The Magnum Super Fluke

Years ago when Zoom Bait Company introduced the Zoom Super Fluke to the fishing world, the soft-plastic lure company gave bass anglers a timeless bass catcher that is a staple in every serious angler’s soft-plastic arsenal.

With the recent introduction of the Mag Super Fluke, Zoom has morphed the traditional 5-inch Super Fluke into a larger, bulkier 7-inch version designed to bring bigger fish aboard.

“When the big swimbait craze came about several years ago, it really opened our eyes to just how big of a plastic minnow-type bait a bass will eat,” noted Zoom pro-staffer Peter Thliveros of Jacksonville, Fla. “Since then, I’ve begged Zoom to make a bigger Fluke. Now they have and I’m tickled to death. I’ve tested the Mag Super Fluke on big fish lakes like Lake Amistad and Falcon in Texas and it confirmed my theory: big fish like big Flukes.”

If you are looking to sample a Mag Super Fluke, be prepared to beef up your tackle accordingly.

Unlike its smaller 5-inch cousin, which matched up well on medium spinning and casting gear with 10- to 14-pound test lines, the bigger Fluke commands heavier tackle.

Expect to use monofilament and fluorocarbon lines in the 15- to 20-pound range, or even braided lines in the 20- to 50-pound test range. Also, rod sizes and actions need to be fortified up to 7-footers with at least a medium-heavy rating.

So why so much firepower for the Mag Super Fluke? Because this large lure requires super-sized hooks.

“A 5/0 hook just isn’t going to get it done with a Mag Super Fluke,” Thliveros offered. “You have to get into the 6/0 to 12/0 field of play for the size of bass that want such a big lure.”

Currently, Thliveros uses a giant 12/0 tube hook designed by Western pro Ish Monroe when fishing the big Fluke.

In terms of working the soft-plastic big rig, Thliveros prefers three methods: weightless, belly-weighting or his namesake ‘Petey Rig.’

“A traditional Super Fluke is often fished weightless just under the surface or sometimes skittered frantically on the surface,” the seven-time BASS winner explained. “I’ll still fish the big Fluke weightless like that, especially on herring lakes like Hartwell or Clarks Hill where big bass are feeding on big bluebacks near the surface.

But I also like to fish the big Fluke down in the water column,” he countered. “So I’ll belly-weight the big Fluke with a bit of weight on the hook shank, much like swimbaits are weighted these days. Or, I’ll make a Petey Rig out of it by pegging a 1/8- or 3/16-ounce weight to the line about 8 inches above the Fluke. Then work it slow and easy down through grass or timber like you would a Texas rig, letting it glide through the cover.”

As for colors, Thliveros sticks with the white, smokin’ shad and pearl-colored Mag Flukes for weightless surface action, and the watermelon colors when fishing the fluke down around cover with the Petey Rig.

“When you step up to a Mag Super Fluke, you are hunting a different caliber of bass,” he added. “It’s great for fisheries that are known for quality bass like Okeechobee, Guntersville, Lake Fork or Kentucky Lake.”