Fluke style Baits for smallies

[bowhunter63]

Zoom fluke weightless with a 4/0 ewg. Arkansas Shiner is my go to color.

[Djohn]

Caffiene Shad 5" 

[heavyduty]

8 hours ago, smalljaw67 said:

I use a River Rock Custom Baits 5" Jointed jerkbait in pearl and custom flash shad. The smallmouth crush it and I found the Owner Twist lock light hooks in a 3/0 or 4/0 works great for soft jerkbaits. BTW, I know a lot of guys get hung up on heavy hooks, the Twist Lock light isn't a light wire hook, it is a regular medium or standard wire hook and while I normally fish them on 8# line on a spinning rod I do occasionally throw them into cover on a MH casting set up with 15lb line and never had a hook bend out.

I'm gonna give these a try. 99% of the time I fish soft jerkbaits and senkos  weightless. I noticed they also come in a 3/32 weighted version. Have you tried the weighted version?

[smalljaw67]

5 hours ago, heavyduty said:

I'm gonna give these a try. 99% of the time I fish soft jerkbaits and senkos  weightless. I noticed they also come in a 3/32 weighted version. Have you tried the weighted version?

I don't like weights with soft jerkbaits, even a light weight ruins the action. The baits I use have a good salt content so they sink at a faster rate so you really don't need weight and so I just use the hook without any weight on it.

[WI_Angler1989]

I'll have to try a jointed jerkbait from River Rock next ti me I place an order. I love their tubes and Smallie finesse worms already. 

It seems like most people opt for a white color and some variety of it for fluke style sold jerkbait. Any particular reason to use whites over greens? I ask because my waters have an abundance of perch, so green is always an obvious color for me.

[TnRiver46]

10 minutes ago, WI_Angler1989 said:

I'll have to try a jointed jerkbait from River Rock next ti me I place an order. I love their tubes and Smallie finesse worms already. 

It seems like most people opt for a white color and some variety of it for fluke style sold jerkbait. Any particular reason to use whites over greens? I ask because my waters have an abundance of perch, so green is always an obvious color for me.

I know a fella that swears by watermelon flukes 

[WI_Angler1989]

4 hours ago, TnRiver46 said:

I know a fella that swears by watermelon flukes 

 

i guess it'll just be a trial and error thing next season. I found a company on this thread that seems to be the perfect choice for how and where I fish.

[padon]

I use white a lot but also like Arkansas shiner and watermelon magic. sometimes in super clear water the white just seems kind of overpowering which is when I use one of the others.

[Turkey sandwich]

On 1/10/2018 at 3:33 PM, smalljaw67 said:

I use a River Rock Custom Baits 5" Jointed jerkbait in pearl and custom flash shad. The smallmouth crush it and I found the Owner Twist lock light hooks in a 3/0 or 4/0 works great for soft jerkbaits. BTW, I know a lot of guys get hung up on heavy hooks, the Twist Lock light isn't a light wire hook, it is a regular medium or standard wire hook and while I normally fish them on 8# line on a spinning rod I do occasionally throw them into cover on a MH casting set up with 15lb line and never had a hook bend out.

 

Every season I intend to fish flukes more, but never really commit to them like I do a jig/crankbait/etc.  You're probably the 10th person who's opinion I trust who's mentioned the River Rock jointed soft plastic jerk baits.  Where do you generally order them from?  Also, I'll second the Owner Twist Lock/Twist Lock weighted series of swimsuit hooks.  They're awesome, and ridiculously versatile.  They're stellar for soft jerk baits and swimbaits, but also great for swimming worms, oversized grubs, frog/toads, you name it.  If you want it to be weedless, and to not totally shred the plastic, they're killer.  I think you can get them anywhere from weightless up to 3/16th or so and the weight isn't obnoxiously bulky or interfere with action.  

[smalljaw67]

56 minutes ago, Turkey sandwich said:

 

Every season I intend to fish flukes more, but never really commit to them like I do a jig/crankbait/etc.  You're probably the 10th person who's opinion I trust who's mentioned the River Rock jointed soft plastic jerk baits.  Where do you generally order them from?  Also, I'll second the Owner Twist Lock/Twist Lock weighted series of swimsuit hooks.  They're awesome, and ridiculously versatile.  They're stellar for soft jerk baits and swimbaits, but also great for swimming worms, oversized grubs, frog/toads, you name it.  If you want it to be weedless, and to not totally shred the plastic, they're killer.  I think you can get them anywhere from weightless up to 3/16th or so and the weight isn't obnoxiously bulky or interfere with action.  

I like the 5" for that bait and it works well on both a 3/0 and 4/0 Owner twist lock light hook. I have a few favorite colors, pearl, custom flash shad, poison ivy, and blue glimmer, all of those colors have produced good fish on the Susky and Juniata rivers. https://river-rock-custom-baits.myshopify.com/products/5-jointed-jerkbait?variant=1101201899545

[Smbass19]

 

RIVET RIG.....

I found this method last year. Haven't tried it, seems like a good idea if you're fishing open water. Zona says he uses this rig for both caffeine shad and for swimming style plastics. Little complicated, but I think it would definitely increase your hook up percentage. 

 

https://1source.basspro.com/index.php/component/k2/237-fishing-info/3681-fishing-zona-and-defoe-s-riveting-rigging-secret

[Sylvaneous]

I use a 4" regular fluke or the Fin-S-Fish.  I nose hook it with a Gammakatsu 2/0 or 3/0 Shiner hook.  The body 'flaps' and darts and swims, but does not glide that the T-rigged Super fluke.  This bait is for the SMB living along the banks of the river, where the most and most aggressive fish live.  That specific hook provides, of course, a wide gap, a straight pull, and also a keeling or low center of gravity effect for stability.  SMB almost always take the head of bait, so I rarely miss fish.  

Color?  Mostly pearl.  In clear, warm water (July, August) I use Albino.  The pale purple top makes it look a lot like an open water river shiner and its bright blue sides.  Also baby bass. Oh, White Ice, too.  That's it.   

[BobbyBBass]

On 1/10/2018 at 12:16 PM, Crestliner2008 said:

I like to just nose hook a Zoom Fluke (any size) with a 1/0 inline circle hook. Has worked for me for many years. I believe nose hooking it is more effective than texposing an off-set worm hook. But that's just me.

I agree crestliner2008 Since i started doing that my hook up ratio is better ..I like to screw a owner hitch in the nose adds a little weight and protects bait.

[Sam]

Pearl flukes on Virginia's upper Historic James River above Bosher's Dam are outstanding.

 

But please keep this information to yourself.

[TOXIC]

Smallmouth Killer on Lake St Clair.  Saved a trip for us one year and we went through 10 bags a day.  Luckily I was hooked up right before we left and for some reason put them in my truck.  5" Yamamoto DShad Texas weightless rigged on a 4.0 Gamakatsu EWG hook, dragged like a tube. It's been a staple and produced every year.  

 

 

[lbriggs]

3" gulp minnow in pearl or smelt on a 1/8 drop shot, or a 1/10 ned rig head will catch them anywhere in Iowa for me.

[NHBull]

BPS has an elastic shad in the salt water section with all the motion of the caffeine, but last a hell of a lot longer

[FryDog62]

1 hour ago, NHBull said:

BPS has an elastic shad in the salt water section with all the motion of the caffeine, but last a hell of a lot longer

Sounds interesting... I checked BPS site but couldn’t find.  Plz share if you have the link.  Thx

[NHBull]

13 hours ago, FryDog62 said:

Sounds interesting... I checked BPS site but couldn’t find.  Plz share if you have the link.  Thx