I saw these online and they look pretty sweet. I think I’ll have to grab a pack to try out. I like that bait keeper, that will hopefully save a lot of headache. Not sure when they’ll be available on TW. 

Should be soon. I actually saw them on. What’s new this week on TW I believe?

Doesn’t look like a very large gap. I wonder if they would work ok with strike king caffeine shads or Yamamoto D shads. I usually use owner twist lock hooks, but I like the idea of a swivel being built in.

 

I never bother using a swivel when fishing fluke style baits. Do most people use swivels?

Anyone else feel like the weight of the swivel is going to weigh down the nose and mess up the action?

Seth Feider said on a VMC video that he likes this because it allows him to keep them under the surface even at fast speeds but that is a commercial so idk. Might have to rig the hook back a bit more to keep it from nose diving. 
They are on TW. Almost $3.70 per hook. Crazy. 

1 hour ago, 10,000 lakes Bassin said:

Seth Feider said on a VMC video that he likes this because it allows him to keep them under the surface even at fast speeds but that is a commercial so idk. Might have to rig the hook back a bit more to keep it from nose diving. 
They are on TW. Almost $3.70 per hook. Crazy. 

 

Redline pricing is ridiculous. The little hook keeper thing they come with is dope though.

Looks a bit gimmicky to me. I fish a fluke 99% of the time and I'll keep rigging my flukes the same way I always have. If I ever see some on clearance or a good sale I might try them but I'm not calling this a game changer for now.

2 hours ago, 10,000 lakes Bassin said:

Seth Feider said on a VMC video that he likes this because it allows him to keep them under the surface even at fast speeds but that is a commercial so idk. 

I'm sure he's great with most baits, but when I think of Feider, a fluke is not the bait that comes to mind. 

I've been using regular worm hooks for flukes ( not EWG) for a while (25 years) with a lot of success.  The regular hooks give more of a rolling action to the bait and the smallmouth seem to really like that.  No problems with the hookups.  I usually put a piece of a nail weight across the front of the fluke to keep it down when I bring it back pretty fast.  The swivel might do that to.  Something to try.

22 minutes ago, JHoss said:

I'm sure he's great with most baits, but when I think of Feider, a fluke is not the bait that comes to mind. 

Yep. If it was a jig I’d think differently but I’m not sure if he’s ever weighed an elite series fish on a fluke. 

2 hours ago, 10,000 lakes Bassin said:

Yep. If it was a jig I’d think differently but I’m not sure if he’s ever weighed an elite series fish on a fluke. 

The new jig company he and some other big names are starting seem more in his wheelhouse. I'm excited to see what they come out with. 

1 hour ago, JHoss said:

The new jig company he and some other big names are starting seem more in his wheelhouse. I'm excited to see what they come out with. 

Black Sheep jigs right? 

7 hours ago, IYAOYAS said:

Looks a bit gimmicky to me. I fish a fluke 99% of the time and I'll keep rigging my flukes the same way I always have. If I ever see some on clearance or a good sale I might try them but I'm not calling this a game changer for now.

Do you use a swivel when fishing a fluke? Do any of you? I’m really curious.

I never use a swivel. 4/0 or 5/0 swimbait hook with a twist lock. I use the kreh loop knot for extra action. Florida largies slam flukes!

12 hours ago, woolleyfooley said:

Do you use a swivel when fishing a fluke? Do any of you? I’m really curious.

Yes I always use a swivel when fishing my fluke weightless. And by gimmicky I mean "Hey let's attach the swivel to the hook and charge almost 4 dollars per hook and call it something new!

16 hours ago, 10,000 lakes Bassin said:

Black Sheep jigs right? 

Black Sheep Custom Tackle if I'm not mistaken.

 

13 hours ago, woolleyfooley said:

Do you use a swivel when fishing a fluke? Do any of you? I’m really curious.

Never.

18 hours ago, woolleyfooley said:

Do you use a swivel when fishing a fluke? Do any of you? I’m really curious.

To be honest I rarely fish a fluke. If I do its with no swivel. 

If I am throwing a fluke, I like the swivel 12-18" in front. I feel a gold or silver swivel not only helps avoid line twist but also attracts more strikes. I used to be anti swivel and always tie braid to leader but am now convinced in my own mind that a swivel gets more strikes.

 

 

 

 

Any idea on the hook size for these for a 5.25 fluke? Figure maybe run the 5/0?

