Zoom's Fluke Stick Jr.

 For the past year, we have occasionally published gear guides about some of the soft-plastic finesse baits that we have failed to write during the past five years. And Zoom Bait Company's Fluke Stick Jr. is one of those baits that we for some unknown reason we overlooked until a veteran Midwest finesse angler alerted us about this failure.

Zoom introduced it to the angling world in August of 2014. It is a miniaturization of its 6 1/2-inch Fluke Stick, which they began manufacturing in to 2013.

According to Judi Henry of Chesterfield, Virginia, and proprietor of Virginia Guide Bait Company, the Fluke Stick in many ways replaces Zoom's Z Nail, which was stick-style bait that Zoom no longer manufacturers.

It is five inches long and possesses the manifold virtues of a traditional stickbait and the forked-tail of Zoom's often heralded Super Fluke and Super Fluke Jr. The folks at Zoom say that the forked tail helps it to glide and swoop while its torso shimmies and undulates delicately.

Its torso is encircled with delicate rips except in the segment that replicates an earthworm's clitellum or egg sack, which possesses a smooth surface.

It is impregnated with a lot of salt, which will allow an angler to employ it without a weight and execute an erratic, darting, and twitching presentation.  The folks at Zoom recommend that finesse anglers affix it to a split-shot rig, a darter-head jig, or a shaky-head jig.

Of course, Midwest anglers will affix it to a small mushroom-style jig, such as Gopher Tackle's Mushroom Head, or Z-Man's Fishing Products' Finesse ShroomZ, or Prescription Plastic's Ozark Finesse Head. When it is affixed to a mushroom-style jig, it is an easy rig to skip under docks and overhanging trees.

Many Midwest anglers are inveterate customizers. Therefore, they will also trim an inch or more off of the front portion of its torso, reducing its length to 3 3/4 to four inches. And at times, they will trim it down to three inches.

When it is rigged on a mushroom-style jig, Midwest finesse anglers will present it to largemouth bass, smallmouth bass, and spotted bass by employ all six of the standard Midwest finesse retrieves, as well as a variety of modifications to those retrieves.

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It is manufactured in the following colors: Blueberry, Blue Pearl Silver, Green Pumpkin, Green Pumpkin Magic, Green Pumpkin Purple Green, Junebug, Natural Shad, Watermelon Magic, Watermelon Red, Watermelon Red Magic, and Watermelon Seed.

At Virginia Guide Bait Company, anglers can purchase a package of 10 for $4.30.

Endnotes

(1)  Virginia Guide Bait Company possesses an inventory of all of the baits and all of the colors of the baits that Zoom Bait Company manufactures.  Anglers can acquire them by calling Judie Henry of Chesterfield, Virginia, at 804-590-2991 or email her at info@virginiaguidebaitco.com. Her inventory also contains baits that are no longer manufactured by Zoom.

This is the link to her website:  http://virginiaguidebaitco.com/. The mailing address is 6000 Round Rock Rd., Chesterfield, VA 23838.