I put the paddle tails away and now hooked on the Yum Super Fluke

[throttleplate]

The past 2 weeks i have had great luck with the flukes, using them for the first time ever fishing them all different ways, tr, wr, drop shot, keel weighted hook. This week i will put them on as a trailor on a white swim jig using white fluke. I have been using white flukes that i collored the tops with black magic marker to make it look like a minnesota shiner and been workin great.

 

I am just burnt out on the paddle tails, its like paddle tail this, paddle tail that. Paddle tails look like a submarine with what else a paddle tail. I can do so much more with a fluke and it looks more natural i feel on the techniques mentioned.

I know many of you have caught hundreds of fish on kaitech type paddletails but i have not so when i tried the fluke and caught fish i was convinced this was better lure for me.

 

[Cody28]

Good choice. Soft plastic jerkbaits are the best. Now wait until you try the Strike King Caffeine Shad. It's great. 

[Bluebasser86]

Not a big fan of the Zoom Fluke because it seems like about half the bag is always bent and unusable when I get them out. I've been using the 6th Sense Flush lately and been happy with them. They come in a harder plastic container that makes them keep their shape so I know my baits are good when I need them. 

[FryDog62]

8 hours ago, Cody28 said:

Good choice. Soft plastic jerkbaits are the best. Now wait until you try the Strike King Caffeine Shad. It's great. 

A 5 inch Strike King Caffeine Shad on a 4/0 3/32 oz Twistlock Light hook is the pinnacle of fluke fishing. 

[cottny27]

9 hours ago, throttleplate said:

The past 2 weeks i have had great luck with the flukes, using them for the first time ever fishing them all different ways, tr, wr, drop shot, keel weighted hook. This week i will put them on as a trailor on a white swim jig using white fluke. I have been using white flukes that i collored the tops with black magic marker to make it look like a minnesota shiner and been workin great.

 

I am just burnt out on the paddle tails, its like paddle tail this, paddle tail that. Paddle tails look like a submarine with what else a paddle tail. I can do so much more with a fluke and it looks more natural i feel on the techniques mentioned.

I know many of you have caught hundreds of fish on kaitech type paddletails but i have not so when i tried the fluke and caught fish i was convinced this was better lure for me.

 

I fish mine just like this without the drop weight. I put a 1/32 nail weight in the body. Works great!

[the reel ess]

I like them in all colors I've tried. But don't be afraid to buy a bag of the bubble gum color. They'll flat eat those up at times.

[throttleplate]

i looked at the kvd caffeine shad on tackle warehouse and notice the tail is different then the zoom and it contains lots of salt and falls apart quickly users say.

 

 I myself use a spiral lock on the zoom and the lock uses every bit of the plastic in the head and after even one vicious strike the zooms head can be destroyed but then i just use it on a wr side hooking it and works great.

 

I read the comments on the caffeine shad and alot of comments are comparing it to the zoom and some are against the caffeine shad and swear the zoom is better. I will have to judge this myself and form an opinion.

 

Maybe i will also put away the hard jerkbaits, i dislike treble hooks anyways, make more open space in my box and easier decisions by just using the fluke or caffeine shad in their place.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[FryDog62]

The Twistlock hook does help the durability of the Caffeine Shad some, I probably average 2-3 fish per shad, sometimes twice that. I think the TW reviews are mostly people that nose hook which hurts durability and swimming action. The air bubble in the tail is such a differentiator, and on that hook it will swim horizontally on its own, slow down then wiggle its tail, change directions and glide or death spiral like no other lure I've ever used. A few twitches in between really brings it to life. And in rivers you can cast towards shore and it will swim with the current horizontally with its own movement for several feet - smallmouth can't stand it.  

[PhishLI]

I throw a 5" Caffeine shad a lot rigged on an Owner Twistlock 4/0 un-weighted. They cast a mile on casting gear and are way more durable than a 5" or 6' GY senko. When/if they get torn they go back in the bag and get the Mend-it treatment once I get home. I've been cycling the same bag for months. They've all been fixed over and over again. Great bait.

[Log Catcher]

All of my bags of Super Flukes have the Zoom name on them.

[Skunkmaster-k]

Zoom super fluke is one of my confidence baits. I caught my first walleye popping a fluke on a 1/4 oz ball head . My son caught a 2.5 lb crappie drop shotting a fluke. I don’t really know how many bass I’ve caught on a weightless Texas style, but it’s a bunch. A person just can’t fish them wrong , they’re awesome. 

[LrgmouthShad]

12 hours ago, Skunkmaster-k said:

A person just can’t fish them wrong , they’re awesome. 

Oh, trust me, I can ?

 

I've got some kind of curse on me with flukes. Never could catch a fish with em. Hardly caught any on jerkbaits either. 

[TnRiver46]

3 minutes ago, LrgmouthShad said:

Oh, trust me, I can ?

 

I've got some kind of curse on me with flukes. Never could catch a fish with em. Hardly caught any on jerkbaits either. 

