Fluke advice

[CrashVector]

This fall, I want to try fishing with a fluke during/after the turnover.  I've never had much luck fishing flukes, probably due to my complete ignorance of the lure.  Just want to keep it interesting and learn something new instead of going to my typical finesse lures or swimbaits.

 

The way I've been trying it: 10lb braid, barrel swivel, 18inch leader, 3/0 EWG or a 4/0 weighted hook with a screw lock.

 

The problem I have is it twists/corkscrews a lot, and on the unweighted hook, it seems to stay right at the surface.

 

So, any of you who are more used to fishing a fluke, post your tips please because I need help with this lure lol

[Finessegenics]

It’s probably twisting and corkscrewing because it isn’t rigged completely straight. A little twisting doesn’t bother me but if I notice a lot of it, I’ll re-rig. 
 

it is hard to fish a fluke deeper in the water column so one thing I do to increase the fluke’s rate of fall is insert a light pagoda/nail/whatever you wanna call it weight  right behind the ‘head’ of the bait. I’ll insert into the hook slot, towards the front of the bait, so the weight rests next to the eye of the hook kinda. I’m usually adding 1/32 or 1/16 oz. You can go a little heavier but I like them to stay lodged in there. With a heavier/bigger nail weight that might not be the case. 
 

I also use a spinning rod for my flukes so I don’t know if that makes any difference but thought I’d mention it. 15# braid to 8# or 12# mono depending on the cover I’m fishing around. 

[LrgmouthShad]

I’m convinced flukes don’t catch fish and that everyone has this inside joke going of “Yeah let’s keep everybody thinking that they actually work, wouldn’t that be funny? Ahah it’d be hilarious”

[CrashVector]

29 minutes ago, LrgmouthShad said:

I’m convinced flukes don’t catch fish and that everyone has this inside joke going of “Yeah let’s keep everybody thinking that they actually work, wouldn’t that be funny? Ahah it’d be hilarious”

 

Lol!

 

 

[TOXIC]

Wow, I went and searched for my standard response to a fluke thread and I sure do like the Yamamoto DShad.   There’s a bunch of reasons and a lot of rigging options.  Needless to say I always have one rigged up……always.  Here’s a little sampling of my past responses.

 

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.  

[FrnkNsteen]

How you rig them can have an effect on how deep they fish.

 

If you rig it texas rigged with the eye of the right at the nose of the bait, they tend to climb when twitched and stay shallow, but if you rig it a little deeper so the eye of the hook is buried deeper into the nose of the bait, they will dive more and fish a little deeper.

 

You can always add a nail, as some mentioned above, or use a belly weighted hook, to sink quicker and fish deeper too.

[Captain Phil]

I have to admit I don't fish flukes.  I should, but I catch most of my fish on spinnerbaits so it's hard for me to switch.  I have fished tournaments with guys who were great fluke fisherman and it was an eye opening experience.   Take it from me, a good fluke fisherman will kick your butt.  Most of them used no weight.  They Texas rigged the fluke with a wide gap hook and the point resting flat on the back.  Some used a twist lock on the nose, others used a toothpick through the hook eye. If your flukes are twisting, it's because they aren't rigged straight or the bait itself is not straight.  Keep in mind that Florida fisherman fish mostly shallow.  If you want the fluke to sink, using a nail weight or weighed hook will get the job done.  If you want to wear yourself out, use one in West Lake Toho in March or April.    ☺️

[LrgmouthShad]

1 minute ago, GreenPig said:

I'm getting tired of hanging my prop Fluke, Jerkz Shadz, and Bass Assassins rigs out of fish's mouths for pics to mess with folks.?

We all know you stuck those flukes in the fish’s mouth after the fact ?. 

[roadwarrior]

 

[MN Fisher]

I started using it again this year - for 2021 season they made a rule change that didn't let us use it...they changed it back for this year.

[roadwarrior]

A few years ago I fished a Big Brother/ Big Sister charity tournament on the Tennessee

River. My partner was my best friend and fishing buddy of more than twenty years. We 

had always worked well together...

