Social media is good for some things, but it does have its downfalls—like scrolling aimlessly until I wind up in such a deep rabbit hole of videos that I forget why I even opened the app. However, one of those rabbit holes led me to Roger Aye’s Instagram profile, @cookingandfishing, where post after post demonstrated his prowess with a style of fluke fishing I had never seen before. Instead of the standard bucktails and Gulp, or squid and spearing, Roger does a majority of his shore-based fluke fishing with jerkbaits designed for freshwater bass fishing.

Fluke were the first fish Aye remembers catching in his home waters of northern New Jersey. During the 1980s, his father would take him to a pier in Brooklyn with nothing more than a bamboo rod combo, sinkers, and hooks. They tipped the hooks with dead spearing and caught tons of fluke. By 8 years old, Aye went out by himself to drag live killies from a canoe with a hand-powered motor in Jersey’s back bays and rivers, which always earned him sideways glances from concerned boaters and parents. Using a Quantum micro fishing rod, size 6 hooks, and a sliding egg sinker, he regularly caught his limits; however, he could never get to the keepers without working through a bunch of shorts.  

Technique did not become a major focus of Aye’s fluke fishing until he began freshwater bass fishing years ago. He was surprised (and slightly overwhelmed) with the wide range of lures used to catch smallmouth and largemouth bass, but he grew to love bass fishing with hard baits like jerkbaits and lipless crankbaits. While using freshwater bass lures, Aye realized he could take an entirely new approach to finding keeper fluke in back-bay spots he once deemed difficult or unproductive to fish from shore. 

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“For a long time, people have been catching fluke one or two ways: with Gulp and jigs, or with bait,” said Aye. “But because of bass fishing, which is very tournament-driven, the whole evolution of techniques and baits is much broader than the spectrum of inshore saltwater lures, which helped lead to my development of this jerkbait technique for fluke.”

Why Jerkbaits?

It’s not unusual for striped bass fishermen to incidentally catch fluke in bays or the surf with swimming plugs like Daiwa SP Minnows, and the fluke that eat them are typically over keeper size. For most people, a 5-pound fluke from shore is a big deal, and with his freshwater jerkbait and crankbait arsenal from years of bass fishing, Aye has landed several fluke over 8 pounds. His answer to “Why jerkbaits?” is simple. They are an appetizing size, stay in the strike zone, and have a natural swimming action. 

Aye finds that jerkbaits and crankbaits in the 4- to 5-inch range effectively weed out short fluke, like those pesky 15-inchers that nip at the tails of your Gulp all day. Plus, they don’t foul up as easily as a jig gliding over the bottom.

When selecting jerkbaits to use for fluke, Aye prefers those with a side-to-side “slashing” motion—like the movement of a topwater spook—because that lateral motion is the most realistic imitation of a panicked baitfish. Jerkbaits that generate a wobbling or rolling action are less likely to attract interest from big fluke because they don’t dart side to side violently enough to trigger a reaction strike. Additionally, the lure must be able to dive at least five feet and rise slowly on the pause. 

“From shore, your jerkbait or crankbait is being worked against the slope as opposed to away from it, so a floating lure allows you to work it up and over a channel edge or sandbar, which are two areas where fluke lie in wait to ambush prey,” Aye advises. A floating jerkbait also ensures that he can get his lure deep enough in the water column to entice a fish, and the subtle slow-rising action, which mimics that of a mortally wounded baitfish, helps trigger a strike if the frantic and darting swim pattern fails to do the job. 

Lipless Crankbaits for Fluke

While Aye prefers jerkbaits most of the time because they closely resemble the profile and action of small baitfish like spearing, he opts for lipless crankbaits when peanut bunker are present. 

“The lipless crank, for me, is almost 100% a peanut bunker bait. When you see clouds of them, that’s the one to use.” The lipless crankbait profile is a close match to a peanut bunker, and the vibration and fall of a lift-and-drop retrieve triggers reaction strikes from the fluke. Aye uses a heavier lipless crank than a jerkbait and lets it fall on controlled slack because fluke will eat it on the drop. 

