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Jerkbait Rigging?
So I fish a fluke or other jerk baits pretty frequently and am wondering how you guys who know what your're doing rig them with a weight. I've used the weighted shank hooks and they work well, but it seems when you work them fast they don't have the same spastic action as when you work them with a weightless, weedless rig. If I need to get a little deeper but still want that spastic action when worked fast, what do I use. I 've read a little about inserting a weight or a small nail into the head of the fluke, has anyone used this and is there any benefit.
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Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Tag Watson on
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My favorite method is to add suspend strips to the shank of the hook to adjust the sink rate. Your fluke will get into the strike zone faster and you will still maintain the same erratic action and parallel fall as your unweighted rig. I've murdered the smallmouth on this rig, especially suspended fish over deep water.
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Permalink Reply by Nick Berto on
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He is alive! Good tip Taggy...
Tag Watson said:My favorite method is to add suspend strips to the shank of the hook to adjust the sink rate. Your fluke will get into the strike zone faster and you will still maintain the same erratic action and parallel fall as your unweighted rig. I've murdered the smallmouth on this rig, especially suspended fish over deep water. -
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I have one more quick thing to add. I like to fish this weighted fluke rig on 20 lb. yellow hi-vis power pro with a 15' to 20' fluorocarbon leader. I choose this set up for a few different reasons. First off, I get increased casting distance and an improved hookset at the end of a long cast by using the braid. Since I am letting the bait sink on a semi-slack line in between twitches to achieve the perfect fall, the bites are visual. Also, since I am usually fishing this rig when there is some surface chop, the hi-vis yellow helps me see the bites instantly. I am not concerned with the fish seeing the braid due to the long fluorocarbon leader. I will even color 20' or so of the braid black, just for confidence.
If you are catching suspended smallmouth on a swimbait and the school seems to "shut down", you can often pick up an extra fish or five on this fluke rig. I typically throw the swimbait first because I can cover water much faster with it, but I've found the fluke to be the perfect clean up bait. -
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Permalink Reply by cody hampton on
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I have only used them un-weighted and got fish deep as 10 ft or more. One way i have brought fish up from about 15 or so ft is really jerk it and get it goin out of the water and it dives head first in. Another way to rig them is to nose hook them on a drop shot hook usin a palomar knot to the hook and you can get alot of action that way. personally i think its best to just fish it weightless and let it sink down to where the fish are. Last year i ws fishin a tourney in one of my clubs on chelan and me and my partner saw about a 6 follow up his 4 he brought to the boat and got it in. That bigun just hung around in the same spot and kept fishin and i threw out my fluke,( which was rigged wieghtless) and let it sink down to about 20 ft and that toad came up behind it and i made the mistake of movin the bait away from him and he swam off.
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Permalink Reply by Zach Chandler on
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Tag, what are suspend strips?
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Looked them up Tag, that is pretty much exactly what I'm looking for....Thanks
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Permalink Reply by Don Hogue on
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I've played with a super fluke setup a bit, and my best advice would be to use a Lunker City nail weight. I use about 2/3 of the smaller sized one about 80% of the time and slide it up between the flaps into the head. I want that hook to come all the way through the fluke on the hookset. A balled-up fluke on the hook spells troubles, so I try to stay away from anything attached to the hook itself. If I am fighting a fish and see the fluke riding up my line, then I'm confident I have him hooked good.
The benefit to using a weight is when targeting suspended fish (Tag spelled it out pretty good - maybe too good!) especially in current or wind or throwing around bedding fish. The only time I don't use a weight is if I'm targeting fish in less than 3' of water. -
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Permalink Reply by David Parnicky on
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Rigging with half of a 3/64th oz. lunker city insert weight is my favorite way to rig the fluke too! Awesome bait! I just tie it straight to 8 lb. fluorocarbon. I am real particular about the fall rate of this bait when fish are in or are suspended in 15' or less of water. It seems to me like there is a certain sink speed that is just killer if the fish are shallow enough to notice the bait. Braid with a fluoro leader seemed to make the bait sink too slow for my liking since the braid floated and too much nail made it sink too fast for my liking.
