I much prefer to catch smallmouth on single hook lures. It is easier to keep the hook tight and land the fish and you have no chance of hooking yourself.
The fluke I was using was actually a pink floating fluke from Strike King 3X ElazTech . I had a weighted hook to get the bait down in the zone. On the bottom, the tail would wiggle in current like a shakey worm. The bait doesn't sink well like a Superfluke, it's designed to float- BUT, the major breakthrough here is the ultra soft (squishy) plastic, that just refuses to tear! Eureka! The major factor to the detriment of most fluke baits is they often rip on a single or a few fish. Try as you might, the bait just won't run right after a piece of the head is torn. It often has to be rigged perfectly to get that 'glide' the bass love. Well the geniuses at Strike King have found a plastic that is hard to tear. I caught 15-20 fish on one. The fluke would slide over my snap and up the braid without tearing again and again. I thought something was wrong when I had difficulty getting the hook throught the head of the bait. The plastic is just that elastic.
Another nice thing about the Strike King Floating Fluke, if you crank it fast, the bait swims like a swimbait. Smallies have been loving a stop and go retreive lately. Flee it fast, drop it to get bit, repeat. Looks like a sinking version will have to get ordered for a test.
Here's the biggest fish of the day, that fell to pink fluke (18.5"):
30 SMB (18.5", 2-15") 7 assorted creek fish, rock bass, green sunfish, shiner in 4.5 hours
Careful with that 3x plastic. If you leave it with some regular soft plastics they have a chemical reaction and turn into a pile of goo. Other than that, they sound great.
ReplyDeleteThe one hook is a lot safer. Had a good crankbait going again on Saturday. Lot of smaller fish but still fun. Almost caught a treble a couple times... :(
ReplyDeleteI've often wondered how a crank would function and hook up ability if the trebles were replaced with singles...?
Thanks J, I'll keep that in mind. So far, I am pumped. The downside to fluking has always been the 'riggyness' of the bait. During an excellent day, a pack of 10 may not even be enough baits. You collect 9/10ths of the bait in perfect condition and the wrecked nub at the front ruins the action. The 3X doesn't even slide down the EWG hook like a normal fluke does requiring constant readjustments.
ReplyDeleteLooking forward to playing around with the 3x Zulu much more, with some heavier weights for deeper than 2'.
Looks like Strike King may have discontinued the sinking version.
ReplyDeleteThe bait was orginally designed to stay intact with toothy salt water fishes.
My kind of design dynamic. Build a better mousetrap.
I usually can't stand Strike King as overmerchandized garbage. 'Coffee' tubes anyone?
Kev, the biggest reason I don't like trebles; when you hook a large fish, it is a crap shoot on where that pressure gets placed during the fight. On a one hook bait, you can feel right where the fish is hooked-placing the pressure on one point. Really hard for Mr.Bass to escape as long as pressure is applied.
ReplyDeleteThe same pressure applied on a Spook/Sammy hooked fish may tear out one of the sets of hooks rather than burying it deeper.
As most of the bass I've been catching lately have been on wakecranks or shallow diving jointed minnows, trebles are damned effective at being very productive. It is a love-hate for sure.
Forgot to add I caught some fish on a popper, too.
ReplyDeleteThe sinking ones are marketed as "ZToo"s; Tacklewarehouse has them and Strike King still has them in their catalog. The floaters are Zulus, I believe and the 3X senko knockoffs are Zeros.
ReplyDelete