A Time to Grow......Mac (Fluking)

[joedog]

I have 'a lot' of questions and a few ideas.

I'll wait till my favorite teachers (the forum) get done than I"LL bombard ya all!
But I'll start with a few, non-inclusive thoughts of what I'm wondering.
Do you use weighted hooks ?
Do you have a favorite 'fluke'?
When is your favorite time to use?
Do you find hard jerks interchangeable with soft jerks? (the baits themselves) Plus ANY and ALL your favorite ideas and secrets.
As always, but here especially, the WHYS!

Thanks everyone!

[RustyFender]

Originally Posted by joedog

I have 'a lot' of questions and a few ideas.

I'll wait till my favorite teachers (the forum) get done than I"LL bombard ya all!
But I'll start with a few, non-inclusive thoughts of what I'm wondering.
Do you use weighted hooks ? Rarely. .Why? Don't throw swimbaits very often.
Do you have a favorite 'fluke'? Zoom. Why? Just a confidence thing I suppose, tried them all and none of them seem any better than the next.
When is your favorite time to use? Breaking fish. Why? match the hatch-can be popped on surface or allowed to drift downward (injured) Skip docks. Why? Duh Quick retrieve over tops of grass mats or pads, then let die at edge. Why? Consistant producer.
Do you find hard jerks interchangeable with soft jerks? (the baits themselves) Not usually. Why? I tend to use hard jerkbaits in colder water than flukes and I normally really jerk on a hard bait, flukes work better for me with just more of a twitch.
Plus ANY and ALL your favorite ideas and secrets. I like throwing a tandem fluke setup in deep standing timber and let them slowly sink down the trunks with just the slightest little twitch if any. Deadly when it's working, a huge waste of time when it's not
As always, but here especially, the WHYS!

Thanks everyone!

.................................................. ............................................

[joedog]

Rusty WELL DONE!

Thanks for the great input.
The double fluke is/was going to be a question.

[Crankbait]

I didn’t get onto the fluke and jerk bait till I was in Florida a few years ago and I love em. The fluke has very realistic action and one thing I especially like about them is you can fish the at different depths. You can achieve this by either the speed at which you retrieve or the weight of the hook. Although I used the swimbait style of hook initially it caused me some problems with the style I was using the fluke for….skipping under mangroves. So I rigged it with a heavy stout bass flipping hook. The added weight was perfect for skipping and there was no weight in the middle for interference with the skip. If you look in one of the pictures(the ones of the little redfish) you can see the dab of silicone I used to help stop the fluke from sliding down the hook while skipping.
The jerkbait (I was using the xrap) proved to be a killer as well. The thing I noticed about it was when I wasn’t catching fish with the twitch, twitch pause action (or whatever cadence your using) I would use a straight steady retrieve and this proved successful most of the time. The jerkbait also has very lifelike action and it caught multiple species of fish as seen by the pictures……sorry no big ones

[joedog]

Crank thanks!
Great input!
nice pocs too, thanks.


The dot on the fluke is a sharpie deal, right?
I black eye mine too.
Why?.............The only reason I can come up with is ...why not?

[bassboogieman]

Do you use weighted hooks?

If you mean "generaly" - yes, alot. I rarely fish a slip sinker as I fish a lot of grass. I like the sinker tight to the hook and what better way than a weighted hook? If I use a sinker, it's pegged 90% of the time. I like the slider hook for finesse or other smaller plastics. I like the Luck-E-Strike pro worm hook for larger plastics, it comes through grass very well.

If you meant specifically flukes - that depends on how I'm fishing it. Some presentations yes, others weightless as mentioned previously. I find that a heavy wire 5/0 hook is often heavy enough without adding additional lead.

Do you have a favorite 'fluke'?

Mostly Zoom, flukes are pretty similiar across the board and Zoom has a million colors, but I mostly use white - go figure. I've used Case and the Yum Houdini shad. In the case of flukes, I'm not as particular to brand as I am with stick baits (GY Senko there).

When is your favorite time to use?

Light bulb went on, you are talking about flukes, specifically - but I'm not going back and deleting the weighted hook response. Flukes I use mostly spring and fall and it's my preferred trailer on a chatterbait. Spring I like working them (weightless) through grass. Fall I add a weighted hook and fish them deeper, twitching them around submerged timber or other cover. I will also throw a weighted fluke at fish busting bait on the surface, just letting it sink with little twitches.

