Just wondering if anyone has experience with fishing a flatfish lure on smallmouth. The Little River in Townsend, Tennessee where I fish is pretty shallow with a rocky bottom. Sinking lures like jigs seem to hang up on the rocks pretty fast. I usually use a small floating Rapala and it is excellent in that it stays afloat yet can dive when I want it to. It rarely hangs up on the rocks. I was thinking that maybe a floating flatfish would work also, though I have not tried one yet.

Joe

Flatfish have a lot of side to side wobble. We use them here in / Michigan for Salmon. The smaller ones could be good. Casting them can be a pain at times as they plane and twist causing the hooks to grab the line. Get a couple and give then a try I would be curious how you do.

The small ones have to be reeled painfully slow to keep from rolling in my experience. 

Great bait for trolling but you can’t troll little river in Townsend! I fish up there a lot, hope to run into you one day . 

Welcome to the forum!

 

They're almost always trolling bait, in my experience.  

 

Yes, shallow water with current can make jig fishing tricky, but it's well worth learning.  A Flatfish is in no way a jig substitute.  

The Flat Fish is basically a trolled lure, the casting version was called a Lazy Ike, both will catch smallmouth or any other game fish at times.

You may want to look into using a soft plastic Fluke rigged weedless and present it like a jerk bait, that is what is was designed for and a good choice for moving water.

Tom

You are in luck.  Just introduced and for Bass and can be made to suspend.  I have -0- affiliation with them and -0- experience with them but saw an interesting video on Facebook.  

 

http://www.yakimabait.com/products/mag-lip-finesse-2-5/

Welcome aboard, @joerobert!

 

Thanks for all the replies. I guess the best thing is to just try some and see how they work (or don't work) for me. Will post my results.

Joe

7 hours ago, joerobert said:

Thanks for all the replies. I guess the best thing is to just try some and see how they work (or don't work) for me. Will post my results.

Joe

The treble hooks on the smaller size Flat Fish lures maybe too small for bass, if you manage to cast the lure without fouling the line.

Tom

I caught one of my biggest bass on a Lazy Ike, about 1979 on the flats of a medium size SE Wisconsin lake.  They worked really well for the rest of that summer

 

...I don't think I've caught another fish of any type on one since...