After many years of relentlessly chasing the summer flounder, I have come to accept my status as a certifiable “flounder pounder”. Fluke are one of the few species I catch that I keep for the table which is one small reason for my interest. Additionally, they are a summertime species that can readily be caught during the daytime in bright sunny conditions.

Gulp Saltwater bait rigged and ready to catch fish.

But, the desire to find a fluke lure that would catch fish just as well as live or dead bait continued to elude me. That is, until a new soft plastic lure variation hit the market, Berkley GULP! and Berkley GULP! Alive. The GULP! product line is an assortment of soft plastic body variations developed to be biodegradable and to disperse more scent that any other scented baits on the market. The 4” Swimmin’ Mullet immediately attracted me. This seemed like a perfect trailer for a Spro bucktail jig. This is where I decided to begin my experiment.

A rack of Fluke caught on Gulp Saltwater baits.

The dead stick rod continued to catch fish and throughout the rest of the tide the fluke just hammered the snap jig as it would fall back to the bottom while using an aggressive jigging motion. These techniques continued to work day after day while the fish were feeding in shallow waters.