It’s worth noting that Aye’s landing rate is lower with a lipless crankbait due to the additional water resistance it generates combined with the head shakes of a big fluke.

Finding Fluke 

When searching for a new backwater fluke spot, Aye says warm, clear, moving water and baitfish presence are of utmost importance; however, finding accessible back-bay fluke-fishing spots with good structure has proven challenging in northern New Jersey, while the beaches in South Jersey are rather flat, which tends to make fluke fishing in the surf unproductive. For these reasons, he focuses most of his fluke fishing in the back bays of western Long Island and specific areas of central and northern New Jersey.

Some common areas to plug for big fluke in the backwaters are boating channels near ocean inlets, sandy flats adjacent to a channel or drop-off, and deep holes that form along the edges of winding salt marshes.

Roger Aye’s Fluke-Approved Jerkbaits

Lucky Craft Pointer 78 DD

The smaller profile and ability to dive to eight feet makes this jerkbait the go-to for anglers looking for lots of bites without sacrificing their shot at a keeper.  

Jackall Rerange 110 SP

When fluke are especially aggressive, the slashing action of this jerkbait triggers violent strikes.  

Duo Realis Jerkbait 120SP

In shallow water, this long-casting jerkbait stays above the weeds. Aye replaces the three treble hooks with three inline single hooks.

Zipbaits ZBL Shad Kaira 80SP

The deepest-diving jerkbait in Aye’s fluke arsenal casts well and works well when subtle, finesse presentations are needed to get bites.

Jackall 110 MR

This medium-diving jerkbait shines with a super-aggressive retrieve meant to trigger reaction strikes from fluke.

The Strike Zone

One of the main components of fluke fishing that Aye discussed was the fact that fluke move inshore only to feed and are not very discerning. They eat recklessly and aggressively but, as he noted, it’s unlikely that an 8- to 10-pound fluke is feeding on every tide. Like big largemouth bass, doormat fluke are far more conservative than their placemat-sized relatives. Even so, fluke are always looking up, so when you place a bait within a reasonable striking distance, they tend to go after it, even if they’re stuffed to the gills. 

Many of Aye’s backwater spots are as deep as 12 feet, but he does not view the bottom as the strike zone the way a jig fisherman would. Instead, the strike zone is from 5 to 7 feet down, just above the fish, because along channel edges and submerged sandy points, a 5- or 6-pound fluke is far more likely to come off the bottom for a big, slow-moving meal than a small fish. “The warmer the water,” says Aye, “the higher those keeper fluke will come up to strike your lure.”

Rod angle also plays an important role in keeping the lure in the strike zone and producing the desired action. Keeping the rod tip at a low angle allows a jerkbait to dive as deep as possible while minimizing scope. However, in situations when the lure is swimming up and over a channel edge, raising the rod tip slightly will alter the diving depth to keep the lure off bottom, swimming properly, and free of any potential snags for the duration of the retrieve. This is a crucial moment, as large fluke often follow a lure until it swims up and over an edge, using the shallow depth as an advantage to trap and ambush its perceived prey. In the backwaters, those strikes frequently come as the lure is floating toward the surface a few feet from shore, as evidenced by the videos on Aye’s YouTube channel.

If you can control the lure’s running depth, swimming action, and float rate, you’ll be well on your way to finding keeper fluke in the backwaters. 

Techniques & Retrieves

With jerkbaits, Aye insists on keeping his presentation tantalizingly slow. He moves the bait only 6 to 8 inches at a time, using long pauses between delicate taps of the rod tip that make the jerkbait “walk” or “slash” side to side. 

“Think of it like working a spook,” he said. “You want a little bit of slack line between twitches to let the bait dart laterally rather than have it dart forward.” The idea is to keep minimal line tension, hit the bait quickly for contact by twitching the rod tip, pick up a bit of line, and maintain slack again. By starting and ending each twitch of the rod with slack line, you are keeping the bait in one place longer while giving it action and a natural presentation. 

