Is ZOOM stealing from Roboworm with their new plastic worms?

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The ZOOM Bait Company recently released their first series of hand-poured plastic worms, called the Z-3. But one look at the new color patterns, and their names especially, and any West Coast bass angler is going to instantly think of Roboworm.

That’s because Roboworm has been selling the hottest plastic worms in the western United States for decades with the same color patterns, and even the same names for their colors.

ZOOM’s new colors include; Bold Bluegill, Desert Craw, M.M. III, Oxblood Light Red, Prizm Shad, Pro Neon Blue, Morning Dawn, Sexy Shad, Z-3 Edge, and Z-3 Magic. Several of those (Bold Bluegill, M.M. III, Morning Dawn, Oxblood Light Red and Prizm Shad) are outright duplicates of those coined by Roboworm many years ago. “Pro Neon Blue” is a clear rearrangement of Roboworm’s “Pro Blue Neon” and “Z-3 Magic” is a run at perhaps the most copied plastic worm color ever, “Aaron’s Magic” which was named after Roboworm’s longtime pro-staffer Aaron Martens.

“M.M. III” is a reference to the third generation of Roboworm’s Margarita Mutilator color produced for bass anglers on Santa Margarita Lake in the San Luis Obispo area of California. The guys behind the product development at ZOOM probably don’t even know where these names come from.

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ZOOM’s entry into the hand poured style bait arena is likely long overdue however, as baits like Roboworm have been making since 1989 are heavily favored in the western United States where clear water demands realism while tougher and more durable products have been the mainstream in the south and eastern portions of the US where stained water and less-pressured bass don’t demand the same refinement in a plastic worm.

But their outright copying of the colors and names of the colors has west coast bass anglers up in arms in defense of their beloved Roboworm. Roboworm has certainly taken notice, commenting on ZOOM’s new line of baits on their Facebook page on July 8th.

Some bass anglers have assumed that Roboworm must have had a hand in production of these baits for ZOOM, but Roboworm was click to set the record straight.

And they’re clearly not happy about it, adding hashtags #orignalandbest and #copiessuck to this post a few minutes later.

What do you think? Is this straight up theft? Or a case of “imitation is the sincerest form of flattery” in the fishing industry?

San Diego loves Roboworm, always has, always will.