Fishing a senko

I want to start fishing senkos more often but am not sure of the best ways. Its really only ever been a pond fishing bait for me fished weightless. Is wacky rigging the best? The texas rig seems like it would kill the action to me.

TX Rigged Weightless.....S L O W!!!!!!

The slow part is what is going to drive me nuts.

I fish it completely weightless, Tx rigged and light line,. 8lb normally. My biggest issue I faced was with the hookset. You need to cast it to your target, let it fall on slack line, and watch your line. The moment the line twitches or changes direction reel down the slack and do a reeling hookset. A lot of times I'll let the fish run with the worm before setting the hook. I missed a lot of fish early by setting too quick or hard.

As far as wacky rigging I use a trick worm never a senko and that seems to work pretty good. The majority of your strikes will happen on the fall, no action. Just my opinion and experience.

I've used them Tx rigged with a small weight and also Carolina rigged with very good results.

my wife struggles to fish a senko without a weight and will often add a small split shot just in front of it. There are days she will out fish me throwing it that way.
In the winter, I will often just dead stick it and it picks up a lot of fish.

senko on a t-rig they usually bite it on the drop. they will hang on to the senko for a while i usually just watch my live when i see it going the other way i reel in the slack and cross the fishes eyes with the hook set. done wait to long cause they will take that hook in. the good thing about the senko is they don't spit it fast.
if you wanna fish a wacky rig style go out and get a wacky jig 3/8 ounce and buy some Jack Flick shake. Bass love them the only difference in hook set is you set the hook to the 12 o'clock position. Hope this is helpful. I have a ton of confidence in June Bug color for both lures but I'm sure everyone has their favorite color.

Wacky jig, 1/8 oz, Green Pumpkin Magic.

love fishing it weightless and wacky rigged. Been experimenting it with a little nail weight in the tail.

You'd should have success using any of the above suggestions. I prefer to fish them weightless, but I'll use a split shot or throw it on a shaky head from time to time.

Great info above...I like them wacky rigged weightless best. Try using a red hook, I get more bites with that. I was on lake Clark yesterday after church and it was TOUGH. Bites were few and far between. I tried jerk baits chatter baits and T-Rigs and the only fish I caught were biting a wacky rigged senko when fished extremely slow. I would cast let it sink and then hold the rod in one hand and keeping my other arm to the side. when the bite is tough keep your hand away from the reel handle and twitch it slow.

I'm assuming most people use a spinning rod. I really hate using them but I guess they are necessary.

I fish them weightless Texas rigged with a baitcaster on 12 lb mono. I use a 4/0 or 5/0 ewg hook. They are heavy enough with a big hook to heave quite far on a baitcasting setup.

Weightless T-rig on a baitcaster for me on 12lb floro

I throw mine on a spinning reel medium action with 10# fluoro

12# flouro , swivel about 12" above light wire hook. ML rod 6'8-7' length. Sweep hookset

the senko will catch fish when nothing else will. I have really beeen trying to fish it a lot more. the key as many mentioned above is SLOW.

Weightless 5" Senko got my 12.76 at Choke to bite. Most people consider it a numbers bait, not a quality fish bait, but if you put it in their face, the big girls will slurp it up too. I only fish it weightless with a 3/0 hook.

You have the basic already in your pond fishing experience.

To learn a new technique try these tips below:
- Contact Bobby at Whopper Baits in my sig.. Ask him to hand pour your favorite color in a high floating Senko.
- Be sure to have him put the Night Crawler scent in the Senkos.

Go to this link and contact Mark Pack for his newest Shaky Head Skirted Jigs. and use the Senko for the bait of choice.

http://texasfishingforum.com/forums/ubbt...ad_#Post9527838

I truly believe you will have a great combination and an exciting new technique for you to try.

I have already been using this technique for years in Mexico with great success. It is right up there with the T-Rig Lizard and 100 Bass per day.

How many folks actually work the senko all the way back? If so, doesn't it take 5, 7, 10 minutes? And are you getting strikes along the way?

I've caught several on weightless wacky senkos, throwing to a specific fishy spot. Most strikes are on the fall. Only a few fish have come during the retrieve.

And I can only count one fish landed on a Texas-rigged senko. Maybe I'm doing it wrong or just throwing wacky more often.

I fished a Senko exclusively for about 8-12 months and here is what I've gathered from my own personal experience.

1) T-rig

Fish them on a 3/0 or 4/0 EWG hook t-rigged weightless. I generally use 10 - 14 lb flouro leader (length not too much a factor here but generally starting with 6') with braid.

Hook should be texposed, knot hidden in top of senko.

After a cast, I'm watching the line the entire time. Obviously like any other line watching technique you are seeing if they get it on the fall (movement follows). If they don't get it on the fall I'll either do a quick pop of the rod tip to lift it at least 6" off bottom or I'll do a very gradual rise of the rod tip which will float it towards you in a more gentle manner.

Waiting games from here on out when you repeat this all the way back to you. I've had fish follow it and take it when it gets close so yes I work it all the way.

I'll also do a very slow drag (especially during warmer weather and during spawn) along the bottom. I won't even reel sometimes, just dragging the rod tip in a sweeping manner moving the Senko 6-12" each time, with a 4-5 sec pause after. This is deadly when you come across some submerged grass or a brushpile! Sometimes I'm looking for my Senko to get snagged a bit and you can do small pops and jerks where it looks like its either feeding or trying to escape and when it finally pops loose BAM!

2) Wacky

I think wacky has a time and place but it's not my preferred method of fishing a Senko. I use VMC wacky hooks with the weedguard and no nail weights no lead.

