Tyler Stewart’s favorite artificial lure for November may have anglers scrambling to add one or more to their arsenal, particularly those who fish Caney Lake and other lakes around Louisiana.
Stewart, 26, favors the 6th Sense Crush Magnum Flutterspoon when the water cools and bass suspend in the timber, — usually 15 to 17 feet deep in November and 25 to 30 feet in December and January. The 6-inch, 2-ounce metal chrome model he fishes triggers bites when bass ignore other traditional artificial lures.
It’s his go-to November bait that consistently catches bigger bass in Caney Lake, where he does some guiding. It is highly effective in other bodies of water, too.
“Our strong point is fishing deeper as opposed to someone in south Louisiana,” Stewart said. “Any time there’s a tournament where there’s fishing offshore, I’ve got that on my deck. It’s just a good reaction bait.”
Stewart, a Ruston resident who was an elite college bass angler before graduating from Louisiana-Monroe, realizes some anglers might be intimidated by throwing a slender hunk of metal with a treble hook on the tail end. Some may balk big time when it comes to casting it around wood the way he does. Sure, he admitted, there are going to be hang-ups, and you’re going to lose some spoons.
“When you fish it in timber and get the fish fired up, they’ll eat it before it gets hung up,” he said. “Sometimes, I’ll throw it all day depending what position the bass are in. If they’re suspended — all day.”
After he casts the spoon, he’ll let it fall once and then tries to keep it off the bottom. He’ll jig it up twice and let it fall on slack line, then repeat.
“I’ll do that 10 or 12 times in one cast,” said Stewart who fishes the spoon on 20-pound test Seaguar Invesik fluorocarbon spooled on a Shimano Curado reel (7.4:1 ratio) on a 7-foot-6 Favorite Hex rod.
“Usually, they’ll knock slack in it on the fall. Your line will jump,” he said. ”Usually, when you hook them, they’ll come straight up and try to throw (it). You do lose a bunch of (bass) because it’s got that one treble hook.”
Stewart said that Hunter Freeman, another ULM bass anglers from West Monroe, is another angler who relies on the Flutterspoon.
