Swimming Super Flukes

[philsoreel]

How do you rig Swimming Flukes? Sunday evening, I rigged one on a swimbait head and was chunking it into the spillway trying to catch a striper and vvvwaalah!!!! a 8 lb. largemouth! The water was so low that I wasn't expecting to catch anything much less a good largemouth. Needless to say, I'll be swimming these guys more often this year.

[J Francho]

So catching an 8 lb. largemouth wasn't enough to tell you that you got the rigging right?  Sounds like you got it right to me.  Good job!

[Shane J]

I hate catching 8lbers by accident. You must've rigged it all wrong.

[philsoreel]

I hate catching 8lbers by accident. You must've rigged it all wrong.

I know right? Stupid old largemouth learned her lesson.

I've had luck with them weightless and on C-rigs. That was the first time I've tried them on a jighead/swimbait head.  I was just wondering what rigging produced the most for others.

[Gangley]

I mostly use them on a weighted EWG hooks and have had good results with them.  The only problem that I have had with using the weighted EWG hooks is that the lure generally gets stretched and slightly torn while sliding it over the weighted shank so I try to spit on the hook to reduce the abrasions to the plastic.  I usually get 2-3 bass out of a swimming fluke this way.  If I fish it weightless, I can get 4-5 fish out of the fluke before its too tore up.

If your presentation was good enough to fool an 8 lb'r, I wouldn't worry to much about changing it up

[Shane J]

Mostly weightless for me, too, but will run it on a weighted hook if I want to get deeper, or if it's windy.

[ib_of_the_damned]

I mostly use them on a weighted EWG hooks and have had good results with them. The only problem that I have had with using the weighted EWG hooks is that the lure generally gets stretched and slightly torn while sliding it over the weighted shank so I try to spit on the hook to reduce the abrasions to the plastic. I usually get 2-3 bass out of a swimming fluke this way. If I fish it weightless, I can get 4-5 fish out of the fluke before its too tore up.

If your presentation was good enough to fool an 8 lb'r, I wouldn't worry to much about changing it up

To solve that problem, what I do with baits that require a weighted hook is to take the hook point and insert it into the bait as normal, then back it out and starting with the hook eye, push that through the hole that you made and rig the rest as normal.  That will save you on the spit and stretch. Hope that makes things easier!

[ib_of_the_damned]

or just use a screwlock weighted hook...

[philsoreel]

I mostly use them on a weighted EWG hooks and have had good results with them. The only problem that I have had with using the weighted EWG hooks is that the lure generally gets stretched and slightly torn while sliding it over the weighted shank so I try to spit on the hook to reduce the abrasions to the plastic. I usually get 2-3 bass out of a swimming fluke this way. If I fish it weightless, I can get 4-5 fish out of the fluke before its too tore up.

If your presentation was good enough to fool an 8 lb'r, I wouldn't worry to much about changing it up

To solve that problem, what I do with baits that require a weighted hook is to take the hook point and insert it into the bait as normal, then back it out and starting with the hook eye, push that through the hole that you made and rig the rest as normal. That will save you on the spit and stretch. Hope that makes things easier!

You can also rig the bait prior to tying your line. Instead of going in the front with the point push the hook eye into the bait where the point would otherwise come out. Then, push the eye out the front of the bait enough to tie on and afterwards push the eye back in the bait a bit. The hook will still be positioned the same as before it's just inserted from the opposite direction.

I'm sure there's an illustration or video showing this method. I know my instructions probably aren't the best so I'll try to find a video.

[ib_of_the_damned]

I mostly use them on a weighted EWG hooks and have had good results with them. The only problem that I have had with using the weighted EWG hooks is that the lure generally gets stretched and slightly torn while sliding it over the weighted shank so I try to spit on the hook to reduce the abrasions to the plastic. I usually get 2-3 bass out of a swimming fluke this way. If I fish it weightless, I can get 4-5 fish out of the fluke before its too tore up.

If your presentation was good enough to fool an 8 lb'r, I wouldn't worry to much about changing it up

To solve that problem, what I do with baits that require a weighted hook is to take the hook point and insert it into the bait as normal, then back it out and starting with the hook eye, push that through the hole that you made and rig the rest as normal. That will save you on the spit and stretch. Hope that makes things easier!

You can also rig the bait prior to tying your line. Instead of going in the front with the point push the hook eye into the bait where the point would otherwise come out. Then, push the eye out the front of the bait enough to tie on and afterwards push the eye back in the bait a bit. The hook will still be positioned the same as before it's just inserted from the opposite direction.

I'm sure there's an illustration or video showing this method. I know my instructions probably aren't the best so I'll try to find a video.

Thats what I was trying to explain

[philsoreel]

I mostly use them on a weighted EWG hooks and have had good results with them. The only problem that I have had with using the weighted EWG hooks is that the lure generally gets stretched and slightly torn while sliding it over the weighted shank so I try to spit on the hook to reduce the abrasions to the plastic. I usually get 2-3 bass out of a swimming fluke this way. If I fish it weightless, I can get 4-5 fish out of the fluke before its too tore up.

If your presentation was good enough to fool an 8 lb'r, I wouldn't worry to much about changing it up

To solve that problem, what I do with baits that require a weighted hook is to take the hook point and insert it into the bait as normal, then back it out and starting with the hook eye, push that through the hole that you made and rig the rest as normal. That will save you on the spit and stretch. Hope that makes things easier!

You can also rig the bait prior to tying your line. Instead of going in the front with the point push the hook eye into the bait where the point would otherwise come out. Then, push the eye out the front of the bait enough to tie on and afterwards push the eye back in the bait a bit. The hook will still be positioned the same as before it's just inserted from the opposite direction.

I'm sure there's an illustration or video showing this method. I know my instructions probably aren't the best so I'll try to find a video.

Thats what I was trying to explain

Yeah, you were. I must have had a momentary lapse of reading comprehension while reading your post. My apologies.

[Gangley]

Thats great information, and I've done that in the past, but I get tired of re-tying.  During the fall, I will go through numerous bags of these a day, and I don't like re-tying if I don't need too. 

When it's a slow bite day, that is definitely the way to go because the swimming fluke will start to tear from the casting alone after I've had to slide the hook through it.

Another little trick that I have learned, is to keep the tag end of the knot a little longer than usual (maybe 1-2mm), and once I have slid the head of the swimming fluke over the knot and tag end, the tag end acts like a little barb and will keep the head of the lure from sliding down the hook as much.