On the private pond I fish primarily Wednesdays and Sundays before/after church I've noticed something. The last about 4 times or so I've been there, I can't catch hardly anything except with flukes. I always try something I am not confident with, and sure, I expect not to get hits on that, but things that normally work there, and that I am confident with such crankbaits have been either very minimally effective or not at all. Then I switch to a fluke, and bam, the bite turns on.

 

About a month ago I really focused on learning flukes (zoom super flukes) and I got good with them, and my confidence went sky high. It's my favorite lure and technique to use. During that time I used a few colors, but primarily junebug. I tried some other colors (including white and chartreuse), with none doing as well. Since then, my supply of junebug has started to wane so I switched to watermelon red and it's worked great also.

 

Now that my confidence has hit a high mark, I have been wanting to taper off my use of flukes here and focus on something else.

 

I've gotten 0 bass using roostertails on several trips, including this evening when I fished quite a bit with one. Earlier today I fished 15 minutes with one with nothing, then when switching to a fluke, I caught 9 in short order.

 

Now... I am not against catching, but I want to:

A, not wear them out with 1 lure, particularly with flukes because they are my favorite now.

B, build confidence in other things.

 

Things I've tried with little or no interest are roostertails in 2 colors, a couple different types of crankbaits, spinnerbaits (sparingly), curly tail grubs on jigheads, minor amounts of topwater, Berkley Nessie Glide bait. Now, I have had some success with crankbaits, but not as good as the fluke bite in my opinion, of course this is subjective because the bite is different on different days/times of day.

 

So, is it just fluke season on that pond? What other lures/techniques should be a compliment if flukes are doing so well? Could it be the color more than the lure?

jerkbaits, swimbaits and walking top-water

Luckily for you, it’s sounds like your bass are functioning perfectly, by being flaky and unpredictable. Just when you think you’ve figured em out, they have their nightly meeting and all agree to shun your previous offering. Just the joys of bass fishing. It’s a lifetime of learning. 

Who knows. Bass are unpredictable if ya ask me. You can make a round about guess but it’s hard to pin them down. For me I think fluke style baits work well because of how slow you fish them. Even when a. Fish is off it’s slow enough they can think about it. The long dead pause. Ehhhh ok fine theyll bite.  
 

I will say this. On rooster tails I only ever got bit on a nice bright sunny day. Unlike other spinner baits were we are looking for some chop, wind, maybe dirtier water. I needed a nice bright sunny day and burn that thing. That’s what worked for me. And always white. That said I’ve got a few colors I don’t use and neither do my kids I’ll send ya to play with if ya want. 

it sounds to me a transition to a Jerkbait would give you a very similar profile to still catch and a new lure/technique to learn. I'd also maybe throw a walking bait and see how they react to that.

 

If you go the jerkbait route I'd pick one up that is roughly the same size as the fluke you've been using. At least for me I've noticed matching lure and forage size can make or break a bite. 

I appreciate all the suggestions. I got into some videos last night and thought about the walking baits. I have a zara spook I want to work with. I normally use a Spit'n Image.

 

I had not thought about a hard jerkbait in the sense of matching the fluke, even though it's obvious now... thanks. And jerkbaits are something I want to learn.

 

I've been trying roostertails because I want to thoroughly learn those. I got a gut feeling about them for some reason.

1 hour ago, Bazoo said:

 

 

I've been trying roostertails because I want to thoroughly learn those. I got a gut feeling about them for some reason.

Roostertails are my ultimate confidence bait. It's the one lure I can grab when I feel all hope is lost and I need to put a fish in the boat.

It kind of is fluke season right now in a lot of the places I fish -- both pre-spawn and post-spawn bass seem to readily hit a fluke shallow, even when they aren't willing chase something like a crankbait or spinnerbait.

 

Post-spawn seems an especially good time for slow lures up in the top and middle of the water column.  Stationary topwaters like a popper, or twitching a floating minnow will often also produce well at this time.

44 minutes ago, MIbassyaker said:

It kind of is fluke season right now in a lot of the places I fish -- both pre-spawn and post-spawn bass seem to readily hit a fluke shallow, even when they aren't willing chase something like a crankbait or spinnerbait.

 

Post-spawn seems an especially good time for slow lures up in the top and middle of the water column.  Stationary topwaters like a popper, or twitching a floating minnow will often also produce well at this time.

Thanks. That's good info.

Something about a weightless fluke they can’t resist. I fish em all year