few questions for the pros

[Smalliebigs]

 

Those look like Giant Dog X baits Scott. Aren't they 1/2oz, 4" or so baits? 

I may try a couple larger baits this year. 

Yes they are giant dog-×'s...I believe  near four inches...they are good but so are the KVD strike king dawg baits they are very east to walk. I have a few quick walkers and they look great just smaller than I thought but they can almost  walk backwards. ...it's a good bait to pester fish with, you can keep it in there face.

[Al Agnew]

For what it's worth...I make my own buzzbaits because I want ones that are more compact than most that you buy...I want just enough space between the blade and the hook point to allow the fish to get hooked (and I always use a free-swinging trailer hook). I also almost always use a curly tail grub trailer. I use three colors, and choose a color based upon the conditions:

cloudy day, murky water--black

cloudy day, clear water, or sunny day, murky water--white

sunny day, clear water--fluorescent yellow

I'll use 1/4th ounce and 3/8th ounce buzzbaits--actually, it's more a case of prop size. My bigger ones have props about 1.5 inches wide, the smaller ones have props about 1 inch wide. I also use a double prop bait, counter-rotating props in line, forward prop is short from front to back, back prop is more the typical prop shape.

Superflukes--4/0 ewg worm hook, VERY carefully insert the point in the exact center of the front of the fluke, come out the front edge of the belly slit, measure carefully where the bend of the hook should go back into the body (close to the rear of the belly slit) so that the back will have a very slight upward bend, insert through the body and make very sure it comes out on in the center of the little ridge on the back, then skin hook it in that ridge. I want the hook to be perfectly centered, the back of the fluke to have that very slight upward bend.. That way it should seldom if ever pop up to the surface when twitched, but will continually zig zag side to side. Helps to put a drop of superglue on the nose to keep the hook from wearing a bigger hole. I fish them aggressively unless the fish tell me otherwise.

Walk the dog lures--first thing that should help you in working them from a canoe or kayak is to find yourself a short rod. Mine is a 5 foot casting rod on a cut-down Loomis blank. It is simply easier to make them walk from a canoe if you have a short rod.. 5.5 feet will work. 6 feet is getting too long. Then learn to leave a bit of slack in the line with each twitch.  Takes a bit of practice to do so. Best way to do it is to NOT take up any line at all on the first twitch after it hits the water.  Keep your rod tip as close to the water as possible (one reason short rods work better--you can keep the rod pointed downwards at more of an angle than with a longer rod).

Probably doesn't matter all that much what brand of WTD lure you use. I've had plenty of success with Sammys, Spooks, Sexy Dawgs, Dog-Xs, and homemade ones.  You need one that has a body about 3-3.5 inches for small creeks (Sammy 85 or Dog-X size), 4-4.5 inches for all around float stream use (Sammy 100 or Super Spook Jr. size), and 5-5.5 inches for bigger or murkier water (full size Spook or Sammy 115). But don't hesitate to try the biggest ones even in clear water, if you think there are bigger fish to be had, and don't bother to throw anything smaller than the smallest I noted above!

[Gavin]

Just an amateur, but mostly a topwater fisher in the summer. Like the Accent b-2 buzz in half once with or without a curly tail trailer(similar colors as mentioned). Have a on of walking plugs. LC Gunfish 95 is probably my favorite, but they all work well at times. Carry a few in the 3-5" range and let the fish tell you. Flukes, glimmer blue, pink, or white. Nose hook with a circle hook, or a 4/0 EWG gamakatsu. Work it or dead drift it. The b-2 or fluke work great in heavy cover. 

[ollie]

I love fishing the fluke.  For me I think it is one of the more versatile baits to throw.  Fish it deep or shallow and twitch it with a retrieve.  I have caught so many different species on it so I guess that is why I like it.  Catfish on Grand love them in late summer.  Pitch one next to a lay down or stump and hang on!  You just never know what you will catch on a fluke.