I start out the same after a cast letting it fall on slack line and do my pops but I'm generally working this much slower in a YoYo manner.

I've had times where the fish want something faster and aggressive so the popping the rod tip with faster jerks will cause a bigger commotion.

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My rod setup for this is Falcon weightless worm 6'8" MH rod, 20lb braid, 10-14lb flouro leader, 6.4:1 reel.

I don't think it's really necessary to use spinning for Senko's and I can still skip them all day long if need be.

Biggest thing I noticed for myself and Senkos is be patient, watch your line, and let the bait do its thing. If you get a chance to watch how it falls you will appreciate the subtle squirm of that tail and that is what drives fish crazy.

Good luck!

I absolutely love fishing these weightless on a 3/0 Shaw Grigsby HP EWG Hook. The keeper on the front gives me a ton more casts on these things and lets me really chunk em out there. No issues on hook ups.

what lb test to use for weightless rig?

Depends on where you are fishing and water clarity. I mainly use 12-15lb flouro because of where I am fishing and the need to get the fish out of the cover. I have fished them on braid as well....drops nice and slow on braid and you can watch your line easier for the slightest tick.

does mono really make it fall that much slower?

Awesome info. Thank you.

Yes it does and if there is a breeze it will pull it away from the cover more quickly too

Wacky is the only way to go!

I always go weightless with senkos, normally 10lb floro as well. Catch a ton in ponds but normally dont through it on lakes as often.
Maybe i should haha

I think working the senko all the way back is kinda situation specific... sometimes you just need to pitch it in a hole and see if anyone is home, or you know the area where you are gonna get bit is right in a specific spot...but, they will bite it on the retrieve also, so don't count it out! As far as how long to keep it out there, I think covering more water is better personally, I would rather have a cast last 3-4 minutes maximum, as noted they are hitting it on the fall so by my logic more fall time = more possible bites. But, rarely have I gotten more than one bite on a single cast (and that might be because I missed a hookset and yanked the bait out of the fishes area...lol)

I admit I am pretty new to fishin' wacky rigs, but I think that because it is all so fresh I can really break down the difference in my technique and some of the finer points that I had to figure out exclusively from trail and error. Where I was going wrong first was on my equipment -- I am still transitioning to bass gear as a lifetime trout guy, and getting a proper rod for worm fishin' made a ton of difference in detecting a bite.

Something that I have figured out, that I think really helped me is this; When you first get your bait in the water, get your line tight enough to detect a bite ASAP while still letting it fall, then each time you raise the tip of your rod and let the bait fall, get your line tight enough to detect a bite again as quickly as you can... I know that is pretty basic and elementary, but that is something it took me a while to get through my head

I started fishing senko weighless years ago and thought that was the only way to throw it TX rig of course. This past year I started throwing it wacky with a brush guard hook and a small 1/8 oz weigh and just jigging it slowly. I have caught more fish and quality fish alike than any lure I have ever thrown. Wacky all the way. Looks like a sinking/injured shad

Wacky rigging is my personal favorite... While it is a 'quiet' finesse type lure, I have had a lot of luck skipping it into super gnarly cover on a MH baitcaster with 50 lb braid and a 17 lb leader. Caught a lot of 7 plus pound fish with that set up. Sometimes just slowly reeling it through the grass is the ticket. Sometimes adding some sound is worth it too. A couple of clear glass beads above it can work. Adds some weight too. In winter around grass you can cast it out, let it sink and jiggle it lightly in place just barely getting those beads clacking. I've done this and let it sit motionless between jiggles for as much as a minute or two and after the second or third time I do this a fish has come over to investigate the sound and picks it up. Like others have said: watch your line because the bites are almost imperceptible sometimes especially in cold water. Bigger fish also tend not to 'hammer' at it like the smaller ones so sometimes that feeling of 'is that a fish' abruptly turns into 'holy %#!+, that's a donkey!" I also like it t rigged, no bullet weight but a nail weight in the tail. Skips way under stuff that way and falls backwards into their face when you lift and drop. They can't stand it.

Only time I don't have a senko tied on is when it's getting very windy.

This last weekend I managed one fish on a trap in 46 degree water ripping it through some grass for about 2 hours... Wind let up and I switched to a wacky senko dead sticked with the beads. Managed 4 decent fish that way in the next 45 minutes. Sometimes it's the only thing that'll work for me.

I like putting lead soldiering wire in the egg sack not much though when it falls it wiggles both ends the only way I fish it

This is one of the most informative threads I've ever read on any fishing forum. Thanks, all!

@R Ellis: Are you just using a 1/8oz bullet weight above the wacky hook? Or rigging some other way? I've seen a weighted ring that goes around the senko, but never thought to buy one.

@gutcheck: Adding the beads is a very interesting idea. Inspired by the earlier responses, I rigged up a t-rig senko this evening and threw it around a shallow cove with lots of underwater grass. Despite reading lots of people catching big fish on senkos at night, I was skeptical it would work bank fishing a nondescript cove. The beads would bring something new. BTW... No fish on the senko; three on the Rat-L-Trap.

Weightless, light wire hook on 6-8lb mono to facilitate the buoyancy. The Senko will sink naturally & wiggle on it's way down. Let it do it's thing. The mono will help keep it in the strike zone.

Just sayin....

When you use the weighted ring, I have found the hook is turned the wrong direction and your hook up ratio is cut down.

If someone wants to make a hand pour with the ring inside the pour in the down position; I will take a few hundred of them.