My Experience Learning To "fish The Fluke"…effectively!

[LApanic]

Im a 30yo bass fishing enthusiast  and have played the role for the past 3 years fishing local club tournaments and being a "human sponge" on the back of the boat. Since last summer i've been placing in the money or right outside for the most part when I'm able to capitalize on fishing my confidence bait, being Texas rigged plastics.  Not owning a boat, I fish urban/farm ponds during the week when I can and decided in January that I was going to practice hard to make the very versatile and ever deadly "fluke" or soft-jerkbait an effective weapon in my arsenal for obvious reasons.

 

Before, I go on…I'm going to try and not get long-winded with my learning experience, but will be publishing this to my blog after posting her on the lovely BassResource forums, to hopefully share mine, that might help someone's. You've been warned about the informative information ahead, and would suggest carrying on with the remainder

 

My past experience with a soft jerkbait was limited, but have managed a few decent fish out of fishing a Fluke stlyed bait.  Out of lack of confidience and frustration, it didn't get wet much.

 

Let talk gear.  I own 6 baistcasting setups of various lengths, action, and reel gear speeds.  Before doing any research, I was selecting a rod that was to long and stiff for this application.  I put away the 7'6" Med-Hvy Veritas, for a Shimano SJC70M or a 7' Med/Fast rod with a shorter butt end handle.  This was key for me several reason; my Abu Garcia Veritas 7'6" was to long for comfort making short twitches with the tip pointed at the water.  I love a Veritas spilt grip, but as most longer rods, the handle length increases and was catching my shirt and being simple in the way when trying to nail a pattern/cadence with the Fluke. As far as line selection, I worked with what i had on my half a dozen rods I would bring on the boat and for the most part went for my reel with 40# PowerPro mainly due to the lack of strech to gain more action on the bait. As for a reel, I started using and still use my BPS ProQualifier 7:1:1, that is, in my opinion, one of the best reels on the market in the sub $100 range. And last but not least, I stuck with the tried and true Zoom Pearl Super Fluke and didn't waver to far besides and occasional baby bass color switch.

 

And now, to give you a quick run down of what setup I currently use and what changes made it more effective.  I throw my weightless soft jerkabaits on a combonation of a BPS ProQ 7:1:1 reel, Team Diawa 7' LT (light & Tough Med/Fast) casting 50# PowerPro original green with a 18"-24" Flouro leader, Seguar 15# Insi-X tied together my all time favorite, Albright knot.  Before explaining why I changed, I feel that the keys to fishing this bait properly is retrive/cadence a selecting the right style line.  The other parts of the setup are important, but if your retrieve isn't suited for what the bass want and your line isn't properly chosen, your missing opportunites.

 

A rod that's shorter, lighter with enough backbone helped me cast this weightless rig further, as well as giving the bait more action and versitility in tighter spots. A highspeed reel, with enough bearings and adjustments to help casting lighter baits and retreiving fast and irratict seemed to be the only choice for me. Lastly, the line selection that really helped me land more fish and allow the platic to be worked more sub-surface if the conditions call for such.  You may ask yourself, why 50# Braid?  The answer very simple, it casts marvelous and found it to cast better than 30-40# braid.  Also, if get around pads and vegitation, braided line is a must.  It also tremendously help with the popping action due to the lack of strech and made the bait dance just right with no line twist and less maintenace, IMO.  the flouro leader helps give the bait that slow fall and often pause longer to get into grass pockets, etc.

 

For hooks, when trowing a Super Fluke, I agree with Flukemstr, that a #5 Round Bend work perfect, and rig the bait the same way he does a fine job of in his first "Fishing a Fluke" YouTube video.  I like rigging it with the belly of the Fluke facing up, so the hook is nestled in the cavity nice for premium hooksets.  Speaking of hooksets, I've found that reel-setting has a very high hook ratio, and have lost more strike worth counting trying to set the hook, like a bottom Texas rigged plastic.  the retreive varies, but my go-to is the, jerk-jerk-jerk pause, jerk-jerk-jerk pause method.  The short pause is crucial in landing more fish, because as we all know that fall in the bait, bass cant stand it!  I typically don't vary my retreive, and keep it moderate-fast.  I read in a KVD somewhere, that solid reaction bite from shallow laying bass is due to the bait being above the bass and an easier meal for him along with the irratic action the puts the bass on a defensive reaction bite. If your bait is slowly moving along above him, with no pause, he is likely to pass it up.

 

In Conclusion,

I fished my original setup at a local farm pond 2 weeks ago, and had  a bunch of short stikes and misses, lack of good pause and cadence.  Lost fish due to try to hookset and reel set and more strech and slack in the old line.  I could have caught 12-15 in 30m, but walked away sad after only landing 2.  I re-rigged my stuff last night and set out this afternoon to see what kind of difference it made.  After a quick stop by Academy sports to buy a few newer to me colors of Flukes; Houdini Super Flukes, that I've heard alot about and Pumkin Pro Blue, I was off to the hole.  I'll spare the play by play, but in the first trip (35m), I hooked and landed 11, 1-2 #ers and a 4#er on the 2nd cast.  NO fish lost, NO misses or short strikes and and overall significantly more effective presentation.  After leaving to pickup dry cleaning, I came back to catch another 7 or 8 before dark to end a good day.

 

I hope this give someone a little more insight on how to fish your soft jerkbaits more efficiently.  Most of the credit goes to Glenn May and his awesome tutorials.