I gave these hooks a shot a week or so ago. I sometimes do wish I had just a tiny bit of weight to keep it under the surface when trying to go faster....

They might be great hooks for those in more open water. But fishing these in pretty thick grass/vegetation, they just got all jacked up and had to be cleaned every single cast having that swivel on there, plus half the retrieve was wasted because it was all gunked up so bad. So I can see they might work for some, but here at Fork when the grass is full up, it was a no go for me. Back to regular EWG hooks for me and just deal with the occasional popping out of the water when I fish it too fast.

I so miss the Dangleberry Rig with the sliding weight. It made Flukes dance.

On 7/17/2025 at 7:22 PM, little giant said:

I never use a swivel. 4/0 or 5/0 swimbait hook with a twist lock. I use the kreh loop knot for extra action. Florida largies slam flukes!

Same here. Never use a swivel. Why? My flukes don't spin around twisting the line up. Not an issue.

And I agree with little giants last line about Florida largies slamming flukes. I agree so much that I have given up using other common vintage lures and just go with various flukes and don't need an entire tackle store. Our bass are not that picky when actively feeding. They hit just about anything that moves they think they can eat. And flukes get 'em.

I prefer to use the VMC DropDead weighted hooks and unweighted hooks.

One thing I do to these hooks before using them is put them on the work bench and pull out the epoxy and close that gap on the spring where it snaps into the hook eye. Just one little drop of epoxy right there prevents a ton of trouble on the water trying to untangle line from the spring.

I even found a foreign source for copy hooks that work just a good and I bought some in bulk really cheap. I think I bought like 50 hooks for $13. Just not a name brand, but work as well for me.

And Big SwimBait, that dangleberry sliding weight would be a quick and easy addition to these hooks. Its real easy to make our own.

On 7/17/2025 at 9:30 AM, JHoss said:

Anyone else feel like the weight of the swivel is going to weigh down the nose and mess up the action?

I have to disagree with this comment. I don't believe there is any such idea as messing up the action. All actions can catch fish. There is no wrong action and no right action. Only action.

And the nose being weighted down is not a carved in stone consistent situation because of physics.

As this lure sinks deeper into the water, if at first the nose is heavier it might tip nose down near the surface.

But as it sinks down deeper the line going back to the surface provides drag resistance to the sinking lure pulling on the nose and so as it sinks deeper the lure will change it dropping position based on the amount of drag friction the line above is providing.

I use straight braid and never use any sort of clear lines any longer. No leaders either. Both spinning and baitcast reels are all straight braid these days. And that braided line offers even more friction resistance or drag for the sinking lure. It will pull up on the nose nullifying this idea of improper action of weighing the nose down too much. That swivel is just not that heavy in my opinion.

Professional bass fishermen have made too much of a big deal out of lures having to run true that flowed over into hobby fishing leading to some ideas that just aren't so- in my opinion of course from my own experiences and observations over 50 years of fishing.

Today I could care less about lures running true or behaving as some engineer programmed it to behave. Just does not matter at all. If it moves, and hungry bass thinks he can eat it he will. Sideways. Upside down. Backwards. Running off to the side. Makes no difference.

Lures do not have to run true. No such thing in my world. Does not exist.

Another reason for this belief is because the way I operate my lures in the water in no way matches what the real deal living prey does. It might be similar, but never matching the real world. Everything I do with a fake lure is a fake movement trying to mimic a living prey.

Out of curiosity, what exactly does a rubber worm mimic that is living on the bottom of lakes that even come close to resembling a rubber worm? And so which movement is true and which movement is not true?

I believe sometimes us fishermen put too much emphasis on things that are really irrelevant in the grand scheme of things. And I believe this is one of them.

Not trying to nitpick JHoss at all or even aim this comment towards him in any way, I only wish to address his comment and the idea of true running lures only catch fish.

A true story about this subject. I went fishing with both of my sons on Lake Virginia in central Florida. One son and I were aggressively going after fish. Casting everywhere trying to get a bite. Not having much luck throwing the kitchen sink at them.

My other son decided to take a break. So he leaves his weedless fluke in the water on accident. Just a lure hanging off a rod over the boat railing and into the water just moving around with the boat.

Guess who caught a fish?

All he had to do was pick up the rod and had the only bass of the day hanging off of it. He caught more fish than us and he wasn't even fishing! Explain that one!

True movement? What's that? No such thing. IMHO.