 

The day was slow for us until the last hour of the tournament. I tied up a double fluke and

BINGO! 

 

Fishing below the Wilson Dam our target and expectation was smallmouth, but to my

surprise I hooked up with a MONSTER green fish. When the fish broke water she just

about stopped my heart. We both knew this would be the Big Bass and probably win

the day. 

 

My buddy is a very experienced fisherman, but we all get excited in the moment. After

a tremendous fight in strong current, I brought the fish to the boat, but she was still green.

In the heat of battle my partner just blanked on me and lunged at the bass, knocking her off.

 

 

[MN Fisher]

And you taught him what 'concrete galoshes' meant...right?

[Cbump]

What is the point of the barrel swivel? I’ve never heard of that until I got on this forum and have seen It a lot. I don’t want extra stuff on my line. 
 

I know the typical answer is line twist. That seems like a solution to a problem that doesn’t really exist. What does everyone I know do differently here to not need them that y’all are doing to need them? 
3 different knots to fail. 
I don’t even use them on Carolina rig. 

[Bass Rutten]

Probably not rigged quite straight, or it was a little deformed out of the bag, they can be finicky sometimes. If you want to kill two birds with one stone try fishing them on a keel weighted hook, I use gamakatsu superline spring lock hooks, the 3/0 with 1/16oz weight is perfect for the super fluke, the keel weight will allow you to work it a bit deeper and keeps it from blowing out or rolling even when worked aggressively, and the spring lock makes them pretty durable too. Another cheaper solution if you have any is to wrap lead tape (suspend dots or strips) around the lower part of your hook to give it a little weight.

[JustJames]

Fluke is one lure that I have confidence in and will guarantee to catch fish 80% of a time. A few years back, the last fish I caught on December was fluke and the first fish I caught in January was also Fluke.

There are many way to fish fluke, fast on top of water or slow like Senko. You can also dance them like jerkbait between water column. 
My prefer plastic is Yamamoto D-Shad on Gama 4/0 hook, the heaviest of the bunch with same Senko Material. I can fish D-Shad in 15 FOW unweighted no problem. If you need weight VMC drop dead 1/16oz 3/0 with either Zoom Super Fluke or Bass assassin is the way to go. 
don’t be afraid to experiment, just pop it off bottom and let it glide back like Senko, or twist twist pause like jerkbait.

I normally use 8lb Copolymer for Fluke, no braid no swivel (unless donkey rig). Patient is also the big key with fluke, if I see activity on top I will just keep twisting right on surface.

Rod I prefer ML or Medium with softer tip to get the most action (you don’t wanna pull fluke with stiff rod).

[CrashVector]

Thanks for all the tips!  I'm definitely commiting all this to memory.  Learning new stuff and trying new things is what keeps fishing interesting for me.

 

I'm planning to try a fluke again this coming Tuesday on a M/F Veritas PLX rod.

 

I'm pretty persnickety about rigging my plastics perfectly straight, but a lot of flukes aren't straight right out of the bag.

 

Not sure if them rolling or corkscrewing matters much in the end or not, but I've only used a fluke maybe three times, and quit because I could NOT get it to swim straight if my life depended on it 

 

However, I'll pay super close attention to lining everything up perfectly straight.

[MickD]

1 hour ago, Cbump said:

What is the point of the barrel swivel?

A big swivel, takes it down.  Rig it with the hook coming out the belly.  It's not about line twist.  

[Cbump]

9 minutes ago, MickD said:

A big swivel, takes it down.  Rig it with the hook coming out the belly.  It's not about line twist.  

So does a twist lock weighted hook. 

Or a small worm weight. 

[TOXIC]

Ok, so I went back and found my rigging post from the past.  When you get proficient at rigging, you can make a DShad all sorts of things.  I would assume it’s the same for other fluke stylembaits. 
 

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 in between those that I mentioned that will dictate the baits movement. 

[throttleplate]

I caught this greenie on the keel weighted ewg fluke and the brownie on a weightless ewg fluke.

