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jgarrison5251

Resembles a fluke

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I am looking for a fly that imatates a dying fish like the Zoom Flukes or Sluggo. Would really like to hear more about these and maybe even attempt to tie one in the future.

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Search in the pattern database, but something like a Bonker Zonker or other fly that incorporates a zonker strip tail and a little weight. Also, I've been inpressed with a fly that is a bit of a hybrid of ideas. It has some pink schlappen or hen wrapped up the middle, and then white or cream marabou palmered up the shank over it. I have it tied on a large gap, heavy stinger style hook, so no weight added.

 

Those are my suggestions. Hope that helps.

 

Deeky

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You can dart and shag a Gummy Minnow with practive....that may be an option....may be the closest imitation visually, but the action is no where near the action of the above mentioned zonker style flies

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How 'bout a good old regular bucktail or streamer? These always have been the best dying, living, injured, healthy, excited, depressed, obese, anorexic, schizophrenic baitfish imitations.

 

Seriously though, I've got to wonder, and I've probably been guilty of it myself, why are we worrying about tying flies that imitate other lures? Seems to me soft plastic "flukes" are poor imitations of a Lefty's Deceiver.

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You've got a good point!

well to answer your question would be that I am coming from the other side. Meaning I have been an experienced bass fisherman my entire life using soft plastics on a casting set up. I have really enjoyed the challenge of fly fishing, even to the point where I dont even want to pick up my baitcaster.

 

Example: I was fishing the ELK river down in southern Missouri and was catching goood numbers of smaller smallmouth bass on a wooly bugger. However, whenever I threw the Fluke made by zoom on my spincast I was nailing 15+ fish.

 

 

So the reason why I ask the question was for the fact I am an newbie to fly fishing but would really like to find something the resembles something that I know.

 

HOpe that makes sense. Thanks for your help.

 

 

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I use a Deceiver as was mentioned before for this very thing, as a sub for a Zoom Super Fluke. It works pretty good, not as good as the plastic :sick: but well enough to keep my attention.

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I hope my 2 cents help.... try this pattern... I imitate it as an injured little bait fish....

 

I put in a cylinder foam to a small deceiver... it is a slow sinking pattern... under the current... do a small short jerk... it should work...

 

InjurtBilis1.jpg

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I think one of the best fluke immitations is a rather obscure pattern called a mirrolure fly. It's used more frequenly for saltwater and it took the current snook fly record out of Chokoloskee Island, FL. Most "zonker" flies will give you the action you are looking for. For the full effect I think you want to fish with a sinking or intermediate line to get things down without too much of a "hinge".

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I have a pattern in the database called a plastik... Easy to tie, catches tons of fish...not to many people commented on it because it was a straight forward fish catcher (Not Showie)....But it does the job, is easy and quick to tie and casts like a wet sock with a rock in the end :D

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You've got a good point!

well to answer your question would be that I am coming from the other side. Meaning I have been an experienced bass fisherman my entire life using soft plastics on a casting set up. I have really enjoyed the challenge of fly fishing, even to the point where I dont even want to pick up my baitcaster.

 

Example: I was fishing the ELK river down in southern Missouri and was catching goood numbers of smaller smallmouth bass on a wooly bugger. However, whenever I threw the Fluke made by zoom on my spincast I was nailing 15+ fish.

 

 

So the reason why I ask the question was for the fact I am an newbie to fly fishing but would really like to find something the resembles something that I know.

 

HOpe that makes sense. Thanks for your help.

 

 

 

I wasn't ragging on you. The comparison between soft plastics and flies isn't really linear. You're experienced and comfortable fishing soft plastics on spinning or casting gear, and PROBABLY better able to manipulate the lure- and be more in tune with what it's doing out there than you are with a fly. It's no great secret that sometimes fish will grab a soft plastic and hold on to it for quite a while because it has a lifelike texture that most flies don't. That could contribute to your catch rates too. Don't even get into the subject of scents and tastes on plastics vs flies- a lot of folks will get all wound around the axle on that one.

 

If you found the fish's pattern that they want a 5 or 6 inch "fluke" (I hate that term, it makes me think of liver parasites) I'd bet that you could have done just as well on a 5 inch long Lefty's Deceiver tied with about the same profile as your plastic lure.

 

Then again, you could always rig up a light wire hook and lob a plastic thing on your fly rod too.

