Fish Sniffer On Demand Digital Edition Issue 3613 June 9-23 2017 | Page 18
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June 9 - 23, 2017
VOL.36 • ISS. 13
The Flatfish Isn’t Exactly The
“Spring Chicken” Of Fishing Lures, But The Old
School Favorite Continues To Round Up Trout!
T
he first working proto-
type of the Flatfish
crankbait was completed
by Charles Helin, a Detroit
autoworker, on September
12, 1933. Flatfish caught
fish then and they still catch
fish now, yet few anglers
use them these days for
anything beyond river salmon.
Here’s a news flash, as effective as
those massive T-55s are at eliciting strikes
from river run kings, smaller versions of
the same lure are super effective for trout
and mackinaw, when a slow moving errati-
cally wobbling bait is needed.
Why are Flatfish such effective trout
catchers? Clearly speed and action are the
keys to the lure’s effectiveness. The lure
provides lots of wiggle, putting off a ton of
vibration and flash, yet do to its design it
creates this disturbance at very low speeds.
This means that the Flatfish offers a bunch
of action and vibration, while staying in
the strike zone for an extended period of
time.
A glance at the Yakima Bait catalogue
reveals that Flatfish come in 2 million col-
ors and 1 million different sizes… Okay
I’m exaggerating, but there are a bunch of
choices to sort through.
For trout stick to baits in the F-2 to
F-7 size range. I use F-4s and F-7s almost
by Cal Kellogg
exclusively although I’ll
upsize if magnum size trout
or macks are in the mix.
As a general rule, you
want to match the size of the
Flatfish to the size of the bait you
believe the fish are feeding on.
For trout, the all time hands down
favorite color of Flatfish is Yellow
Dot Frog. If you are a trout angler and
you don’t have a Frog pattern Flatfish, it
concerns me!
When the conditions are dark I like to
run Flatfish in Frog and black w/chartreuse
dots. When the conditions are bright, I like
to go with flashy baitfish colors, with the
California Watermelon finish being a real
favorite of mine.
Bright orange, yellow or chartreuse
hued Flatfish come out when the water
is stained and at times when I’m probing
deep water for trout or kings, I’ll often put
a chrome/blue Flatfish on my line.
I don’t run Flatfish with blades or
attractors, but I’ll often wrap or tip them
to make them even more attractive. For
tipping I use either a small anchovy fillet
or a tiny piece of worm. For wrapping I
employ nylon thread and a small anchovy
or shad fillet. I apply it to the plug just as I
would for river salmon, everything is just
done on a smaller scale-www.yakimabait.
com
Hoochies:
Deadly For Trout, Kings & Kokanee!
H
ave you ever noticed that t