I was wondering what is the best way to fish a Senko? I have used it a couple of times. I simply rig it wacky style or weightless Texas style, cast out and let it sink to the bottom. I have heard this bait is hot here out west, but the bass don't seem to be interested in it. Am I doing something wrong? Please help. Tight lines.

ok heres how i fish them.if you have a lot of hydrila in the lake ou fh in i would recomend useing a round bend hook and texan ris it. if there is not alot of hydrila use a ewg hook. all you do to work it is make a long cast, let it sink to the bottem. then deadstick it. lift it like 6-10 inches off the bottem. work it as slowly as you can. i prefer to fish senkos in 4-5 foot of water. if you are not catching any fish you are working it to fast. if you are going to fish it in springtime i like to use a senko with red flake or red shad with a red hook. i use small hooks with my senkos i use a 3/0 gammi ewg hook. i hope this helps.

Slow,
The best way to fsih a senko is dead sticking but..making long casts is not a good idea because you will miss alot of fish I reccomend using a MH to H rod and making short percise casts to get a good strong hook set. I usally use a 5/0 owner stright hook on the 5" when flipping and pitching around cover and a 2/0 owner mosquito hook for wacky rigging which is great in open water. Senkos are very effective on suspended bass and spawning bass just keep postive head when fishing them and you will catch lots of fish on them! Just let them hit the bottom bump them a few times then pull it back upto the surface and reapete. I suggest you get BLACK, Watermelon and Bubblegum these are my 3 favorite colors they can cover most any situation you will encounter I would also suggest the 5" they have alot more action.
Tight Lines

I have to diagree with making long casts with a Senko and missing fish. I almost never miss a fish with a senko, unless they are just way to small. But 4" I use a 2/0 offset worm hook, 5" a 4/0 or 5/0, 6" a 5/0 or maybe a 7/0. But with wacky rigging I use some hooks that a friend brought me from Japan that have a weed guard...awesome!

You can fish it like a worm on the bottom, or like a slow soft jerk bait. You just have to let the fish tell you how they want it. Just experiment a little to find what works best for you.

Magmaster, for those of us who do not have access to the Japanese weedless hooks, do you know if any of the weedless hooks that are available in U. S. catalogs are at all close to the Japanese weedless hooks and that might be worth a try?

Thanks.

Bob

Bob,
Gamakatsu has one I have used it it works ok, reaction innovations also has a good one.

Hey Bob sorry I took so long to get back to you but I have heard good things about the Reaction Innovations hook. I personally haven't tried it yet but I don't see why it wouldn't work the same

First off; be sure you're rigging your EWG hook this way: http://www.bassdozer.com/images/lasso4.jpg Then get some of http://yamamoto.baits.com/cgi-bin/order/59-10 of those hooks as they were designed(yes, they are different than other EWG hooks). I use them in the 4/0 size for the 5" Senkos. My most productive(literally 100's of Bass from 6 ozs to 7 lbs) color has been their color #222.

I throw them as far as I can(the 100% f/c line will set the hook as it has very little stretch) with just that hook for weight. I let them fall to the depth that I think the Bass are at. I then twitch, pause, twitch it back. I also wacky-rig them and have been having a lot of success doing that recently. See the pics:

http://www.f150online.com/galleries/pictureview.cfm?pnum=113356&anum=3723

http://www.f150online.com/galleries/pictureview.cfm?pnum=114712&anum=3723

http://www.f150online.com/galleries/pictureview.cfm?pnum=116795&anum=3723

Dan

This is the biggest I have got on a senko this year eventhought it was one I poured it's really the same it was on a wacky rig in abot 10ft of water off a bed 5lbs even http://calfishing.com/gallery/1/000_3490

Dan, You should email rob and ask him for a gallery

email rob@calfishing.com

The best technique with the senko is to cast it out, let your line get totally slack (pull some off the reel if need be), then pick your nose, stare off across the lake, or eat some food. Bonus points for looking over your shoulder while talking to your partner or relieving yourself over the side during the cast. This strategy ensures that the fish completely eats the bait before you realize you're bit. Fishing senkos simply requires no skill whatsoever when done properly.

While I detest senko fishing to no end and can proudly say that I have never caught a fish on a 5" or smaller bait, I do pitch 7" senkos on 20lb during the prespawn and spawn. I used to farm quite a few on EWG hooks so I went to 5/0 round bend offset gammies. You lose your bait frequently to snags and almost always on fish, but you hook everything. To ensure that you hook everything (and lose your bait often) only hook about 1/2 of the bait through the nose before pushing the hook through. If you rig the hook in further back in the bait, it bunches up and makes you lose fish. Trust me, they'll eat the whole thing so you don't have to worry about where in the senko your hook is. For the hookset, I set it like a jig, as hard as possible. If you do it right, your rip the senko completely off the hook on the hookset and stick the fish.

-Rob (wannabe senko master)

Rob, which of those techniques helped you catch that 4 pounder at Coyote? :P I have to admit that I've caught several senko fish while pulling out small backlashes. The less action you put on them the better they work. It does feel like cheating sometimes cause they work so damn well. The one bad thing about senkos is that bass swallow them so deep that it's pretty easy to gut-hook the fish if you aren't watching your line closely.

Doug

yeah really. best way to fish a senko is to cast, backlash, pick out the back lash, reel in some slack and set the hook lol! but "theres no wrong way to fish a senko" (or was it "eat a reeses?").

I fish them totaly diferent from you guys. I Cast them out far and let them sink. Then I lift them up about 5 ft or so and let them sink again. I do this all the way back to the boat. I never let them sit, and I always fish them wacky style.
I just watch the line as it sinks. My way isnt so borring and it works great. Still havent caught anything over 6 on them but I have had a few 100 fish days. I have even thrown huge 10inch senkos but mostly caught 4-6lbers on them.

the bigest ive cought was a 6 1/2 on a senko.