Swimming Fluke

[borderbasser]

How do you get an aggressive bite on a swimming fluke. I can catch fish on it, but the bites are so light I miss several fish. I do the jerk-jerk pause, which generates the bites but it's not a good bite.... What am I doing wrong???

[Terry Anderson]

NOTHING! Watch your line is all I can tell you!

[Tennessee Top]

It's difficult to do, but you have to resist the urge to set the hook right away. Need to wait and let the fish take the fluke in its mouth longer than normal.

Fluke fishing can be effective but no question I have missed a lot more than I've caught (because I get excited and try to set the hook too quickly).

[zx200driver]

Hi. try rigging them on some kind of "head". I offer the horse head deal with the small blade. Others offer different heads, storming hornet, etc... this forces you to fish it faster (except of course on the bottom) and usually forces more aggressive bites. They have to eat it or go hungry. The whole reaction over feeding bite deal. Hey just look at KVD!
Good luck
Patrick

[The Old Man]

I catch the most fish on a swimming fluke with a slow steaady retrieve. I pull it just fast enough to make the tail to it's thing. When the fish are busting shad on the surface, you can get some serious strikes by buzzing it on the top.

[lkn4deer]

sometimes when I'm missing alot of fish,I take a #6 treble- hook it through the main hook w/ one barb sticking straight up-attach to underside of fluke......they also have the new wire jigs to hook up a treble hook

[Hawgranger]

Try using one of the Lucky Strike swimbait weighted hooks. Fish the bait with braid spooled on 6.3:1 or higher reel set on a 7'6" flipping stick and fish it around grass, pepper grass if it is present. Make long casts and keep the bait on top like you would a frog, fish will nail that thing as it has the appearance of a fleeing shad. I found that alot of the best blow ups on the bait occur when then pepper grass has open water between it and the shoreline. Cast to the bank as close as possible and usually the strikes will occur just as you reach the start of the pepper grass bed. Hope this helps, good catching!

[Chuck D]

Match the line and rod up to what you are doing. I'd fish it the same way I'd fish a spinner bait so you can make a solid hook set and drive a larger gauge hook in from a longer distance as you usually get bit on a fluke on a longer cast over structure, brush piles etc unless you are dock fishing.

I've lost too many fish fishing line that stretches or having too limber of a rod. I learned that lesson early and it's not an issue any more.

I use a 6'8" MH casting rod and 14-17lb Floro. Mono is useless in this situation as it gives too much. I'd use braid if I could and really send that hook home but our water is too clear even for a braid/floro leader.