast action). Reel Shimano Rarenium CI4 2500 and 1.0 YGK G-Soul 8-strand braided line. The third is the shortest rod, Team Salmo Powder 1.98m long and 1-8g, Medium Fast action with the same Shimano Rarenium CI4 2500 and 1.0 YGK G-Soul 8-strand braided line. As always, I take a third similar wobbler for company. In this case it's a Pontoon21 GreedyGuts 66 SP SR (6,6cm and 6,8g). For more objective results I used an average of 10 casts.

After the first few casts, I received some comments that my wobblers were not going far enough. However, try throwing a wobbler 10 times very far. Unfortunately, sometimes the wobbler starts to spin in the air, sometimes the cast itself fails and the average I have given is not the maximum casting distance, it is the average of differently successful casts at different distances.

As we can see, the CrackJack 58 casts even further than the Orbit 65, and it is also worth mentioning that it is easier to make a good cast with the Pontoon21.

Application and recommended casting techniques.

Both of these wobblers are versatile lures used in both still and running water. Where one is suitable, the other will do, and they are suitable for most of our predators, both toothed and toothless, such as the salmon or the heron. Both wobblers hold the current flawlessly and are suitable for fishing in riffles. Personally, I prefer them both for trout fishing from January to mid-May, before the water in the streams becomes too dry and grassy. The CrackJack 58 is also great for spring and autumn chub fishing,. The Orbit 65 Slider may be a little too low vibrating for herons, but in the summer months, salamanders do not give it up and grab it greedily.

Both of these lures are also favourites with boat anglers targeting perch and pike. When fishing with the Orbit 65 Slider, this is where trolling skills come in handy. When catching perch or pike in the pike barn with this size of wobbler, fast and rhythmic twiddling is useful. This is best done with short but intense jerks without longer pauses. I recommend fishing CrackJack for bass in the same way as with cranks or spinners - a steady tug, with an occasional change of pace.

Recommended gears

The choice of gear depends on what you are fishing for and where you are fishing for it. If you are fishing for bream or salmon in a medium or large river, you should choose a longer spinning rod. For wobblers of this calibre in the river I recommend a 2.4-2.7m light class spinning rod. For trout or perch fishing from a boat, I would recommend a lure about 2m long and up to 10g. For long casts the line should be thin, about 0.10mm-0.12mm for braided line. Monofilament line can be up to 0,16mm. For trout angling, you can also choose thicker lines, as there is no need for a long cast, and sometimes you have to break a branch on the other side of the stream with a wobbler stuck in it.

Availability and price

Pontoon21 wobblers are available to buy everywhere and all the time. They are sold in a large number of Lithuanian shops as well as Lithuanian and foreign e-shops. There are no problems with colouring either. The choice is always wide. The price of this lure in Lithuania is about 9eur. On the Internet they ask about 11$.

ZipBaits Orbit 65 Slider is a less frequent guest both in shops and on the Internet. In shops it costs about 15 Euro. On the internet it is about 17$.

Rating

ZipBaits Orbit 65 Slider

Pontoon 21 CrackJack 58 Sp Sr