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With the quarantine I’ve had lots of opportunity to fish my community pond and I’ve been using a Senko 95% of the time. I’ve been quite successful with it but others fishing the pond don’t have the same results using the same lure. Here are a few pointers that I’ve picked up over the years.
There are several hook options one can choose but I’ll focus on two that are most prevalent, the offset shank worm hook and a speciality hook by Owner that has a screw attached to the eye. Tapatalk not letting me attach photos so I’ll describe. The screw hook you center the Senko on the screw point and then twist the Senko on until set, then you embed the hook in the body. I don’t like this style as the screw portion often doesn’t want to align with the hook and creates a slight twist in the Senko. I also frequently get my line tangled in the screw portion. The offset shank worm, and I use the extra wide gap (EWG) type, is easier to use and almost always results in the Senko and hook being in alignment. It’s very important to have the lure straight as possible. I prefer a 3/0 or 4/0 hook size
The most important part to me is line choice. Senko’s are best fished on braid. The reason being, braid floats and more often than not it’s the line telling you a fish has picked up the bait, not your rod. There are a couple things I look for. As the lure sinks, and please just let it sink, it will eventually start pulling the line away from your rod tip creating a lazy half moon sag. Familiarize yourself with how fast this happens, the speed that the sag forms is very important. If you see it accelerate ever so slightly, set the hook. Fish don’t strike a Senko, they tend to just mouth it and barely move after they take it. The inhale of the bait accelerates the loop ever so slightly. The other thing to look for is a rapid ripple in the line floating on the water. This happens when the bait is on the bottom and they pick it up. Again, you might feel just the tiniest bump in your rod but more often than not you won’t. Finally look to see if your line is moving sideways. I false set a lot because anything, and I mean anything that doesn’t seem right is a reason to set the hook.
The other thing I observe is people fish them too fast. Let it sink and set for 15-20 seconds. A large percentage of bites come from this sinking and set. The first twitch you do should be a small one, you want it to look like a dying fish or worm or whatever the heck fish think a stick is. I’ve watched fish stare at them for long periods of time just laying on the bottom. The twitch gets the curiosity up and they’ll inhale it.
Finally, and I don’t work for or get any endorsement from them, I exclusively use Yamamoto Senko’s. The softness of them makes fish hold on. Yes, you’ll go through them quickly but that’s a trade I’ll make every time for increased catch rates. Green Pumpkin, Black, or Watermelon with glitter are all good choices most days.y
Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
There are several hook options one can choose but I’ll focus on two that are most prevalent, the offset shank worm hook and a speciality hook by Owner that has a screw attached to the eye. Tapatalk not letting me attach photos so I’ll describe. The screw hook you center the Senko on the screw point and then twist the Senko on until set, then you embed the hook in the body. I don’t like this style as the screw portion often doesn’t want to align with the hook and creates a slight twist in the Senko. I also frequently get my line tangled in the screw portion. The offset shank worm, and I use the extra wide gap (EWG) type, is easier to use and almost always results in the Senko and hook being in alignment. It’s very important to have the lure straight as possible. I prefer a 3/0 or 4/0 hook size
The most important part to me is line choice. Senko’s are best fished on braid. The reason being, braid floats and more often than not it’s the line telling you a fish has picked up the bait, not your rod. There are a couple things I look for. As the lure sinks, and please just let it sink, it will eventually start pulling the line away from your rod tip creating a lazy half moon sag. Familiarize yourself with how fast this happens, the speed that the sag forms is very important. If you see it accelerate ever so slightly, set the hook. Fish don’t strike a Senko, they tend to just mouth it and barely move after they take it. The inhale of the bait accelerates the loop ever so slightly. The other thing to look for is a rapid ripple in the line floating on the water. This happens when the bait is on the bottom and they pick it up. Again, you might feel just the tiniest bump in your rod but more often than not you won’t. Finally look to see if your line is moving sideways. I false set a lot because anything, and I mean anything that doesn’t seem right is a reason to set the hook.
The other thing I observe is people fish them too fast. Let it sink and set for 15-20 seconds. A large percentage of bites come from this sinking and set. The first twitch you do should be a small one, you want it to look like a dying fish or worm or whatever the heck fish think a stick is. I’ve watched fish stare at them for long periods of time just laying on the bottom. The twitch gets the curiosity up and they’ll inhale it.
Finally, and I don’t work for or get any endorsement from them, I exclusively use Yamamoto Senko’s. The softness of them makes fish hold on. Yes, you’ll go through them quickly but that’s a trade I’ll make every time for increased catch rates. Green Pumpkin, Black, or Watermelon with glitter are all good choices most days.y
Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
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