Bazoo

I'm all in on fluke fishing and I have run into a few packs that have the flukes all bunched up on the tails. With bent tails, they don't move like they're supposed to. I have heard of dipping the tails in hot water, and I have watched this video where Matt uses a heat gun - I haven't tried to fix the couple packs I have that need it yet. Any tips or suggestions from the folks here?

I probably average 1.5 hours. Sometimes it's only 30-45 minutes, but often times 2 hours. Rarely will go over 3.

This would make a great bumper sticker.

Looks like some excellent work you're doing there! Thanks for keeping the reports coming.

Interesting discussion, thanks all. Thanks for the video @Glenn

I use primarily mono.

I'm still catching fat bass around here... so I figure it's still in the process. Bluegill are spawning... prime fishing area for a large bass swimming through for a snack.

I normally carry 2 knives, a pocket knife and a belt knife. For about 5 years, I carried this Case Jumbo Stockman for my pocket knife. A friend recently gave me this blue version, and I've been training it. The belt knife is normally this Case Folding Hunter But sometimes is this Buck 192 Vanguard, my favorite. I also carry a Leatherman PST original daily.

Caught 15 today, including a bream. Didn't get a picture of most of them, but the largest, and first was 1lb13oz. All of mine were on a fluke, except for the bluegill, which was on a roostertail. I also tried a trap and a swim jig. They didn't want any of that for some reason.

I have a bad habit of letting my thumb off the spool during the beginning of my cast. I get the best results when I have 100% contact with the spool through the cast.

I wear my normal clothes all the time. T shirt, jeans, boots. I wear either flannel shirt or a hoodie (camo or hunter orange) when it's cold. I generally don't wear branded stuff, though I occasionally wear a KROIL hat instead of my cowboy hat. I don't wear a hat in summer normally. Need to get me a straw cowboy hat.

Glad you're okay. Good luck finding the keys!

I appreciate the conversation and suggestions. I've fished a variety of stuff there, including carolina rigs. A 3/4 oz carolina rig resists the current well enough. But of course they hang up like dagnabit. A 1/4 oz jighead does okay. I get a lot of hits on crankbaits, and as long as it's a fast floating model, a lot of times I can run it through there without snagging it. I have done well with the cheap bomber Fat free Guppy. Others I've met fish grubs there, but I've never seen anyone else fish a crankbait, and I've never snagged one there. I met a chinese guy there a couple years ago that showed me a picture of probably a 4lb smallie he pulled out of there. His response when I asked what he did with it was "Delicious!"

I will have to try a spinnerbait again next time. Today I tried a rooster tail, and it did okay. I didn't catch anything on it before I lost it.

I was showing the boy some refinement on his fluke technique. Hooked him on the first cast while I was instructing. Then I let the boy reel him in. I fowl hooked this thing, but what the heck. The boy's fluke technique is improving. This one had really pretty gold rings around his eyes.

I've tried spinnerbaits and they don't seem to do well in the current. It's flowing pretty good there. I do fish texas rigs of various kinds there, with some, but little success.

Thanks @Dan N, I do exactly that. I get snagged a lot and recover, but I also lose a lot.

I don't have a huge amount of experience, but most of the places I fish have carp, and it doesn't affect the bass fishing from what I can tell.

I've tried a variety of reels, and my favorite is a Bass Pro Shops Pro Qualifier 2. It has dual breaks and that helps. I set the internal with 2 on, and the external I set as needed for wind conditions, usually in the middle of it's range. I started back fishing 3 years ago after about 15 years break. I had to learn to baitcast all over again, not that I was great at it previously. The things that really helped me to come up to speed was, practicing every day in the yard. Just use a spinnerbait or jig and practice. In doing that, I started practicing with a cheap fiberglass Zebco rod and I noticed, man I was accurate. After some research it made sense. Fiberglass rods load up good and cast great, though they give up something in sensitivity, and a shorter rod is more accurate, though it gives up casting distance. That Zebco rod isn't the best quality but I found a cheapo rod that mimics it, the Proficiency Retro 6'0" rod. Accurate as all get out for short work. No, it's not the best quality. Mine has been holding up for 3-4 months now and I fish it 4-5 times a week. My favorite rod, of the few I've owned and tried is an Abu Black Max 6'6" m/m. It's the right balance of everything for me. The point is, don't just assume something is better because it costs more. Better specs on paper means absolutely nothing when compared to castability and handling characteristics. So, your description sounds like your rod is way to heavy actioned, or heavy tipped. Training your thumb is important. I can cast without brakes in the yard. I can cast a reel with external only brakes, or one with internal only brakes. I cast the best with the Bass Pro reel mentioned above that has both. Now for me, backlashes aren't the birdsnests they used to be, rather a few loops overrun that are easily removed. Getting quicker at picking out backlashes is the second most important skill as to learning not to have them in the first place. As per braid, I think mono is easier to remove a backlash from. I don't think one is easier than the other to cast. I would drop to 10 pound Big Game mono, that'll up your casting distance quite a bit and allow a lighter lure to be cast.

