WildManWilder Posted April 7, 2014 Posted April 7, 2014 Can anything help me to have confidence in soft plastic u tail worms and stick worms like senkos? I have fished these plastics alot but have never caught a fish on them. Quote
Solution Kevin22 Posted April 7, 2014 Solution Posted April 7, 2014 The only way to gain confidence is to catch some fish on them. Any place near you that is known for large numbers of small fish? City parks, county parks, places like that usually have large numbers of 10-13" fish. A day of catching a couple dozen of those will gain you some confidence. Take a 5" stick bait (brand doesn't matter) in green pumpkin color (black flake) and put it on a 3/0 EWG gamakatsu hook, rigged weedless (texas style) with no weight. Throw it to where you think a bass would be hiding and watch your line on the fall. Let it fall to the bottom and sit for 20 seconds. If your line twitches or takes off, slowly lift your rod and if you feel anything on the end set the hook. If you did not get a bite on the initial fall, lift the bait about a foot off the bottom and let it fall again. Wait 10 seconds, then repeat. For line, use mono in the 10-14# range so you can see it easily on the surface. For the u-tails, take a 6-8" u-tail and rig it on the same 3/0 EWG gama hook but this time put a bullet weight on it. 1/8-1/4oz depending on how deep of water you are fishing. Fish it the same way as the senko only a little bit faster, with less time between lifts. You can also drag these along the bottom, about a foot at a time. That should get you some fish. 2 Quote
WildManWilder Posted April 7, 2014 Author Posted April 7, 2014 Thanks for the help Kevin! I think my problem is not having confidence that when I lift my rod tip and feel pressure that theirs a fish on the other end. I will wait a few seconds then lift and no pressure. I've been missing a lot of fish haven't I? Quote
Kevin22 Posted April 7, 2014 Posted April 7, 2014 Any weight at all and I am setting the hook. Hooksets are free. With that being said, 90% of the bites I get on a senko I can visually see. The line will jump 6" off the water or the line will just take off. Rarely do I not see a bite and then feel it on the rise. For this reason, I use mono for sticks. I tried co-poly and it sank too fast, couldn't see the bites and ended up with a lot of misses and a lot of gut hooked fish. Braid works okay too, if its 30# and higher it tends to float enough to see. Quote
ABW Posted April 7, 2014 Posted April 7, 2014 When fishing the senko, I use a 5" Yum Dinger. Cast it out, let it sink for about 3 seconds, and give it a slight jerk. Let it sink, and repeat. If the bass aren't very agressive, then just fish them like a texas rigged worm. Throw it out, let it sink, and pull your rod tip up, and repeat. 1 Quote
WildManWilder Posted April 7, 2014 Author Posted April 7, 2014 Any weight at all and I am setting the hook. Hooksets are free. With that being said, 90% of the bites I get on a senko I can visually see. The line will jump 6" off the water or the line will just take off. Rarely do I not see a bite and then feel it on the rise. For this reason, I use mono for sticks. I tried co-poly and it sank too fast, couldn't see the bites and ended up with a lot of misses and a lot of gut hooked fish. Braid works okay too, if its 30# and higher it tends to float enough to see. I hear a lot of people saying that but I never see my line do anything sporadic. I fish with 8 lb Tilene Maxx Mono. Although I never see any indications in my line more often than not I feel pressure when I go to pick up the senko off the bottom. Quote
Kevin22 Posted April 7, 2014 Posted April 7, 2014 You might need some thicker line so it floats higher on the water. I prefer 14# when fishing sticks, but I will go down as low as 10# or as high as 17# if I have to. 10# for high pressured fish in clearer water, 17# for tossing sticks into brush. Quote
WildManWilder Posted April 7, 2014 Author Posted April 7, 2014 I will try that. Thanks again Kevin! Quote
Super User rippin-lips Posted April 8, 2014 Super User Posted April 8, 2014 Fluorocarbon has great slack line sensitivity. Maybe try that route and you might be surprised that you were just not detecting some bites. Any type of 'feel' bait and I'm using fluoro or braid with fluoro leader. Because fluoro has better 'SLACK' line sensitivity then mono 10:1 That's why it's used in any type of feel presentation. There's tons of info out there backing up any of these statements. Here's a thread I started just to show that the majority of people use fluoro or fluoro leader for weightless worms. Take your stick worm/senko and hook it right in the middle on your 3/0 worm hook. It's a wacky rig if you aren't familiar with it. Quote
Kevin22 Posted April 8, 2014 Posted April 8, 2014 Fluorocarbon will sink and you will miss a lot of bites that would be detected with a floating mono. In the summertime a majority of my bites are just the line jumping 6" and then sitting still. With fluoro you might feel it if you have semi-tight line, but that will hinder the fall of the stick. You surely won't see it, as the line will be in the water and not laying across the surface. Braid with a fluoro leader would work, but you have to have thick enough braid to keep it on the surface. 30-50#. I have used 30# with no problems, but I prefer mono for sticks. Senko is a slack line game, line watching is KEY. Quote
Super User Maxximus Redneckus Posted April 8, 2014 Super User Posted April 8, 2014 Make sure the place you fish has fish first off cause with all do respect the place may be fishless. Quote
Kevin22 Posted April 8, 2014 Posted April 8, 2014 Pros are paid to sell line, why would they try and sell you a $6 spool of line when they can sell you a $20 spool. Marketing 101. Senkos are NOT a "feel presentation" for me. I tried that, it did not work for me. It is a slack line presentation for me. Don't you think its odd that those fellas that fish for a living push $300 rods, $300 reels, $20-30 spools of line, $25 swimbaits, $40,000 boats, etc? Never see any of them recommend a lower priced option from their sponsors, well its because what they say sells product and they want to make the most money for their sponsors that they can. I love fluoro line, use it all the time.. but NOT for senkos! Senkos and topwater are the only times I use mono, and its from trial and error- not what somebody with a logo on his shirt wrote in an article or said on TV. Quote
Brian Needham Posted April 8, 2014 Posted April 8, 2014 Fluorocarbon will sink and you will miss a lot of bites that would be detected with a floating mono. I tend to disagree with this...... I feel bites and "ticks" on slack line flouro fishing senkos. Quote
bassin is addicting Posted April 8, 2014 Posted April 8, 2014 I tend to disagree with this...... I feel bites and "ticks" on slack line flouro fishing senkos. you fish senkos??? lol.... Quote
Super User roadwarrior Posted April 8, 2014 Super User Posted April 8, 2014 I tend to disagree with this...... I feel bites and "ticks" on slack line flouro fishing senkos. Me, too! That's basically the case for all soft plastics. Quote
Brian Needham Posted April 8, 2014 Posted April 8, 2014 you fish senkos??? lol.... I have learned! to the OP: and what have learned is you can't fish it slow enough. cast it out...eat a sammich if you have to.... twitch.... drink a beverage.... catch a fish. also, read road warrior's thread on the topic "guarenteed to catch fish" in the best of bass resource section. or come the roadtrip and Glenn will give lessons free of charge! Quote
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