 

You can't get any better of a minnow imitation than a Lefty's Deceiver or a Clouser's deep minnow. These "stick baits" or whatever the broom-stick-and-truck-winch crowd calls them, for their version of "Finesse" fishing, are copies of bucktails and streamers. I swear, if I hear one more idiot on TV in a $50,000 bass boat with a 200HP outboard talk about FINESSE fishing, I'll have to choke somebody! That's what fly fishermen have been doing for hundreds of years.

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No, no, I think you may mistook my statement....I agree totally with the comment comparing the fluke and a deciever. And it is very true that larger fish seem to be more easily conjolled with larger terminal tackle, but big "grocery" flies yield the same results, but often with less frequency.

As you stated, I think the physical characteristics ( feel, smell, and sometimes, the action) of plastics have a lot to do with their effectiveness.

 

I often find myself trying to imitate hard lures ( Heddon's Chugger, for example) with a fly/popper when it would be much easier to just get the casting/spinning rod and toss the Chugger! I guess when one is a "crossover fisherman" as you and I both appear to be, one finds himself looking for the same results with the fly as we have so often experienced with terminal gear....I find a certain challenge in it...I find myself agreeing with you more often than not, as scary as that may seem ;) Not sure how I could infer you were "raggin" on me when I was agreeing with your statements....Just those few statements in your initial post made a good point....the Deceiver is a great baitfish imitation that, when properly fished, can hold it's own against most hard lures and some plastics

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I think one of the best fluke immitations is a rather obscure pattern called a mirrolure fly. It's used more frequenly for saltwater and it took the current snook fly record out of Chokoloskee Island, FL. Most "zonker" flies will give you the action you are looking for. For the full effect I think you want to fish with a sinking or intermediate line to get things down without too much of a "hinge".

I'd like to see that mirrolure fly and I think I'll try your suggestion of an intermediate line to eliminate the hinge. I think that has been holding me back in those situations when I try to make a Deceiver act like a fluke or similar lure.

 

Regarding big vs small flys, if you go big you have to be willing to accept that you won't get near as many bites as you would with a smaller fly (most days anyway) but the fish that you get to bite have a good chance at being bigger/better ones.

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jgarrison5251, you're on the right track. For whatever reason, too many folks want to use small flies when switching from other tackle to fly tackle. If you're used to catching bass on 4, 5 or 6 inch lures, why use a 1 1/2" long fly? Sure, you're catching some fish, but bigger flies will usually result in bigger fish. Not as many however, and that I think is the result of the differences in the tackle & the weight of the flies. It's more difficult to get a nearly weightless fly in the same places as a much heavier lure, and you have much less drag on the thinner line used with spinning or baitcasting tackle, so you have more control of the lure than you do the fly. Floating fly lines often complicate the matter when dealing with currents & subsurface flies. Once you get more experience with the fly rod, you can do almost as well as you did with the lures. You'll just need to learn to adjust your casting to allow the flies to get to where the fish are.

 

I agree with these guys about the Deceivers & rabbit strip flies. There are other flies that will also work, particularly some of the various saltwater type flies.

One of my favorite bass flies is a Seaducer, and it works very well as a "fluke". I use them tied on 2/0 or 3/0 size straight shank worm hooks, and some on my flies are up to 8 inches long, even when fishing for Smallmouths.

 

Having various types of line is most certainly an advantage, but knowing where to use them is more important IMO. In most situations, and in waters less than 10 ft deep & in moderate or light currents, a floating line will work just fine. But, you will have to use weighted flies to get them down. In any depth over 10 ft, or in heavier currents, sink tip, or full sinking will often work much better as has been said. As with bait casters or spinning gear, all do not fill all needs. It's not a bad idea to have intermediate & faster sinking lines, depending on the waters you fish if you can afford to do so.

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Not sure how I could infer you were "raggin" on me when I was agreeing with your statements....Just those few statements in your initial post made a good point....the Deceiver is a great baitfish imitation that, when properly fished, can hold it's own against most hard lures and some plastics

 

I was replying to garrison!! :rolleyes: He (or she?) seemed a bit defensive. No worries.

 

Like tidewater, I've caught lots of bass on big woolly buggers with 4 or 6 LONG saddle hackles in the tail. More or less a SeaDucer. I totally agree, because I've seen it down here in the south again and again when the rubber worm guys I fish with sometimes tell me I "can't catch any bass on those little bitty flies!" Meanwhile they're trying to fish in 18 inches of water with a ten inch plastic worm pegged to a 3/4 ounce sinker. Every bass in the cove scatters when it hits the water, but my fly settles without so much as a ripple and the fish take it.

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