How to Fish Senkos

Greetings, It's Russ "Bassdozer" Comeau here from Gary Yamamoto's Inside Line magazine.

I'm pleased to say the free bait for your club has started leaving our factory and will be shipped to you via UPS. Shipping has already started this week and will continue for the next several weeks. It's being done alphabetically by club name. So, clubs at the beginning of the alphabet will go out first and so on. As your bait passes into the care of UPS, you will receive an email notification from UPS that they have your bait and it is in transit to you. You can reasonably expect it to arrive a short number of BUSINESS days after you get the email from UPS.

I know you and your club members are eager and excited to get the lures. I am excited about being able to do this too.

As for the product I've selected for you, the choice wasn't easy, but it's the 5" Senko series 9-10-187. The official description is clear with black flake. In reality it is not clear but a semi-translucent milky white smoke with black flake.

There are several reasons for this selection:

1) The series 9 Senko is one of our top selling products in every region of the country.
2) The color 187 is one of our top selling colors in every region of the country.

3) In autumn, bass habitually prey upon shad and other shiny schooling baitfish which the 9-10-187 imitates.

4) In autumn, especially after line storms pass through, waters habitually clear and lighten across the country, losing plankton and increasing visibility.

5) Even in dark or stained water, the semi-translucent body of the 9-10-187 captures and radiates all available light, making it obvious to predators. Remember, even in the darkest water, baitfish are silver-sided and reflect light.

6) The dense, bulky body of the 9-10-187 displaces a large volume of water, and the tail constantly quivers even on a dead fall. Fish feel the pressure waves of the water displacement and quivering on their lateral lines regardless of water clarity or cover density. Once they feel it, they will look for and locate it by sight. The 9-10-187 provides one of the most natural and unalarming sensory presentations. In this regard, the 9-10-187 Senko truly imitates life in the hands of the master puppeteers who pull their strings, and it will always work well everywhere. Why? Because bass have a lifetime of positive reinforcement of eating preyfish that the 9-10-187 Senko dupes. It's tough for a bass to refuse to eat a bait that looks, sounds and acts like something it has eaten all its life.

7) Productive modifications to the 9-10-187 include dipping the last inch of the quivering tail tip in chartreuse or blue dye - or mottling the body with a black laundry marker. Bend a thin spinnerbait wire into a "needle eye" to pull a plug (several strands) of silicone skirt material sideways through the body. Most anglers will not go through the extra effort, providing those who do with unique advantages at times.

Perhaps you may already be a Senko expert or have someone in your club who is? If not, you surely will after everyone tries the 9-10-187!

Here are some more tips I'd like to share with you from our Inside Line Pro-Staffers.

For sure, the most popular rigging method is weightless with an offset shank hook. Use something in the range of a 3/0, 4/0 or 5/0. Match size/strength of the hook to the size/strength of the fish you reasonably expect to catch and the size/strength of your rod/reel/line. Very often, a hook can be "gap-limited" especially on a chunky body like the Senko. Be conscious that the difference of one hook size up or down of a make or model - or switching to the same size of another make or model can mean the difference between missing them and hooking them.

A few things to make sure of right from the start with a weightless Senko are:

1. Is the Senko body straight? If the bait is not straight, you can tug and pull on the bent areas (usually the tips) and the bait will miraculously re-align itself and straighten out pretty good.

2. Are you rigging it straight? Use the seams as guides and make sure you hit all the seams every time you rig the Senko. Also, make sure the hook eye is rigged dead center. Make sure the bait lies perfectly straight when rigged, and that it is neither stretched too tightly nor too loosely when rigged. Err on the side of too loose rather than too tight. A tight rigging makes for a poor hookset whereas a little looseness in the rigging allows the body of the bait to easily be depressed away from the hook point on a bite.

3. Are you retrieving it too fast? Especially at the end of the retrieve, if you crank it too fast to make another cast, it may spin and twist your line.

