Go Deep, Deeper – Iron Mask Deep Diver

Shightly above lake bed, the zander lurks for prey. This is how you trigger it!

When the water warms up in the summer, the zander gets on its fins. Their metabolism copes better with warm and oxygen-poor water than pike. In the early morning and evening hours, they roam around looking for prey and hunt shoals of small prey. When fishing with an echo sounder, I could observe that zander tend to stand on steep edges, mountains or holes rather than in open water like pike.

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But how do we reach the fish? Zander tend to stay on the bottom, which can be seen from the additional pectoral fins that allow them to steer precisely and to lurk and hunt for their prey with almost no effort.

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But how do we reach the fish, when they are patrolling the lakebed jungle? And what is the best lure for this? Since I personally like to troll, softlures is not an option. I would need too much lead to get really deep down. By chance, I discovered that the Iron Mask Deepdiver meets exactly these requirements: it is available in realistic and eye-catching designs, in 115mm and 90mm, and running depths up to 12(!) m.

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Equipped with 2 super sharp triplets, UV-active strike-points, rattles and a metal mask on the diving bucket that protects it from stones, it is perfectly equipped for deep water and thick zander. Because such a lure creates a lot of pressure on the rod, I rely on a strong 60g rods like the Black Savage or the XLNT3 series. Paired with a robust baitcaster like the Okuma Komodo SS or Citrix and strong braiding, it's really fun when a big zander comes in.

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