 

[bigbassin']

I t-rig directly to the fluke, occasionally a 1/8 oz bullet head weight if you want it deeper. 4/0 EWG is my go-to, but jigheads work as well if you're trying to get it down in the water column.  As far as how to fish it:

 

1. Giving it soft but quick twitches as soon as it hit hits the water. This will keep it on the top of the water and present a more subtle walk the dog.

2. Allowing it to sink to the desired depth and working it like a jerk bait, just with softer twitches. You can pause as long as you want between twitches, this is probably where most of my strikes occur.

3. Dead sticking the fluke for 10-20 seconds at a time, hop it, then repeat the process.

4. Target casting. Just get the fluke right on top of your desired target and allow it to sink all the way to the bottom. Give it a few twitches then work it back to you.

4. Carolina rigged with long pauses.

5. Dead sticking on a wacky rig.

6. Rigged backwards on an ewg it will fall away from you, if you're bad at skipping or the overhang is too close to the water to skip this'll let you get a foot or two under the cover.

7. Chatterbait trailer.

8. Never done it, but I've seen a lot of videos with folks fishing them on underspins in cold water, particularly for spots.  We don't have that scenario down in Florida but it might be something to consider if you do.

 

As far as location, flukes basically work everywhere, but I feel like they really excel in grass where other subsurface lures may not be able to get to, and when targeting schooling bass. They're also one of the easiest lures to skip, so I give them the nod pretty often for dock fishing/getting under branches. Flukes are also pretty good as a follow up lure if you miss a top water strike.

 

Watermelon red is by far my favorite color for these, and for whatever reason flukes and trick worms are the only lures I ignore the conventional method of black/blue or junebug in dirty water, watermelon in clear water.  As long as there's at least 6" of visibility I'll be throwing watermelon red, anything less and I probably wouldn't throw a fluke.  Pearl and Arkansas Shiner are both solid colors as well I just don't feel the need to carry all three colors.

[Cbump]

Excellent post

[GRiver]

8 hours ago, Cbump said:

Excellent post

I agree 100%….  What a person can learn here about fishing is off the charts.

Anyway I bought a few packs of flukes around x-mas time , haven’t had a whole lot of luck with them….. what I meant to say “ I’ve caught nutting on them”. 
After reading this post and all the different ways to fish them, I’m going to make some time….. go out and fish nothing but flukes for a day.

If nothing else I’ll get my rigging techniques down…..I hope.

 

[txchaser]

On 9/10/2022 at 2:16 PM, CrashVector said:

 

Not sure if them rolling or corkscrewing matters much in the end or not, but I've only used a fluke maybe three times, and quit because I could NOT get it to swim straight if my life depended on it 

 

Yamamoto D-shads and SK Caffiene shads don't have this issue, but they do fall a little faster. 

[GReb]

Flukes really shine in shallow grass. I caught a 5lb largemouth this weekend on one in pad stems less than a foot of water.  Most situations you want to work it pretty slow. Let it die and sink. A couple of twitches will bring it back to the top of the water. 
 

I prefer a 4/0 wide gap hook. I tried the nose screw hooks and caught fish but felt like the action was not as good and the baits really get torn up because they turn inside out and move up the line. I’ve also found that covering the hook eye and knot with the nose will reduce the action a lot. If I need it to sink faster I’ll use a thicker, heavier hook. I’m not a fan of adding an additional weight. 
 

A fluke is very visual fishing to me. Most of the time I can see the bait because it’s in the top foot or two of water and twitches often break the surface. Bites can be hard to detect because you’re working it on slack line. Around grass I throw it on 50lb braid and slacked braid transmits little to no feel. Fortunately most bass hit them hard and take off so it’s not an issue. And in really shallow water you’ll see the wake or swirl just before they eat it. Just be sure to reel up the slack before setting the hook. 
 

Im no fluke expert but this has always worked for me. It’s not my favorite style of fishing but on calm sunny days where bass are keyed in on Shad it works really well.