 

Remeber though, this a very versitale bait that can be fished several ways. So, let the bass tell you ultimately, but think this is a great start

 

Any tricks, methods or style you like to use when fishing the fluke, I'd like to hear other's experiences.

 

[Felix77]

I have had zero success with a fluke.  This is inspiring me to give it a shot again.  Thanks.

[Trailer]

So you hook your Super Fluke belly up and not the conventional way?

[fl_bass]

So you hook your Super Fluke belly up and not the conventional way?

I just started doing it this way and found that its much more weedless. The business end is in the belly and hooks up really easily. Still want to switch from EWG hook though. Probably the next trip to BPS I'll get the better hooks. .

[CountBassula]

all i've been using last few months are flukes and swim flukes! you can even walk them top water, i caught bass and snakeheads on them!

[BONZ]

Are you using a 5/0 round bend worm hook or a # 5 hook?

[zwhiten12]

I have never tried the fluke, this has given me some inspiration to try some! Thanks!

[xxjace]

I catch more fish on the fluke than any other bait..but I don't catch alot of big fish with them..

[bassguytom]

I always nose hook a fluke with a 1/0 octopus hook. This is the only way I know how to fish them and seems to work well for me.

[mg4u2nv]

All the different ways people have mentioned this thread is just a testament of how versatile that bait is!  I myself use a 3/0 or 4/0 EWG hooked the traditional way, and i also skin hook the tip to be totally weedless.  In the lake in my development the water is always very clear, and the arkansas shiner color is hard to beat.  Early in the morning i pretty much "walk the dog" about a foot below the surface with an occasional pause.  Everywhere else in south florida the watermelon colors are great with the more stained water.  I throw 40lb braid on a 7'  MH Veritas with also a 7.1 PQ.  Too much cover down here to not have the heavier line. 

 

Matt

[Trailer]

Right now I have a Abu spinning set up with braid and a leader with a white fluke rigged conventional with a hook that has a cork screw for the nose. I did this because my fluke on regular hooks tends to ball up after a few casts. I fish it like you do, Matt. Just under the surface with a few pauses and make it dart from left to right.

[PondBoss]

I initially started out trying to hook it upside down with the hook hiding in the belly, I had lots of bites and never once got a hook up.  I even posted a a question about it a few years back on here.  I turned the hook around and rigged it with the hook bend hiding in the belly a skin hooking the hook on the top and viola' instant success.  I have also experimented with nose hooking using a circle hook that is also extremely effective.

[LApanic]

I catch more fish on the fluke than any other bait..but I don't catch alot of big fish with them..

Same way with me...haven't caught monsters on it...yet!

[LApanic]

Are you using a 5/0 round bend worm hook or a # 5 hook?

5/0 Gama J Bend

[Trailer]

What color is your most effective? I always opt for pearl or white ice (not sure of the names) but my uncle like green pumpkin.

[LApanic]

I just started doing it this way and found that its much more weedless. The business end is in the belly and hooks up really easily. Still want to switch from EWG hook though. Probably the next trip to BPS I'll get the better hooks. .

hook sets or more than likely, reel sets are way more effective due to the hook being weedless in the belly and have to only pass the hook through just a little plastic

[LApanic]

What color is your most effective? I always opt for pearl or white ice (not sure of the names) but my uncle like green pumpkin.

Right now, in my neck of the woods they've been really liking the Houdini Super Fluke.  Just got an Academy sports, and they have a ton of colors. I've caught a few on the Watermelon Pro Blue as well.

[EvanT123]

Lots of good info in this thread. One thing I like to do if the fish are biting flukes and to make them last another couple catches is after the nose gets all ripped up is cut the nose off and continue to use it. It almost turns the fluke into a popper that causes alot of noise and disturbance on top of the water and then let it sink. I've caught quite a few fish this way.

[Scorcher214]

Fluke is my favorite bait to fish, mext to spinnetbaits. I get good numbers and its fun. 98% of the time its weightless, always pearl. I've known about the belly up method but never really tried, though. I usually use ewg hooks as well.

I've gotten rather well at making it do the walk-the-dog action just far enough under the water so that it makes a small surface disturbance, but not so much that it is popping out of the water. I'll cast along a weed line or some lily pads and boom goes the dynamite.

[Stingray23]

If I were restricted to using one bait for the rest of my life, I would pick a weightless fluke. For me, it is the most versatile bait there is. And I dont know how you guys arent catching big fish on them either. Some of my biggest fish I ever caught came on a weightless fluke. Just this past weekend I caught a 7+lb brown trout in the reservoir using a weightless fluke. AMAZING fight and the biggest fish I caught on a fluke.

[LApanic]

I've gotten rather well at making it do the walk-the-dog action just far enough under the water so that it makes a small surface disturbance, but not so much that it is popping out of the water. I'll cast along a weed line or some lily pads and boom goes the dynamite.

 

That seems to be the key for me as well, I'm getting alot better at it but takes practice for sure!

[derekxec]

All the different ways people have mentioned this thread is just a testament of how versatile that bait is!  I myself use a 3/0 or 4/0 EWG hooked the traditional way, and i also skin hook the tip to be totally weedless.  In the lake in my development the water is always very clear, and the arkansas shiner color is hard to beat.  Early in the morning i pretty much "walk the dog" about a foot below the surface with an occasional pause.  Everywhere else in south florida the watermelon colors are great with the more stained water.  I throw 40lb braid on a 7'  MH Veritas with also a 7.1 PQ.  Too much cover down here to not have the heavier line. 

 

Matt

 

im a little north of you in palm beach and also use the ark shiner color and its hard to beat here too