How & when do I fish a fluke?

[fireandice]

I was just curious about the best way to present this bait.  Just tell me what works for you guys.  I have fished it a couple of days and caught some fish, but they were very small compared to all the others we were catching on jigs.  Is this primarily just a last effort when fishing a tournament.  Like it will put some fish in the live well, just so you don't get skunked?  It just seems like an odd bait to me.  It doesn't have much natural action.  I have some silver shad color and then I believe green pumpkin.  I've never caught any on the shad color.  I usually t-rig it with about a 2/0 or 4/0 offset shank hook and fish it with little or no weight.  It is very heavy bodied and very weedless which is nice.  Anyway...give me some favorite colors and ways to present this bait if you would.  Would maybe an EWG hook help?  I usually put the hook in on the slotted side of the bait.

[KU_Bassmaster.]

I have seemed to have better luck fishing the fluke prespawn and then again post spawn into early summer. Then I bring out the shad colored ones in the fall.

Twitch, twitch.......paaaaaaaaauuuuuuuuuusssssssseeeeeeeee........twitch..............paaaauuuusssseeee .........twitch, twitch

Long pauses............so long there almost uncomfortable.

[JaxBasser]

I havnt used flukes much,but when i do use them its usually Pre-Spawn period.Like KU said,just twitch and pause,they will catch fish  ;D

I caught one of my biggest fish on a fluke in the prespawn fishing around lilly pads in the lake i used to have in my backyard(before it dried up ).It was a 8lb Hog  ;D

[spotaholic]

IMO I fish a fluke all year long either on a lead head or weightless. Jighead is deadly in fall and winter. cast let it fall and jerk, jerk sink. Hold on. Weightless twitch twitch pause is great but experiment and take the temp of the fish. As for colors there is a bunch of colors that will catch fish but day in and day out go with pearl, albino or white ice. Excellent bait and don't limit yourself it will catch fish all year lond and just about all day long in most lake.

[Gatorbassman]

Ok

I fish a fluke all the time. There are dozens of ways to fish it and no one way is the best. The Jig Head that Spotaholic was talking about is the white version of this one.

We put a pearl Superfluke Jr. on it and yo-yo it up and down creek channels and deep ditches all winter long.

A weightless "The Fluke" is a great sight fishing lure. I put it on a very limber medium action spinning rod with 6 of 8 pound test. I hook it wheedles on a 2/0 G-Loc EWG. A couple of slight jerks and pauses to make it look like a dyeing bait fish is usually all it takes.

  I cut pieces of a coat hanger in various lengths and push them into the head, the tail or in the main body to adjust the rate of fall.

  I take a small bell sinker and put it on the hook before reinserting the point back into the Fluke to give it a vertical fall. This allows me to fish it deep or in fast current.

  Here on Clarks Hill we put a pearl Super Fluke on a Red 5/0 EWG and use it when the bass are on the Blow Troughs.

  You can fish it fast in a "Walk the Dog" action.

  You can skip it way under docks and slowly jerk and pause it all the way back in.

  Put it on a C-Rig with a small foam bullet float painted white pegged up on the hook.

Texas Rig, Split Shot Rig, Drop-Shot, and Wacky.

  My favorite colors are Pearl, Baby Bass, Albino and Rainbow shad.  

[fireandice]

Okay...well I tried to insert an image of my fluke, but I guess I'm not smart enough to figure out how ???  Anyway...I'm using a smokin' shad Super Fluke...and I just wanted you to take a look at it.  Just like to know if I'm rigging it correctly.  It just seems that the body is so deep that the bass would have a hard time making the hook penetrate the body to get a good set.  Would the EWG hooks help?  I can even squeeze it tightly in my hand and can feel no hook coming through the other side.  Thanks for all the great tips for this bait though.  Wow, really endless possiblities.  

[Gatorbassman]

Extra Wide Gap hooks are a must. If you can find G-locs it is even better.

[KU_Bassmaster.]

Are you bringing the hook out of the back.  Basically the business end of the hook should just about lay flat on the back of the fluke.

[fireandice]

I wasn't bringing the hook all the way out the top.  I was leaving it buring a little bit to remain totally weedless.  Should I expose the tip and lay it flat on the top?

And ...what is a G-loc..is that a type or a brand of hook?