4. Are you using a heavy enough hook? Your hook may be too light, allowing the bait to spin. Use a hook that just barely acts as a keel or rudder. On baitcasting tackle, there are two styles of hooks that have found favoritism with Senko anglers. One is the series 50 round bend - which has less keel and more "do nothing" effect on the Senko. The other is a series 63 EWG which has a ruddering effect on the bait and causes more side-to-side wobble to it. On spinning gear, the thin but strong Gamakatsu Sugoi series 59 is a favorite. For wacky rigging or nose-hooking, the size 4 series 53 hook is used, and the straight shank series 49 4/0 is used for weedless wacky rigging. Viva la difference!

5. I glue Senkos to hooks so they hold where they are supposed to. Even still, an aggressive fish will "de-pants" them as I call it - glue or no glue. Glue is not necessary on a fresh, firm Senko right out of the bag, but once it's been tugged on once or twice, the hook hole gets "hogged out" and it's prone to slip. I use Zap-A-Gap or Krazy Glue. I have tried other glues, such as the stuff they sell in pharmacies for ladies' fake fingernails - but it does not hold bait. There are two varieties of Zap-A-Gap. The first variety is thin Zap-A-Gap and I use it to hold baits in proper position on the hook. Even if your bait is wet, full of fish slime or whatever, Zap-A-Gap holds it on the hook, and you do not need to wait for it to dry before you cast again. It sets underwater no problem. The second variety is thick Zap-A-Gap, and it's best to make repairs if you desire to mend torn baits at home. If you can not find Zap-A-Gap, look in a hobbyist shop. Remember, you are wholly responsible to read and follow all precautionary use statements that come with glue products.

As for the best Senko technique, here it is from Jerry "Bubba" Puckett: "A minimalist presentation is often the best - wherein the buoyancy of the line offsets the weight of the hook, resulting in a lazy, horizontal glide with an enticing tail quiver thrown in for good measure. All sizes of the Senko (there are five sizes) are equally effective, but must be paired with the correct combination of rigging and tackle to effect the same drop characteristics. It also seems to be gaining ground in a wacky-rig presentation. But, if the fish don't happen to be located correctly, or if the fisherman lacks confidence/patience/finesse, the Senko will be a disappointment. The less one does, and the more slack the bait is allowed, the more effective it appears to be. For the patient few, it's devastating as it falls through deep, suspended fish. You will get many fish on the fall, many more will pluck it off the bottom as the Senko lies there motionless."

That's the best way to fish the Senko in a nutshell. If you go to http://www.insideline.net on the web, click on "Weekly Ezine" down the left side bar, and you'll find Ezine Vol. 1 No. 1 has six articles and two videos on Senkos there, plus Vol. 1 No. 2 has numerous articles and a video on wacky rigging which is becoming increasingly popular (and deadly) with Senko practitioners. Next, click on "Senko Tips" down the left side bar for another article where the Inside Line Pro-Staffers take turns giving you their best Senko tips.

Another article, "Senko Secrets" by outdoor writer Steve Price tells how Gary Yamamoto, designer of the Senko uses his invention. That article is at: http://www.insideline.net/2000/price-0708-00.html

If you click on "Ask The Pros" down the left side bar again, you will see all sorts of questions and answers by Inside Line Pro-Staffers which pertain to Senko fishing.

In and around cover, Senko's work everywhere if you follow the tactics described in these articles. Docks and laydowns are natural hotspots for them, and if you key in on how Gary Yamamoto describes his brush fishing tactics in the "Senko Secrets" and "Senko Lazy Susan" articles, that is exactly how to fish them in docks and laydowns...or around any cover.

If you plan to use Senkos in moving water or current, here is an article, "You Can Drift, Swim or Jig It" about how to use Senkos in flowing water: http://www.bassdozer.com/articles/drift-swim-jig.shtml

I hope you and your club members will find our baits to be good ones. I hope you'll find the information our Pro-Staffers provide on our website, our weekly ezine, and our bimonthly print magazine makes our good bait better.

In closing, I am glad to have had this opportunity to provide you and your club with one of our best styles and colors of bait. If you have not received your UPS notification and bait within the next few weeks, please contact me at rcomeau@gyb.baits.com and I will track down the shipment for you.

Thank you.

Regards, Russ

How to Fish the Senko

From Gary Yamamoto's Inside Line magazine