[LarrySTL]

I have one additional suggestion on WTD.   If you are brand new to that technique some folks find it easier to learn if they go to a pond ( no current) and just throw it out into open water, take the slack out of the line, point your rod slightly down and somewhat to the side.  Then.....the wierd part...do not reel.    Just do the twitch and see if the lure turns 45 degrees or more to the side. Dont reel.  Twitch again..does it turn back to the original side ?  Dont reel.    We're just trying to get the feel of the twitch and the lure pivoting.  See if you can get three or four twitches before there is so much slack that you have to reel up some slack line.  At that point, just reel the slack out, dont twitch.  When you have all the slack out, start over with the "just twitch" part.  When you are pretty good at twitching, then try to twitch and reel a tiny amount, no more than 1/2 a turn of the reel handle ( and that might be too much).  Some folks find learning WTD one action at a time easier than working on all the parts of the puzzle at the same time.   I strongly suggest that you not use braid to WTD or if you just have to use braid, add at least a few feet of mono ( yeah plain old mono) as a leader.  If you imagine the hooks of a WTD lure stuck in a ball of braid, you'll understand why.

The fluke:    you might also try a 6 " Sluggo.  Just like the fluke it can WTD on top, or do a gentle underwater twitch, or let it settle even deeper and just do a tiny small but crisp twitch ( try to make it shudder but not move forward) as slow as you would a jerkbait in a lake in the late winter.  You can also add part of a nail weight or use a weighted EWG hook, on either a fluke or a sluggo.    I generally do a "texposed" hook position on either one..

 

[ColdWaterFshr]

Well, since the topic that raised my left brow was "a few questions for the pros" . . . and even though I get bombarded with these kinda questions all the time from the media, pro-bass-circuit 3rd place-hanger-onners and wanna-be club tourney "prophets-of-the-pond", and of course countless supermodels in hotel bars with less than honorable intentions . . . I have to admit the way you phrased it . . . . drew 'ol Paul Dallas in not much different than the bat signal draws in Batman.

Try a 1/4 oz purple rooster tail suspended 16 inches under the biggest red and white bobber you can find.  Fish it on dreary wind-blown banks in March and April over pea-gravel substrate and if the pH of the water is in the range of 6.8 to 7.2 . .. water temp between 48 and 52 . . . 

Kiss that bucket-mouth on the lips Jimmy Houston style and tell em

Paul Dallas says hello

 

[snagged in outlet 3]

Sheesh!   And I thought JoeD was full of it.

[Al Agnew]

I'd like to change my advice on fishing Superflukes. Today I took a break and went out to the pond by the house, after grabbing a rod that was rigged with a Superfluke.  the first three bass I caught were all hooked in or near an eye. I got to thinking, and realized that a LOT of the largemouth, and some smallmouth, that I've hooked over the years on flukes were hooked in that same area. Was it the size of the hook? I decided to do some experimenting with smaller hooks. I chose a 2X EWG worm hook rather than the 4X I'd been using for a long time, and started playing around with rigging it. I found that, if I ran the point through the hose starting a little "higher", as in closer to the back, of the end of the nose, and otherwise carefully ran it back through the body slit as before, so that there was still that little bow in the back (even though the bow only went back an inch or so from the nose), the thing worked about the same and didn't pop up to the surface (much). the largemouth in the pond liked it, and none were hooked in bad places.

[stlfishin]

Al,

Sorry Al, but the hooking explanation was about as clear as the Meramec is now, Ever heard the expression, "A picture is worth a thousand words"  (LOL). How about a photo because I too have experienced this phenomena and this may well be the answer.

Thanks!

[Mitch f]

 

I'd like to change my advice on fishing Superflukes. Today I took a break and went out to the pond by the house, after grabbing a rod that was rigged with a Superfluke.  the first three bass I caught were all hooked in or near an eye. I got to thinking, and realized that a LOT of the largemouth, and some smallmouth, that I've hooked over the years on flukes were hooked in that same area. Was it the size of the hook? I decided to do some experimenting with smaller hooks. I chose a 2X EWG worm hook rather than the 4X I'd been using for a long time, and started playing around with rigging it. I found that, if I ran the point through the hose starting a little "higher", as in closer to the back, of the end of the nose, and otherwise carefully ran it back through the body slit as before, so that there was still that little bow in the back (even though the bow only went back an inch or so from the nose), the thing worked about the same and didn't pop up to the surface (much). the largemouth in the pond liked it, and none were hooked in bad places.

I can follow most of what you're saying about this new rigging method but would like to see a picture if possible. Sounds pretty intriguing to me. One of the reasons I've always liked a 4/0 was the additional weight of the hook, but understand about the potential of hurting the fish.