Do you find hard jerks interchangeable with soft jerks?

No, I don't throw jerkbaits very often. I will use them occasionaly in cooler water, but I fish them with much more of a jerk retrieve than a fluke. A fluke I fish more with a twitch than a jerk. I don't use jerkbiats very often for largemouth, just too many other baits but I love them in Canada when fishing for pike - not many other baits produce for me as well on those fish - and smallmouth, again when the water is below 60 degrees.

Plus ANY and ALL your favorite ideas and secrets

As I said, a fluke is my favorite and most productive trailer on a chatterbait, I've found nothing that comes close. That is my primary use for that particular plastic (and in a 4" size if you can find them, otherwise I cut about 1/2" off the nose of a 5" fluke)

[joedog]

Thanks Bruce.
Good input.

Do you use the pictured hook with a fluke?
If so, does it make the bait 'nose dive' after the flick as opposed to a horizontal fall which I thought was a benefit to the presentation.
Chatterbait actually has swimbait setups now so thanks for THAT idea.
It has always peaked my interest.
As a trailer is a great idea.

[bassboogieman]

Do you use the pictured hook with a fluke?

No, I guess you could, but with a fluke (when using a weighted hook) I like a belly weighted hook to get a more horizontal fall (as you mentioned). I like the "pictured" hook for just about all other plastics that you'd want to fall more vertically, ie: worms, lizzards, craws, etc. It's close to fishing a ball headed jig, except it comes through grass easier (bullet shape) and has a larger, offset hook. In fact, those hooks are found in the "jig" section of the DoI catalog. Forget to mention, while the "hook" is a Luck-E-Strike product, they use Gamagatsu hooks - GOOD hooks.

Diverging a bit (I'm so good at that) from the original question, but it fits with your mention of Z-man introducing several variations of it's Chatterbait, I saw one that appears to have a hard jerkbait (3 trebles, if I remember correctly, may have been two) attached to their "patented, propritary" blade. As I'm making my own similiar baits, next year I'm planning on following their example and play with attaching a blade to several baits (without the typical skirt) the list is long. I can see a lizzard - let it fall to the bottom and yank it up and let it drop again, the action would be CRAZY on the lift. A buzz frog - one with the flat legs like a Rage Frog, not the paddle style. Small swim baits, without a skirt. Maybe in front of a 10" worm, like the lizzard, crazy action on the lift not to mention the fish attracting vibration. I've tried skirts (similiar the Strike King) with long tails, and they really have a lot of action, on those I'm using a "typical" split tail trailer - like the one included with the Z-man Chatterbait. A fluke is just too bulky with the longer tails. I'm also playing with adding a rattle - visual, noise and vibration attraction, a fish just will HAVE to hit it.............. won't they? I may have to fill my 125 gallon aquarium again and use it for a test tank, video the various combinations. I can see the lawsuit now.................. Z-man if famous for that.

I've said before I really like the chatterbait style of lure. I believe it can be more versitle than what it offers in "typical" configuration so I'll be experimenting with it. I think, at the moment, the bladed jig head offers more presentation possibilities than just about any lure out there.

[Rebbasser]

Rusty covered it very well.

I use a weighted hook when I a fishing deeper water and when I want a bait to fall through a school faster.

Occasionally I will weight a fluke with a nail weight just to get a different fall.

You can buy nail weights, but I have found finishing nails, lead solder and even pieces of wire cut from a hanger will work. I find the solder works best-just like a nail weight but much cheaper.

I use mostly Zoom Super Flukes due to availability and confidence.

[WTL]

Xrap might be the closest hard jerkbait to flukes as far as action goes, and I think it is a killer speckled trout lure...

As for soft jerkbaits, I like to use flukes or senkos (sometimes their imitations). There are two ways for me, weightless, with a superline hook, and split shot. For weightless I go with a light color, for split shot its normally a watermelony type color.

In the past, I used to catch fish on flukes by almost making it jump out of the water I was twitchin so fast, but I havent had success on that pattern in a long time.

[Crankbait]

I like the ease and simplicity of the swimbait hooks or butt draggers or whatever you call them. only thing is the definitely get hung up more the regular wide gaps or worm hooks with a tungsten bullet either pegged with a toothpick or with a bobber stopper

[joedog]

Billy what size split shot and how far on the line above the fluke do you crimp the shot?