Howdy and wecome. I suggest starting very small with lure selection. In fact, 5-10 lures can cover every situation. It's fun trying new lures. One tip, bass become conditioned to the same lure repeatedly. So, if you constantly throw a senko in the same spot every trip, and you fish it often, you'll likely come to a point where they don't work, but something else will work. Such as switching to a ribbon tail worm (for texas rigged not wacky rigged). Worms, and all their variants are great, but there is a lure that is similar that is completely different that you should get and master. That's the Fluke. Zoom super fluke is the standard. Flukes imitate a fish, just like a crankbait and a spinnerbait. But where flukes shine is, they are completely weedless because you texas rig them. And they have an action like nothing else. That brings me to the next thing of note, knots. You need to know 2 knots, a standard knot to attach lures and hooks, and a loop knot for some things including flukes. Using a loop knot to attach the hook for a fluke increases its action substantially. You can fish flukes with the hook tied the regular way, so don't let it stop you if you haven't mastered a loop knot, just know you should add one to your repertior. I primarily use the Trilene knot, and the Kreh Loop knot. I know others, but those are the most useful of the half dozen I can remember. So, if I was going to list a few lures that I'd give someone starting out, it would be: •plastic worms. Senko, berkley power worm or culprit ribbontail. Green pumpking or watermelon red. •zoom lizards, much like the worm, and fished the same both weighted and weightless. whatever color you like or if you know the lizard colors in your area match that. •flukes, zoom super fluke. green pumpkin, junebug, baby bass, white. •Jigheads and grubs. 1/4 oz jighead with a zoom fat albert grub. This same jig head can be used for a paddle tail grub or other types of grubs. Use a loop knot for this, throw it out, reel it in slow with a stop and go retrieve. Grubs is very similar to a plastic worm, and will be easy for you to expand to and master. It's very downsized though, and sometimes you want that smaller profile. I go 1/8oz jigheads for 2" grubs, and I don't go smaller than that. 1/4oz for the 3" fat albert. •Beetle spin. This is a grub with an added spinner. They are very inexpensive, and they work, just like a grub. You can use it without the spinner. You can buy the spinner separate and turn a regular grub into a beetle spin. You can take the beetle spin softy body off and replace it with a normal grub or half a worm. •Crankbaits. There are a lot of varieties but they all work, some better than others. The 4 types of crankbaits I'd recommend is: The original Rapala minnow is a type of crankbait known as a jerkbait, basically a long slender crankbait. It has an excellent action but doesn't dive like a shad rap, and if you fish shallow is a must have lure. Made of wood, so it doesn't rattle. Similar to the above, with the same construction is the Rapala shad rap. It's a great lure that ain't in the limelight right now... sleeper lures. Expensive, but they have a subtle action that catch fish when other crankbaits will not. Made of wood. There is also a shallow shad rap, which is similar, but is made of plastic and rattles. They work very well too. I have all 3 in my box most of the time. Squarebill crankbaits, KVD 1.5, H20X from academy squarebills are good lures, as is their 1/4oz mini squarebill, or any other similar squarebill. Bomber Fat free guppy or fat free fingerling. Guppy is shallower, fingerling is deeper diving. Guppy is my most used for shore/shallow of the two. It's a classic crankbait and looks expensive but its only about $4.00 and is an excellent lure. For crankbait colors, get about 3 colors. A dullish shad looking color, a red/orange color, one with a bright color like chartreuse. Some days they want one color over the other, but that'll basically cover you. I'd go shad color if I only had 1 color. •Topwater, I'd recommend a popper. Any variety will do. A rebel Pop-r, an h20x popper, whichever one suits your fancy. Now... if you end up in love with topwater lures, which I am not, you'll want to expand to a few others, such as a whopper plopper, a zara spook puppy, and a jitterbug. Okay I said it, I don't live for the topwater bite. Many do. I fish it, but I prefer flukes and crankbaits to all others. There isn't a wrong way to fish, as long as you're catching fish, so enjoy it, build a style all your own, and experiment. Something I heard or read somewhere; Bass like change; Any change; A change in water current, a change in light (shade to sun), a change in angle (around a corner), a bush, a stump, an underwater ledge, a lone twig on an otherwise bare bottom. Any change at all will attract bass. Throw into a bush/tree/whatever, worry about how you're going to get the bass out after you get him hooked. My 5 year old threw over a branch and ended up hooking a bass. He and my wife called for my assistance... I ended up flipping a bass over a tree limb about 10 feet up.

Went to Freeman Lake, met a guy there that was fishing with a crawdad he caught. He had a glide bait and he caught a 3lb and 1.5lb while I was there. He said he was just checking it out. Pretty interesting to see a 3lb largemouth get caught at the same spot everyone else fishes. I got this little guy on a roostertail.

I do.

Interesting discussion. How’d the spot turn out?

Interesting conversation. I've been learning the Rapala Minnow and it's interesting to read about others experiences with it. One of my interests in it is to fish it where there is a lot of pressure. When most others throw rattling baits, a silent model with a more subtle action has a lot of appeal.