Small ones are deadly on jigheads 

[PaulVE64]

I also go 'Piccasso' on my white fukes.

 

[ChrisD46]

On 10/4/2021 at 2:47 AM, Bluebasser86 said:

Not a big fan of the Zoom Fluke because it seems like about half the bag is always bent and unusable when I get them out. I've been using the 6th Sense Flush lately and been happy with them. They come in a harder plastic container that makes them keep their shape so I know my baits are good when I need them. 

*With Zoom Super Flukes / Flukes I hold the the bait vertical in semi boiling water for 15 seconds then lay them down flat to dry straight before putting them back into the bag . Yes , a bit of a pain but other brands of soft plastic Flukes are hard to find locally . 

[throttleplate]

bought a pack of pearl white zoom super flukes and many of them were bent at the tail section. I never paid attention to any soft plastics on their straightness before. I just rig them up and let them fly.

Today I caught this brown girl on the pearl white. Also caught a nice bass on the zoom that i colored with a black marker.

All the fish i caught today were on the zoom.

 

[The Baron]

Great.  Now I have to buy more baits.?

 

With all the talk about the importance of scented baits, I’d think coloring a soft bait with magic marker would hurt your productivity.  Doesn’t sound like that’s a problem though.

[ironbjorn]

I can't buy Flukes anymore. Half the pack or more is always junk. The boiling water trick only goes so far and it's not something you should have to do every.single.time. Figure out decent packaging or I'll buy from the companies who care.

[throttleplate]

5 hours ago, The Baron said:

Great.  Now I have to buy more baits.?

 

With all the talk about the importance of scented baits, I’d think coloring a soft bait with magic marker would hurt your productivity.  Doesn’t sound like that’s a problem though.

I thought that the marker ink smell would be a bad thing but i use a Sharpie and it doesnt have that heavy distinct smell the old school magic markers do. After awhile it smells just like it did new out of the package.

 

After i color the top half of the flukes with marker i then rub it all in by just squishing the fluke and rubbing it in with my fingers to create my minnesota shiners look.

I need to get to fleetfarm today as the only color they have in stock is pearl white which is great because i make my own shiners with the ink.

Also i can take any sharpie color and make it what i want or put on some spike it. The texture of the zoom is such that it really is easy to put on eyes and different markings.

[papajoe222]

I never 'put away' one presentation or lure because a different one is producing better. Flukes, this time of year, will likely out produce paddle tails, but under the right circumstances the opposite can be true.  The best example is after a hard rain has colored the water. The vibration from that paddle tail will draw the attention of bass that normally rely solely on their sight to find forage, which is a Fluke's, or any jerkbait's  main drawing characteristic.

[JustJames]

I used to fish Fluke style bait a lot a couple years ago. I’ve tried them all, Zoom, Yum, Bass assassins, Strike king, Zman Shad, big bite bait and Yamamoto D-Shad. My favorite of them all is D-Shad, I can fish like Senko (same type plastic/salt), cast further, fish it deeper, sink faster, or as fast as I want. The second would be Zoom Super Fluke for color and fish where shallower/weed. I have more than 10 color of super flukes. If I want to down size a little, I use 4” Caffeine Shad.

I fish them all from Tiny Fluke all the way to Magnum Fluke and caught plenty of bass big and small. I mostly fish them unweighted with 4/0 Gamakatsu hook (none superline) to give it the most natural movement.

 

[JustJames]

Thanks to this post and since I haven’t fish Fluke for a long time. I have a little bit of time before my tee time this morning. Went out with my favorite color Arkansas Shad, and caught two.   Hopefully I do go at golf game as well.

[TnRiver46]

On 10/8/2021 at 1:55 PM, ironbjorn said:

I can't buy Flukes anymore. Half the pack or more is always junk. The boiling water trick only goes so far and it's not something you should have to do every.single.time. Figure out decent packaging or I'll buy from the companies who care.

Zoom offers boot tail flukes in clam shell packaging 

2 hours ago, Bass_Fishing_Socal said:

Thanks to this post and since I haven’t fish Fluke for a long time. I have a little bit of time before my tee time this morning. Went out with my favorite color Arkansas Shad, and caught two.   Hopefully I do go at golf game as well.

Nice ones 

[HaydenS]

On 10/8/2021 at 8:26 AM, The Baron said:

Great.  Now I have to buy more baits.?

 

With all the talk about the importance of scented baits, I’d think coloring a soft bait with magic marker would hurt your productivity.  Doesn’t sound like that’s a problem though.

https://www.amazon.com/Spike-Marker-Garlic-Chartreuse-Orange/dp/B0010FMB2E/ref=asc_df_B0010FMB2E/?tag=hyprod-20&linkCode=df0&hvadid=312134190667&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=69534961197651085&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9033309&hvtargid=pla-570126891002&psc=1&scrlybrkr=208d1aa8

[Billy Burditt]

Has anyone tried Zman streakz?  Seems like the durability of elaztech would make them a great choice, but I never hear of anyone using them?