[joedog]

Why do I get the feeling that there are more than FIVE people throwing flukes?

Come on anglers, I've heard the word 'fluke' to many times in this community to truely believe that's true.

[WTL]

You know I have never memorized split shot weights, but the one that is about the size of a green pea...lol. About 10 inches or so up from the hook.

[lilmule]

I fish soft plastic ones unweighted,harder ones for colder water and a lil deeper.

[Bassin' Gal]

The hubby and I fish soft watermelon flukes on c-rigs. It has been a tough year around here and that is about the only thing we have caught anything on all year. Yesterday we went out and threw everything in the boat from shallow cranks, deep cranks, lipless cranks, spinner baits, shaky heads, t-rigs and c-rigs. The only two catches of the day came on the c-rigs with flukes.

[Mac2]

If you are having troubles with hooking up using a fluke slip a number 6 treble over the point of your hook and then put one of the treble prongs buried in the fluke's back.....then if you hook up, be sure to maintain tension.

[joedog]

Does anyone fish their 'flukes' sideways like the guy from North American Fishing?

How many use a barrel swivel or other swivel to cut down on line twist?

Crank, one of your photos shows a leader and a snap.
What do you think about the action effect of the snap?
Is the leader wire or Floro?

If wire, how strong or thick and again, how does it effect action?
I guess if floro the same.
Is there a swivel on the top end of leader? Where you attach to main line.

I have a Pike challenge and thats the reason for the questions.

[joedog]

In addition to the above questions....''who uses a swivel to help with line twist?

If you do, how long a leader and I'm assuming main and leader are same line?
If not, what then?

Thanks for your input and have a great day!

[Rebbasser]

Originally Posted by joedog

I have 'a lot' of questions and a few ideas.

I'll wait till my favorite teachers (the forum) get done than I"LL bombard ya all!
But I'll start with a few, non-inclusive thoughts of what I'm wondering.
Do you use weighted hooks ?
Do you have a favorite 'fluke'?
When is your favorite time to use?
Do you find hard jerks interchangeable with soft jerks? (the baits themselves) Plus ANY and ALL your favorite ideas and secrets.
As always, but here especially, the WHYS!

Thanks everyone!

OK, I'm lazy-quoted your post so I don't have to scroll back and forth

Now, to the questions at hand:

Weighted hooks-sometimes. If I am throwing a hollow body swimbait I always do. For flukes and senko type baits it depends on how deep and the water clarity, which usually go hand in hand. In clear water I often fish deeper so use them when fishing fairly deep, say 15'+.

Favorite fluke? Zoom Super Fluke. Widely available, multiple colors, and they flat catch fish.

Favorite time to use? I use them all year. Matter of fact I have a dedicated rod for these baits and always have one rigged up. Summer and fall are probably my favorite time, especially the fall as the bass feed for winter. I use natural colors in clear water and like to dip the tail in chartreuse to add some visibility.

Hard vs soft jerkbaits: I use hard more in cold water, and in sold conditions I prefer suspending. I use floaters in warm water but fish them more as a topwater as opposed to a subsurface lure. Soft, on the other hand, I fish in heavier cover for obvious reasons as well as for schoolers-I find where schooling bass are concerned soft jerkbaits seem to produce better.

Here is another area I will occasionally throw a weighted hook-it makes the bait fall faster through the schoolers to the bigger bass lurking below the school picking off the injured baitfish that are falling through the water column.

Swivel-other than a C-rig the only place I use one is fishing a floating worm. The reason is the worn is intentionally rigged with a kink in it and it will twist the crap out of your line since it spins coming through the water. The swivel eliminates the line twist.

[joedog]

Rebbasser, thanks for the input!

[Rebbasser]

Joe, I forgot to mention I often use a scent on my flukes. I have had the best success with Kick-N-Bass garlic. I did an experiment wen scents first became popular while I was fishing clear water where I could see the fish. Long story short the fish pretty much ignored the scentless bait and jumped all over an identical scented bait.

[joedog]

It appears I've gotten ALL the info you anglers are willing to share on this topic?
Little surprised cause I KNOW flukes are being thrown and after I've been reminded frequently that this is a 'fishing forum' I see no need to keep 'bumping' this thread to get 'fishing questions' answered, but lifes life.
So I guess I'll move on.