Fishing a Fluke - What Am I Doing Wrong?

[Cdn Angler]

Hi all. 

 

I've tried fishing a fluke this year as I hoped it would be a good way to catch fish that are noticing a topwater, but weren't committing. But I've only had a couple catches and it was basically a time when a bass would have eaten anything.  I don't understand how I'm not getting bit as it looks a lot like a baitfish and causes a ruckus. It looks like it absolutely should work. 

 

I've tried a few retrieve options, none with any success. The main go to has been to twitch it fairly fast on the surface and then kill it, but nada. I've tried twitching it subsurface slowly. I've put a nail weight in and twitched more aggressively subsurface. I've nose hooked it, run a hook through the bait.   I've used the super fluke, the super fluke jr, the caffeine shad and a caustic version that looks so good I'm tempted to eat it. Still nada!! 

 

What am I doing wrong? Or is this just a temperamental bait?

 

I've mostly thrown this in semi open water as opposed to in vegetation. For both SMB and LMB. Usually on 12 lb flouro. 

 

Thank you!

 

[Yakalong]

The fluke has been my go to lure during the summer. I mainly throw it during the middle of the day around docks. If they are not hitting one color I will change until I find a color. So maybe just change colors.

[Hammer 4]

What size are the baitfish..? If they are on the small side, try the smallest fluke, and on 8 or 10 lb fluro.

[Fishnski48]

I put my fluke on an under spin lure/hook and when there is a  shad boil it helps to catch their eye

[Cdn Angler]

3 hours ago, Hammer 4 said:

What size are the baitfish..? If they are on the small side, try the smallest fluke, and on 8 or 10 lb fluro.

Small for most areas I fish, especially SMB. I'll try downsizing. I was mostly using something a bit bigger than your average local minnow.

[Reel]

Flukes are a very good bait for smallmouth in my area.  I use the regular size in white or Tennessee Shad.  I retrieve them like a jerkbait: underwater, a little slower early and late in the season but fast during the summer.  If they come to the top I ad weight in the form of a piece or two of nailweight side to side.  I use a regular offset shank hook 5/0.  I use them in shallow water 3 to 6 feet.

[Catt]

My guess, you're over fishing em, slow down, let em free fall all the way to the bottom, small twitches & then let it fall again.

 

Think a dying baitfish struggling to stay alive.

[Talio]

I have the same problem on flukes IF THEY FLOAT.  I've had the same pack of white Zoom flukes all that time and I was finding the same problem.  They just didn't seem like they worked.  I remember distinctly that I danced one past a wooded shore line with a nice overhang and got nothing.  I was convinced there was a fish there, so I quick changed to a 6" pink trick worm and a dink smashed it.  So what was the difference?  Then I got a pack of white Caffeine Shads that sink naturally, rather than float and everything changed.  I believe that a floating fluke does a great job at triggering a fleeing bait fish response. That's a much harder meal for a bass to catch than a worm struggling around in the water and he's going to need to be in an actively feeding mood.  The key I believe to making a floating fluke work I believe will be calculated pauses.  If you pause for the same amount of time every time, you start giving a following bass something to key into for an ambush.  If it doesn't work, you've probably whipped up the bass enough to get him to eat something dying.  This is why I fish Caffeine Shads now.  On superline hook, they fall very similar to a Senko and tiny little twitches make it look like it's really dying and falling.  It's also important to realize that flukes make very little sound and flash.  So unless you're talking about really clear water, you might have to put the thing right in front of him.  It's also a painfully slow technique when it needs to be.  We'd all love for the conditions to be right to be able to rip these things through the water column and trigger bites, but at least I find in my water, that's rarely the case.  The fluke can be difficult to master, because there are endless way to work it.  Start putting different sizes of split shot on your line at various distances from the bait and you'll see what I mean.  Almost every change you make to that weight has some subtle variation on the retrieve.

[Hower08]

I've been fishing a fluke for my entire bass fishing life. A longgg time. Think senko. Sink sink sink. Twitch repeat

[Cdn Angler]

Some great responses. Thank you for the input, lots to work with here. I think I'll try fishing it more like a Senko/dying fish as opposed to a fleeing fish that then dies.  I've got a couple bags of caffeine shads too and hopefully the faster sink rate will make this technique less painful. Or keep adding nail weights or split shot as recommended. 

[Fishin Dad]

I tried fluke fishing for the first time this Spring.  I first tried it with just an EWG hook.  I then tried it with a VMC drop dead weighted hook.  Only 1/16 oz.    That made it A lot more fishable for me.  I caught about 5 bass  in an hour, but just didn’t feel like I got it.   I tried it a couple more times without much success and just went back more to my comfort zone.  I still feel like I need to try again with that weighted hook or the caffeine Shad or Yamamoto d Shad.  

[Tizi]

I fish a Super Fluke using a 4/0 to 5/0 EWG hook. I cast it out, let it sink and twitch it.  Does not take much to get it to dart, then let it die back to the bottom and repeat.  I have caught a ton on bluegill flash, one of my most productive baits.

[flyfisher]

rig it straight and don't go too far into the nose or it will change the action.  Also certain fluke colors have different plastics which impacts sink rate.  The more soft and not rubbery type plastics, green, browns etc...sink more than the more rubbery types.  

Also have standard and heavy hooks on hand to adjust the fall rate.  Going with a master style hook adds enough weight to make most of them sink.  If you really want the best fluke, get the yamamoto.  that thing is money in the bank....

[NHBull]

At this time of year I use a super line hook or add a barrel swivel to run it lower in the water column

[ChrisD46]

*Also I believe where you insert the EWG hook can make a difference in a Super Fluke (low or high in the nose) when you retrieve making it dart up or down more .

