A few weeks ago, my buddy Kevin Underwood, told me to come on up to Lanier to go fishing. That’s a suggestion that never falls on deaf ears with me. So the day after the hurricane cleared the Carolinas, I was there. We left out mid-morning and fished through till late afternoon. And man, oh man!!! What a day! 

Now, fishing a fluke is a seemingly easy thing to do, but honestly, I haven’t been that successful with one until now. I mean I’ve caught a fish or two on them and even a huge tarpon once off the coast of Georgia. But as far as being really successful — not so much. 

That all changed with the help of Kevin. 

First, let me say this: Trust a man who has enough confidence to show up wearing tie-dye sweatpants, to which I accused him of stealing from his wife, because he’s supremely confident in what he is doing — or crazy. In any case, I trust Kevin to be on big bass and to be able to teach me how to catch them. 

We started out our morning with a lesson on how to rig flukes correctly. It’s extremely important to get these baits rigged straight or they won’t perform correctly. Kevin also has a little secret sauce tip that you will just have to book a trip with him to learn. I tossed mine all day on a 7’0” Falcon Bucoo MH fast action rod and a Lew’s tournament series reel with 14-pound SunLine FC Sniper on it, which is probably my favorite all around combo. 

When we started running the pattern Kevin was on, he immediately started just whipping up on me. I mean, he was up 7 to 1 at one point. Then I got the hang of the bite and the bait and we leveled out. We were fishing for spots, but we also caught stripers, largemouths (a couple of good ones, too, above 4). We did it all day! Running brush piles and marinas walls. We caught way more than 30 fish that day and had a best five of 20 pounds. Now, I will be the first to admit that I love this type of fishing. This is a close second to the Sebille bite up at Lanier for entertainment. 

Here’s the takeaway for our waters though: 

1.     The zoom super fluke is a great bait if they are on shad and chasing bait. You can scale it up or down in size and the color combinations are endless from Zoom, but then you get to add in there people making great versions like Kevin. 

2.     This bite will last on lakes like ours and Lanier through this month and, depending on weather, into November. 

3.     This is a nearly bulletproof bait. Just get it out there. It darts and twists and turns on its own. 

4.     Gear needed is minimal. You can run this on either a medium-medium heavy spinning rod or a good baitcaster. I really recommend fluorocarbon but Kevin, if I am not mistaken, runs a braid to leader set up on his rod. 

Now rush out and make these disappear off the shelves and watch the bass pile up in your boat. The possibilities are endless. Even into the winter a fluke on a swimbait head, underspin, or weighted hook is an awesome bait!

—Outdoors columnist James Pressley can be reached at pressleyoutdoors@gmail.com