Retrieving a jerkbait forces anglers to be hyper-focused on the sensitivity and movement of their line to achieve and maintain the desired action from the lure. “If a fluke sees your bait gliding and then slowly floating on the pause during a long, well-patterned retrieve, it is more likely to look at it as an attainable meal,” said Aye. “It’s a reaction strike. Sometimes, I twitch into a bite but fluke usually hit it on the pause.”

“I like to play around with the retrieve, too,” Aye continued. “Fluke provide a lot of feedback, which will help you dial in your most productive cadences and retrieves.” Aye’s process begins with a cast, then he reels down eight to ten handle turns to attain the lure’s desired running depth. Once it’s down, he begins the retrieve: twitch, twitch, pause, twitch, variable pause, twitch, twitch. The length of the second pause, he says, varies depending on the float rate of the lure. If it floats quickly, the pause is shorter; the slower it floats, the longer the pause. 

“All this time, I am indexing the bait’s depth and visualizing where it is in the water column relative to the strike zone,” Aye said. “But, more importantly, remember what you’re doing when you do get a bite,” he said. “Stay on top of how long your pauses are, what sort of cadences are getting a reaction, and use the fastest cadence that still gets a bite to cover water quickly and effectively.” 

Building a Fluking Combo

“An 8- to 10-pound fluke falls perfectly within the parameters of bass-fishing tackle,” says Aye.

When picking a fluke fishing rod, keep in mind that rod action is key. You’re looking for a firm rod with a fast-action tip so you can drive the hook home, but the blank should still be soft enough to absorb those notorious fluke head shakes. While Aye personally prefers baitcasting tackle for this application, he notes that baitcasting reels are more likely to get damaged by sand intrusion when fishing on the beach. Freshwater spinning gear will do just fine.

Roger Aye’s Baitcasting Combo

Roger Aye’s Spinning Setup

Tackle Tweaks

Not all freshwater jerkbaits (or lipless crankbaits) are saltwater-ready fresh out of the box. Aye finds that most freshwater jerkbaits float a little bit too quickly in warm salt water, so to achieve the optimal float rate, they should be modified with heavier, saltwater-grade hooks. However, bigger, thicker-wire hooks are not necessarily better and may throw off the lure’s balance, so he often uses stick-on lead strips to hinder buoyancy. 

On jerkbaits with three treble hooks, he replaces them with size 1 Owner inline single hooks. “To achieve optional hook penetration, use the thinnest hook gauge that will hold up to the biggest fish you can possibly catch,” said Aye. He also uses Owner size 1 or 2 Decoy split rings for durability and reassurance that his hooks will find purchase and stay there without the split ring bending open. Aye even takes all the split rings off the nose of his jerkbaits and instead uses a size 1 BKK Fast Snap for increased durability and convenient lure swapping.

Hook size and split-ring weight are all relative to the types of jerkbaits he uses. What works for Aye in his spots with his favorite lures might not work for you, so there is room for experimentation and customization of your jerkbaits as long as you achieve the desired action and presentation while effectively reaching the strike zone. 

One portion of Aye’s tackle that does not waver is his choice of braided line and leader, which also helps him attain the desired action and swimming depth from his lures. Aye prefers throwing jerkbaits for fluke with 25- or 30-pound-test YGK Upgrade x8 braided line with an 8- to 10-foot length of 12-pound-test Sunline Super FC Sniper fluorocarbon for leader, which he’ll bump up to 14-pound-test when he’s fishing around rocks. By meticulously tweaking his jerkbaits with more resilient hardware and boosting the breaking strength of his mainline and leader, Aye can confidently throw his jerkbaits without worrying about losing them to the toothy maw of a full-grown summer flounder. 

Jerkbait fishing may be an unorthodox method for dedicated bucktail jig-and-Gulp fishermen, and it may require a little more effort to find spots conducive to the technique, but that’s a small ask when there’s potential for a new shore-caught personal-best on the line. 

As it turns out, I learned something when I fell down a social-media rabbit hole after all: Roger Aye’s uber-technical, unconventional approach to backwater fluke fishing. The proof is in the pudding, or, in this case, it’s on YouTube. 

Find Roger Aye on Instagram and YouTube @cookingandfishing, or visit his website, cookingandfishing.com, for virtual fishing lessons and more. 

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