[J Francho]

A fluke style bait is an evolution of one of the most successful lures of all time: Slugg-o.  The Slugg-o only fell out of favor when the Senko arrived, since it required even less effort to get bit.  Keep fishing the fluke, you'll get bit.  There's no fancy trick to it, and no wrong way to fish it.

[padon]

just my 2cents but heres some thoughts. I love fishing fluke style baits catch a ton on them. try a yamamoto dshad instead of or in addition to the fluke. they are more salt filled and don't want to jump on top as much. rig them on an owner cps 3/0 or 4/0 hook. the little spring on the front of the hook keeps the bait from sliding down and also lets you get a couple extra fish on the same bait. zoom flikes are cheap but dshad are NOT.dont add weight it  kills the action. I like to work it similar to a jerk bait, cast let it sink to near bottom give 2or 3 erratic twitches the let it fall on a slack line.watch your line as it falls and when you go to jerk it again feel for weight if it feels heavier than it did slam him.i like a spinning rod with flouro or braid to flouro leader.to me the spinning rod helps me stay in contact with the lighter bait.

3 hours ago, J Francho said:

A fluke style bait is an evolution of one of the most successful lures of all time: Slugg-o.  The Slugg-o only fell out of favor when the Senko arrived, since it required even less effort to get bit.  Keep fishing the fluke, you'll get bit.  There's no fancy trick to it, and no wrong way to fish it.

I remember when the sluggo first came out.man that thing was a blast fish never saw such a thing you could throw it in some clear shallow water and watch 3 or four fish come look at it. twitch it and they would race to grab it. I told my buddy one time its like the fish don't want to eat it they just cant help themselves

[TOXIC]

Here’s a past post of mine that explains why the DShad is so deadly.

 

I throw a Yamamoto DShad a LOT.  It is one of my go to baits.  I have rigged it many different ways but weightless is the most deadly for me.  Depending on how I want the bait to act, the key is where you insert the hook in the nose for a weightless Texas Rigged bait.  Straight in the center will give you a flat level fall. to the top and the bait will dive when you twitch it, to the bottom and the bait will climb on the twitch.  Likewise left or right of center will move the bait sideways.  There are a lot of minor adjustments inbetween those that I mentioned that will dictate the baits movement.  Although spinning is my preferred gear, you should be able to cast a DShad with a properly set up baitcaster.  

 

[Fishin Dad]

6 hours ago, TOXIC said:

Here’s a past post of mine that explains why the DShad is so deadly.

 

I throw a Yamamoto DShad a LOT.  It is one of my go to baits.  I have rigged it many different ways but weightless is the most deadly for me.  Depending on how I want the bait to act, the key is where you insert the hook in the nose for a weightless Texas Rigged bait.  Straight in the center will give you a flat level fall. to the top and the bait will dive when you twitch it, to the bottom and the bait will climb on the twitch.  Likewise left or right of center will move the bait sideways.  There are a lot of minor adjustments inbetween those that I mentioned that will dictate the baits movement.  Although spinning is my preferred gear, you should be able to cast a DShad with a properly set up baitcaster.  

 

Toxic, great explanation!  I am going to play with this and try to use these more.  Would you be willing to elaborate even more on your hook, line, and where you fish these?   I would appreciate it.  

[TOXIC]

14 hours ago, Fishin Dad said:

Toxic, great explanation!  I am going to play with this and try to use these more.  Would you be willing to elaborate even more on your hook, line, and where you fish these?   I would appreciate it.  

Sure.  The great thing about the DShad is that it can be fished in all sorts of situations.   I used it in the heavy weeds on the Chick last weekend by pulling it across the top of the cover pausing in the open holes letting it sink.  I was getting most of my hits just as it made it to the weed edge.  Earlier this year I threw it in open water where there were fish schooling on the Rappahonock River.  They would either hit it as soon as it hit the water or if I let it sink like a wounded baitfish.  In Michigan on lake St Clair, I have dragged a weightless DShad  drift fishing.  It was all the smallmouth wanted one year and it saved our trip.  It can also be used as a search bait by just casting and twitching.  The DShad is heavier than most other fluke style baits and sinks at a faster rate.  It’s probably one of the most versatile baits I throw and I always have one tied up.  I use a 7 foot Quantum Smoke spinning combo (2500 size Smoke reel) with 6lb mono.   I use a 4.0 gamakatsu ewg thin wire hook for my Texas rig.  Be advised, when fishing the heavy grass, it does require that you go in to retrieve bigger fish if you are fishing from a boat.  

[Fishin Dad]

Wow, great info.   Thanks. I am going to pick up some D shades and work with them a little.   Unfortunately, I won’t get to try them in all the awesome places you get too.  Sounds sweet!!!

[J Francho]

Since we're talking Dshad, I'll add that it's a great bait on a punching Jika rig, fishing the emergent water willow on Oneida for big green fish in summer.  I'm not usually a color guy, but *cough-cough* watermelon red/blk flake (208) is nice up there.  Like I and others said, this style bait is super versatile.

[roadwarrior]

15 minutes ago, J Francho said:

...watermelon red/blk flake (208) is nice up there.  

Oddly enough, that color seems to be VERY popular around here, throughout the South

and Midwest.

 

[Ravox]

Im having the same issues with a fluke im fishing weightless with a EWG hook for some reason when im retrieving the bait comes sideways even with the hook on the center of the bait not sure what im doing wrong but got no bites yet 

[N Florida Mike]

Ive caught more bass on flukes than any other bait since I started using them around 20 years ago.

I CATCH  90% OF MINE DEADSTICKING. Just throw em out, and let em sink. 3/0 wide gap gammy hook with no weight. The rest I catch pulling them over weeds mostly. I have never caught many by twitching them...