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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Toledo Bend Lake

Fishing Report from TPWD (Mar. 20)

GOOD. Water slightly stained; 63 degrees; 2.13 feet below pool. Spring started off with a freeze. Water temperature is running 59-63 degrees and the clarity is clear. Lots of bass are still spawning in 1-5 feet of water hitting wacky-worms and senkos. There are good numbers of bass starting to show up that have already spawn, these fish spawned on that February full moon. These fish coming on shallow running crankbait and Carolina rig lizard. With the next moon coming, there will be more bass on the move towards the back. This will keep going to first of May. Crappie are good, but with the colder weather, it is going to pop it back several days. The crappie are super picky due to the changing weather.

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