how to use senkos

[tacklejunkie]

thanks for the tips too guys. i'll give them all a try.



depends on weight.

before throwing your bait far out into the lake, throw it in front of you and see how long it takes to sink. plus doing this will also allow you to see what your bait looks like underwater, and how your bait moves during your retrieve.

Good info. Test your bait to make sure it's hooked right, has the right action and see how fast it falls. I think the Senko is something like a half foot per second or so. Also depends on the hook and the rig. Line diameter.. line type.. etc.
Monofiliment floats, so will make your senko sink slower than fluorocarbon and so on.

To make it fall faster, you can "nail weight" it. By either purchasing nail weights, or clipping the shank off some small finishing nails and inserting it into the worm. This usually isn't necessary unless fishing deeper water than 10 feet though. It has a good fall rate to draw strikes on the fall as it is. They actually make lighter senkos that fall slower too.

[lurk 182]

thanks for the help..couple of more questions though.

So it does take real long for it to fall to the bottom right?

I was looking on the gary yamamoto site..how do you get it to be a controlled semi slack line on a regular spinning rod?

Also, the lake I fish at has mostly thick algae on the bottom. Even among all this, I can "bounce" and twitch it along the bottom?

ddamn it sounds kind of confusing at first but Im sure ill get the hang of it thanks to your help!

if you're fishing in twenty feet of water, it does take a long time to fall. the wacky rig falls pretty much straight down with the ends of the worm moving around. when you texas rig it, you get more of a see-saw fall where the entire worm moves back and forth.

i like to leave enough slack in the line that the bait falls straight down from where i cast it, which is usually tight to cover. (twelve pound line usually) i don't try to cast them as far as i can because with that much slack line, you're going to miss bites. if you take the slack out of the line, the bait doesn't have the right action.

i don't bounce along the bottom at all. there are better rigs for that technique. if i don't get bit on the fall (watch your line very closely) i only move the worm one bounce and i reel up if i don't get bit on that first bounce. algae will hang up on em, but they're great to fish around weedbeds too.

[tacklejunkie]

I have fished through 10 packs of senkos in the last month. (thank goodness I'm not loosing nearly as many now)

(edit: it's possible I may have misunderstood)

I have no idea what would make you think you can't set the hook on a fish as far as you can cast, but I sure don't have any trouble doing so on 6lb test fluoro from shore with senkos as deep as I can get it. Just gotta know how to do it. (Can you say cranking hookset anyone?) No problems detecting strikes as far as I can cast it either in the pitch dark. Resistance, no fish. Tug, fish! Slack, Fish! Weight, fish! Done. Simple.

Also, I'd never waste a cast that didn't hit on the fall (from shore). 70% of my bites come off the bottom at the hump. They might be a little smaller fish, but I would never waste the rest of the cast because I will still hook up.

[skylarjames2009]

Tacklejunkie hit on the nail thats how I work them work it slow and use pole to move it reel in slack always return pole to strike zone. Try 4in senkos they work great

[Vulture]

Roland Martins said "Son, you don't work them, they work for you."

[The Angler]

Ok what about color selection? What colors have you guys used that produce the most for certain conditions ya know like stained water what color would be most effective ect ect.

[Vman]

Tackle Junkies has pretty much covered everything about fishing the senko. I just want to add my 2 cents that you really can not fish a senko wrong. A friend caught a 13lb hogg, dropshotting a full sized senko in 20 feet of water.

A few days ago, I caught 5 fishes ( 6.5, 3,2,1.5,1 pounders ) in 3 hours at a very heavily pressured public pond with very good water clarity doing nothing more than flylining a senko. Three out of five was caught within 3 seconds of free falling.

Finally, the immitation like waveworms sold at Walmart has worked well for me when the bite is on. The fish in my avatar was caught on a waveworm. But when the going gets tough, I 'll always pull out the real thing ( Senkos ). I think it's right texture, action, salt composite, and lack of scent that gets them.

[eddie33081]

What color Senkos do you suggest for Castaic?