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 Texoma

Fishing Report from TPWD (Mar. 20)

GOOD. Water normal stain; 57 degrees; 1.35 feet below pool. Striped bass fishing is good using live shad on main lake ledges and flats in 30-40 feet of water. The bite has improved drastically around 10:30-11:00 A.M. each day, so stick it out if you are not seeing active fish early. Backs of coves and around the mouths of the rivers are good with swimbaits in 8-15 feet of water where the water is dirty and warmer. Catfish are slow, anchor in shallow water near the rivers where the inflow is using whole gizzard shad or cut buffalo for big fish. Smaller fish showing up on the flats in 20-30 feet of water. Crappie are fair in the creeks in 1-5 feet of water using jigs and minnows on brush sticking up or lay downs from the bank. Mo glo and black/chartreuse on a slip cork in shallow creeks. Largemouth and smallmouth bass are fair on swimbaits along the bluffs and on sandy points with stumps in 5-8 feet of water. Topwater bite will be on soon! Report by Jacob Orr, Guaranteed Guide Service Lake Texoma. Striped bass continue to be caught with Alabama rigs or sassy shad targeting structure. Somedays fish are in 5 feet and some in 40 feet of water. The water clarity is clear near the dam and muddy where rivers enter the lake. Report by John Blasingame, Adventure Texoma Outdoors.

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