The Great Debate: The Husky vs. The Flatfish

by Graham Martland, Great Bear Lake Guide

Each summer the controversy continues: T-60 Flatfish vs. Husky Sr. spoons. Both lures produce ridiculous numbers of large fish every year. One is rolled slowly, digging into the sand in early July, and bumping its way along reefs and diving off drop-offs in late August. The other is dragged at Mach speed when the trout are still in warm, shallow waters, and trolled with weight as the fish descend to cooler regions.

The guides are split. Many take pride in dragging single, barbless hooks on the Huskies, while others praise the effective wobble action of the T-60 and its two sets of treble hooks. While some guides suggest to their guests that they troll spoons all week for the best chances of landing a big one, others say the exact same thing of the Flatfish.

I don’t think this battle will ever come to an end, and I’m sure it’s good to be throwing out a variety of hardware to keep the lunkers interested. Let’s not forget the magical powers of the small, light Half-Wave when it comes to enticing a hog to bite. And we’ve all seen what a white jig can do when we’re sight-casting or going after a follower.

So which lure should you choose? I think the lure that will perform best is the one being used by an alert, hook-setting angler who checks his line for nicks and always licks his line before tightening a knot. As I have seen too many times, laziness in any quantity can be the difference between landing a beauty and telling another story of ‘the one that got away.’