Jerk Bait or Worm?




How many can remember back to when the plastic worm made it’s first appearance on the bass fishing scene? Several of the major retailers I frequented put pint size containers out on a long table, each filled with a different worm color and style … straight tails, curly tails, twist tails. If an angler was a serious bass angler, he or she had to have purple and black colors, maybe a dark red in their tackle box. Then you might get bold and have a couple new colors, maybe some of the worms with an offsetting colored tail.

Now there are so many styles, colors, lengths you could fill up a fishing catalog with just the different variations.

One of the more recent entries is the Super Fluke. The body has changed enough that it’s sometimes known as a jerk bait. Zoom states, “the deep belly of the Super Fluke causes it to dart, glide and knuckleball through the water, while its universal baitfish size allows it to tempt both limit-sized bass and the biggest fish on your lake. Rigged weightless, it skitters across the surface like an injured shad, but a belly-weighted hook or some insert weights allow you to employ it as deep as necessary.”

Awhile back I followed a thread on a fishing forum where anglers shared their experiences using the Fluke. Let me share some of their knowledge on what they think of this unique “worm”.

Taylored said he fishes his Fluke Texas rigged with a 1/8 oz. weighted hook. Post spawn to late fall are better times to fish the lure. “Shallow cover, schooling fish, docks, and many other applications. You can use as a jerk bait or barely twitch it on the bottom.”

Jake likes the bait enough that it’s probably his go-to bait. “I can skip it extremely well on a spinning rod, and with the erratic look I can get a reaction bite on it no matter whether I’m fishing clear or stained water.

“You can fish it in any type of cover,” he continued. “It can be very deadly twitching it, then dead-sticking it under docks, on stickups and brush, or grass pockets and grass lines.” He uses a widegap 4/0 hook, weightless or with a light weight.

Another angler said it seems like the only color he can catch bass when using the Fluke is watermelon red/chartreuse tail.

Jake wanted to know what size Fluke worked best – a 7-inch Magnum or the 5-inch Super. Blindshot replied, “use the 7 inch if you want the bigger fish. Danny agreed with Blindshot, but recommended using a larger hook “One of my favorite techniques is to rig on a ‘scrounger head’. It will usually pick up a few more bites and will typically attract larger fish.

Now…what’s a scrounger head? According to Luck-E-Strike, the manufacturer of Scrounger, the unique head creates vibration and realistic action. Aaron Martens shared that using the head with a Fluke will catch bass all year long and anywhere in the water column, but Martens says it's especially effective in the hottest part of the summer — July through September. Martens believes very strongly in this bait and his techniques. He's caught bass of all sizes, including some trophies. He considers the Scrounger as his go-to bait when bites are hard to come by or when fish have become conditioned to other lures, like crankbaits.

Which now brings us to the topic of jig heads and weights, but I’ll hold that for another session. Good luck on your next trip out on the water!




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Lake Fork

Fishing Report from TPWD (Apr. 23)

GOOD. Water Stained; 63 degrees; 0.25 feet below pool. Bass fishing has been slow with some early morning catching near areas with the shad spawn using DieZel chatterbaits. Once bass move off the shore, switch to squarebill crankbaits in 3-5 feet, or Yum dingers and flukes around grass, and frogs in the grass. Report by Marc Mitchell, Lake Fork Guide Service. Black bass are post spawn and the top water bite is on! Frog patterns are working in the shallow vegetation. The crappie are moving shallow, small clousers are producing well. Large bream have moved shallow, wooly buggers are producing good fish. Channel catfish are cruising 2-4 feet biting clousers. Report by Guide Alex Guthrie, Fly Fish Fork Guide Service. The crappie fishing on Lake Fork is moving rapidly into the post spawn pattern. Fish are loading up on brush piles, ledges, underwater bridges, road beds, bridges and post spawn trees in 14-25 feet. The fish are hungry after the spawn and they will bite just about anything you out in front of them. We are having great luck with small hand tied jigs but minnows and soft plastics will also work for the next few months until water temps heat way up. Seeing a lot of small fish this year mixed in so some days you will catch and release a lot of short fish. Report by Jacky Wiggins, Jacky Wiggins Guide Service.

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