shallow cover on heavily pressured shallow banks , especially around the spawn . I ’ ve watched guys in tournaments fish circles around other guys in popular areas with tubes . These days , the flipping tube still has a place in pro angler ’ s arsenals , but they ’ re not near as prevalent as they were when they reigned supreme in the 90 s .
FLUKES AND SENKOS
Following in the weightless footsteps of the Slug-Go and floating worms of the 80s came the Flukes and Senkos of the 90s . Specifically , the Zoom Salty Super Fluke and the Gary Yamamoto Senko were massive musthave sensations when they hit the market and are still absolute staples in bass fishing to this day .
If memory serves me correctly , the Super Fluke was actually the first to catch fire in the mid 90s , and shortly after , the Senko blew up right at the turn of the millennium . As a side note , there were two other forces that really helped propel Flukes and Senkos to the top of the must-have charts during this time . One was the increased availability of fluorocarbon line and the other was the co-angler boom .
killer bait in the shad spawn , an awesome summer schooling bait , a fall shad-migration bait , and a dead-stick winter bait .
With time and use , tournament anglers across the country proved its versatility was limitless and it has earned a permanent spot in the rod locker for many anglers . Today , there are dozens of iterations of this revolutionary lure that have names that begin with “ jerk ,” “ twitch ,” “ hyper ” or “ caffeine ” and end in “ shad ,” “ slug ” or “ dart .”
Due to its faster sink rate and low visibility in the water , fluorocarbon improved the performance of weightless plastics tremendously compared to monofilament or braid . Fluorocarbon was mostly used for leader material early on because of its high price . But once production increased and price came down , anglers could spool up entire reels with the magic of fluorocarbon . Incidentally , the co-angler movement exploded about that same time , thanks to FLW ’ s tremendous growth in the early 2000s . With that , a weightless plastic tied to fluorocarbon was a deadly combination to use in the back of a pro ’ s boat . This only fueled the Fluke and Senko to sensational levels . The 5-1 / 4-inch Super Fluke originated as a soft plastic , shad-shaped twitch bait that was usually fished weedless on a standard offset hook , giving it a darting flair and subsequent natural quiver as it glided helplessly in the water column between jerks . The Super Fluke has proven its merit in all seasons , starting with all phases of the spawn . It ’ s also a
Yamamoto ’ s ingenious Senko was one of those lures that made anglers bang their heads against the console because it looked so lackluster , yet caught so many fish . It looks lifeless out of the water , yet so alive in the water . The Senko ’ s magic is its seductive shimmy as it falls – pros often refer to it as “ the quiver ” because of the subtle wiggle which big bass can ’ t resist .
The best way to fish a Senko is literally to do … nothing . Cast it out weightless , and let it waggle its way to the bottom . This is why it was such a crush bait for co-anglers – just cast it out and hang on .
In addition to their traditional weightless rigging with an offset hook , there are numerous ways to rig both Flukes and Senkos . You can literally use five or six different hook types to rig these , depending on what kind of action you want from them . They ’ re both baits that you can trick out to your own specs by adding a sneaky weight here and there .
In my tournament reporting over the years , anglers have told me , “ Oh , I ’ m just throwing a Fluke ,” or , “ I ’ m just throwing a Senko .” Through binoculars it looked like “ just a Fluke .” In pictures it looked like , “ just a Senko .” But upon physical inspection , I have come to discover all kinds of nail weights , tiny screw-in weights , lead tape wrapped around hooks and other types of paraphernalia hidden in the “ just a Fluke or Senko .” In addition , the amazing array of colors these plastics come in is mind-boggling . You can literally get them in any color you can imagine – yes , even in pink .
Next time around , we ’ ll take a look at how the West captured the East in bass fishing with their barrage of finesse techniques at the turn of the millennium .
JUNE-JULY 2023 | MAJORLEAGUEFISHING . COM 49