[Gatorbassman]

G-Loc is a Gamigatsu hook. I has a extra bend in it to help keep the lure from sliking down the hook.

You can lay it flat against the back or skin it. Skinnit means slipping the point just under the surface of the back.

[spotaholic]

Zoom is also making a frog/fluke hook now that is awesome. I sure wish they were out earlier in the year.

[fireandice]

Okay ...here's the pic I was trying to post to you earlier.  

                                             

[Gatorbassman]

Yea that's about it, but use a EWG hooks and push the hook all the way through with no problem on hooksets.

[Sam]

I fished in my local club's tournament on the Rappahannock River and the guy who I was fishing with was using a small green fluke with a lime tail rigged Texas style with an unpegged bullet sinker.

The fluke was about 3 inches long.  I think it was a Zoom product.

He caught lots of small bass and one keeper.

I caught my keeper on a Senko after I threw in the spot he had just missed one with his small green fluke.

Needless to say, the fishing was hard.  Top catch was 5 bass for a total of 10 pounds.

But I am getting some of those small green flukes as I have seen them work on Buggs Island and now on the Rappahannock River.

[Low_Budget_Hooker]

use these quick pics to see how an ewg hook keeps the point in-line with the eye and lays flat on the baits back.  Last pic is to show how you can "skin-hook" the tip back into the bait for a weedless advantage.

Hope that helps

[spotaholic]

Hooker, Great pics. That color is one of the best made. I can't tell you how many times I have been working a fluke in that color and think I am looking at live bait.

[fireandice]

Yeah...thanks for the pic there LowBH...I like visuals.  Thats what I thought they meant.  I appreciate all the help guys...I'm going to try to perfect my fluking abilities.  

Oh and I forgot to mention...that day that we did have the flukes working pretty good...it was the green pumpkin w/chartruse tail.  We couldn't find any more in the stores after spring...so my buddy just started dipping the tails in chartruse dye.  It was really potent stuff.  Changed colors dramatically in about 4-5 seconds.  I was impressed at his resourcefullness.

[Low_Budget_Hooker]

Arkansas shiner and Albino ghost, ....like heroine for fish, they can't say "no"!!

And with a red hook in there, the inner body appears to be blood filled or,...."alive"

[fireandice]

great tips everyone.  I'm gonna give 'em some more shots out on the water.  I did try my green pumkin w/chartruse tail just this evening and nothing.  But there weren't any baits working for me except the Watermelon/Red Brush Hog.  I caught a nice 2 pounder on it.(good for the lake I was fishing).  This bait has been surprising me lately.

Baits that failed for me tonight with very calm semi-murky 85 degree water were:

Black Grass Frog w/trailer hook...not a hit

Green Pumkin/Chartruse tail Super Fluke...weightless on my ultralight

Didn't have any dark buzzbaits or I would have tried them.  Seemed like the jumpers/risers that I saw were feeding on mayflys.  May have been bluegill though.  Hard to tell...nothing was flying out of the air doing flips or anything like that.

[boneman]

nice thread - good info here.

in my limited experience with flukes i've noticed a lot of line twist.  do you guys use a swivel anywhere, periodically straighten the line by letting it all out behind the boat (rigless) or just live with the twist?

thanks,

boneman

[playmaker47]

I fish Zoom Flukes weightless. when i do this i use a snap swivel to hook the hook to the line. i use snap swivels on all weightless soft plastics. i do however retie after a couple of fish. i dont use snap swivels if im fishing t-rigged soft plastics though. only weightless ones.

[Low_Budget_Hooker]

swivel at the hook??

Really not weightless anymore.  That swivel also won't stop line twist.

[playmaker47]

i use really small swivels and it does let it sink a little bit but not to much of a difference from regular weightless. i also havent had much trouble with line twist using this on a spinning reel

[fireandice]

Boneman...for just regular spinning tackle, I use light mono. and it doesn't twist much with a fluke unless I cast it all day.  I hear that braided line helps with this, but haven't yet tried any.  I use a snap swivel on unweighted plastics with a sickle tail or something that likes to roll, but the fluke, if hooked the way shown in this thread, actually swims hook barb up and doesn't twist much.

[bassackwards]

I was usin a super fluke yesterday and when I tapped it, it would go to the left or right and then up into a circle and back down...  is the hook not aligned right?  or is that normal?