Best Freshwater Soft Lure award at ICAST 2025, the Z-Man® SWAG™ LT

 

Ladson, SC – The wait is over, folks – exhale, unclench your fists, and grab your favorite swimbait rod. After taking home the Best Freshwater Soft Lure award at ICAST 2025, the Z-Man® SWAG™ LT has swaggered its way in stock, ready to change the way anglers fish harnessed swimbaits. Z-Man's product development team and pro staff had a laundry list of lofty goals when setting out to design the SWAG LT: expand the retrieve speed window, maximize hookup and landing ratios, and boost overall durability and lifelike realism. “What we ended up with didn’t just meet those goals,” remarks Z-Man Product Manager Richard Dunham. “It exceeded them across the board.”

The motor driving the SWAG LT and enabling its remarkably consistent performance is its proprietary tail design. A hybrid of wedge tail and T-tail designs, the industry-first SWAG tail delivers consistent, wide-swinging swimming action whether burned or slow-rolled, and even on the fall.  “The first time we saw it in the water, we were blown away and knew we were onto something special,” says Dunham. “This tail design provides unmatched stability across a wide range of speeds, and the wide, natural swimming action is incredible.”

Rig It Your Way

At the core of the SWAG LT is Z-Man’s optimized Over/Under Line-Through Harness, which lets anglers choose between a dorsal-mounted sickle style single hook or a custom belly-mounted double hook, both designed for maximum hookset efficiency.  Rigged either way, when a fish strikes, the lure slides up the line, preventing it from being used as leverage to throw the hook.    “I use the single hook when bass are in the upper portion of the water column, especially that key one- to five-foot zone, or around cover,” says Major League Fishing Bass Pro Tour angler and co-designer Luke Clausen. “When I’m fishing deep water—especially using forward facing sonar—or targeting spots or smallmouth, the belly-rigged double hook gives me a better hookup rate.”

Tough as Nails, Real as Life

Rounding out the SWAG LT’s elite performance profile is its unmatched toughness, courtesy of Z-Man’s proprietary 10X Tough ElaZtech® material. This extreme durability means anglers can fish harder and longer without worrying about bait failure—an essential advantage in both tournament settings and recreational sessions.    Visually, the SWAG LT sets a new standard for realism with a stunning array of hand-painted and photo-printed color patterns. Each bait showcases intricate anatomical details, durable painted eyes, and lifelike shading that mirror the appearance of natural forage, giving anglers a powerful tool for fooling wary fish in clear water and high-pressure environments.

In Stock, On Point

The SWAG LT is available now in two sizes to cover a variety of fishing scenarios: 5-inch, 3⁄4-ounce  (3/0 dorsal hook/#4 belly double hook) and  6-inch, 1.25-ounce (5/0 dorsal hook/#2 belly double hook). Both sizes are offered in eight hyper-realistic baitfish-inspired colors, including proven patterns like Gizzard Shad, Golden Shiner, and Baby Bass.