Hey Don, I think someone who used to fish with you showed me this rig 10 years ago in a tackle shop in Tri-Cities. I think he was a teacher at Pasco High School but I can't remember. I was buying a few things and he told me I had to try the fluke with half a nail and that you showed it to him. It has been one of my favorite ways to fish ever since!
Don Hogue said:I've played with a super fluke setup a bit, and my best advice would be to use a Lunker City nail weight. I use about 2/3 of the smaller sized one about 80% of the time and slide it up between the flaps into the head. I want that hook to come all the way through the fluke on the hookset. A balled-up fluke on the hook spells troubles, so I try to stay away from anything attached to the hook itself. If I am fighting a fish and see the fluke riding up my line, then I'm confident I have him hooked good.
The benefit to using a weight is when targeting suspended fish (Tag spelled it out pretty good - maybe too good!) especially in current or wind or throwing around bedding fish. The only time I don't use a weight is if I'm targeting fish in less than 3' of water -
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Ah, the good 'ol days....
There was a period of time when hardly anyone else was throwing this for smallmouth. In fact, I had more than a few tell me it was only a largemouth bait and too big for smallmouth. I kept my mouth shut. But word eventually got out. I'm going to show some different ways to use the fluke at the Sportsman Show.
David Parnicky said:Rigging with half of a 3/64th oz. lunker city insert weight is my favorite way to rig the fluke too! Awesome bait! I just tie it straight to 8 lb. fluorocarbon. I am real particular about the fall rate of this bait when fish are in or are suspended in 15' or less of water. It seems to me like there is a certain sink speed that is just killer if the fish are shallow enough to notice the bait. Braid with a fluoro leader seemed to make the bait sink too slow for my liking since the braid floated and too much nail made it sink too fast for my liking.
Hey Don, I think someone who used to fish with you showed me this rig 10 years ago in a tackle shop in Tri-Cities. I think he was a teacher at Pasco High School but I can't remember. I was buying a few things and he told me I had to try the fluke with half a nail and that you showed it to him. It has been one of my favorite ways to fish ever since!
Don Hogue said:I've played with a super fluke setup a bit, and my best advice would be to use a Lunker City nail weight. I use about 2/3 of the smaller sized one about 80% of the time and slide it up between the flaps into the head. I want that hook to come all the way through the fluke on the hookset. A balled-up fluke on the hook spells troubles, so I try to stay away from anything attached to the hook itself. If I am fighting a fish and see the fluke riding up my line, then I'm confident I have him hooked good.
The benefit to using a weight is when targeting suspended fish (Tag spelled it out pretty good - maybe too good!) especially in current or wind or throwing around bedding fish. The only time I don't use a weight is if I'm targeting fish in less than 3' of water -
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Permalink Reply by Joel Alinen on
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What size and style hook do you guys use?
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Many use 4/O or 5/O with the super fluke. I use the 3/O EWG Gamakatsu. It seems to work well to me. I never could decide on red or black. I used to use red, lately I have been using black. I haven't noticed one color working better than the other. I like the idea behind red but I almost think I get better quality on the black hook. That could be all in my head though.
Joel Alinen said:What size and style hook do you guys use? -
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Permalink Reply by BigBass Dez on
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Hey David ,
Interesting comment you made about the Red & Black Hooks !! For years if have used Red mainly from prespawn through the spawn targeting Bass in 1-12ft if water ! However after the Spawn has occured i which back to my standard Black Hooks . Its more of a confendence factor on my part , I assume that by using red in shallow Water colums im giving bass a Better Visual Target area on my Hook wheather it be on EWG or TREBS .. I still to this day wonder if using Red is an advantage or just another Myth ?????
David Parnicky said:Many use 4/O or 5/O with the super fluke. I use the 3/O EWG Gamakatsu. It seems to work well to me. I never could decide on red or black. I used to use red, lately I have been using black. I haven't noticed one color working better than the other. I like the idea behind red but I almost think I get better quality on the black hook. That could be all in my head though.
Joel Alinen said:What size and style hook do you guys use? -
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