Woo Daves
Burrowsville, Va. |
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The average fisherman doesn't have any idea of how many bass are caught on soft-plastic jerkbaits by pro anglers. These lures are widely used on the tournament trail, but they're not written about much.
The Fluke will catch fish from the late pre-spawn, through the spawn and even on into the summer. I fish it anyplace there's brush in the water or around bluff banks, working it with a stop-and-go twitching action. When fish are not biting a topwater like the Zara Spook, I go with the Fluke, which not only gives me a quieter presentation, but also can be worked in a lot weedier areas. I don't know why, but there are days when fish will bite a Fluke when they won't hit a worm or even a lizard.
You hear a lot about the Fluke from the tournament anglers using it, but nobody tells you to always
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keep it in sight or to change the hook to vary the presentation. I use a wide-gap Mustad hook. When you use a 1/0 or a 2/0 hook in a light-wire series, you can fish the bait real slow, because it doesn't sink as fast. But if you need fast-moving lure -- when the fish are busting on the surface, for instance -- then you'd go up to a 5/0 heavy-wire hook. Of course, you can add a nail in the head of the lure to give it weight. But I see a lot of people fishing it on a 4/0 or 5/0 hook, which means they've got to work it fast, so they miss most of their bites. I get a lot more bites by working the lure slow.
A heavier hook will also allow you to fish deeper. You'd want to fish the Fluke deeper when fish are not moving as much -- such as when a cold front comes through. I usually fish this lure with a 6-foot, 6-inch XPS medium-action spinning rod from Bass Pro Shops and 10- to 12-pound-test Stren line.
I use a Super Zoom Fluke most of the time. They make a smaller version, but I like the 5 1/2-inch lure. It's minnow shaped, with a tail and a cavity to put your hook in. My favorite color is albino. It has a white belly with a little blue tint to it, similar to a shad. Sometimes I’ll use white-pearl. Down in Florida, I've had a lot of success with watermelon seed and green-pumpkin colors.
Tracker Marine pro Woo Daves, of Burrowsville, Va., is a long-time competitor on the bass tournament trail and is the reigning BASS Master's Classic champion.
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