The Mighty Senko Fails

[MassBass]

Wait till night and then, from a distance, run a spinnerbait by that dock. 

[Heron]

Update:

 

Welp. I didn't catch that particular fish, but I caught a different 3lber nearby.   He was in about 24in of clear water, right in front of me.  We were in plain view of eachother.  Caught him by dragging a snagless jig/craw along the bottom.  

[Brett Strohl]

Throw him a hot dog. Seriously. I used to fish this small pond. Threw everything at them. Though not much pressure on the fish they were still picky as hell. One day I took my young daughter with me and she was "ootzy" about baiting the hook. I told her that we would stop at the local mom and pop grocery and buy some cheap hot dogs to bait her hook(s). She gave me a funny look but I assured here that it would work. We bought a $1 package of wieners and away we went. She placed about a 1/2 inch of dawg on her 2/0 hook and in less than 1 minute BANG. She landed a 3 pound LM. I was so proud of her. She kept saying "dad, it's a big one" while she was reeling it in. Oh well, had to share.

 

 

I'm going to have to try that one out

[Hurricane]

Live worm on a bobber will get the job done lol... serious..

[the reel ess]

I have no explanation for why some anglers don't have much luck with the Senko.

I'm sure we all have a style of lure or two that for some reason...just doesn't work for us.  Could be flat out bad luck I suppose: wrong place, wrong time, etc.

For me it's lipless cranks.  Never caught a single bass on one, ever.  And believe me I tried to make them work.

 

Senkos however, well I love them because they work for me very consistently.  Not 100% of course, as no lure ever made is a guarantee.  But I have great confidence in Senkos.

It's strange...our choice of lures, what works for us and what doesn't.  One of the mysteries of angling I guess

I left home this morning with a Senko clone tied on. I was feeling extremely confident on it after it produced bigtime for the two trips. I only managed one dink on it. I caught about a 3 pounder on the Rat L Trap and several decent on a Zoom Speed Craw T-rigged. And a couple on a fluke.

 

My buddy actually caught 3 on the Trap today casting to the deepest part of the pond. He even had one break him off. They bite the gold color so well there, we keep spares.

[the reel ess]

Throw him a hot dog. Seriously. I used to fish this small pond. Threw everything at them. Though not much pressure on the fish they were still picky as hell. One day I took my young daughter with me and she was "ootzy" about baiting the hook. I told her that we would stop at the local mom and pop grocery and buy some cheap hot dogs to bait her hook(s). She gave me a funny look but I assured here that it would work. We bought a $1 package of wieners and away we went. She placed about a 1/2 inch of dawg on her 2/0 hook and in less than 1 minute BANG. She landed a 3 pound LM. I was so proud of her. She kept saying "dad, it's a big one" while she was reeling it in. Oh well, had to share.

I've caught a lot of channel cats on hot dogs but never a bass.

[Brett Strohl]

I can't wait to try these out next time!  

[FishTank]

I have had fish not bite on a senko or senko style bait before but sometimes nothing works.

 

Then there are days like today.  I went out for about 2 hours and caught 7 large mouth on senkos.  I had a guy ask, what I was using and I showed him a bag of green pumpkin senkos. He said he had not caught anything and he had been out for about 5 hours.   When I asked him what he was using, he said everything.  I gave him two of the senkos I had and guess what, he still did not catch anything. When I watched him fish them, he was just too quick on the retrieve. I tried to show him how I was using the bait, by letting it fall, slow soft jerk and again letting it fall. He insisted I was fishing too slow for his taste and that it was the bait, not him and went back to using a spinnerbait because senkos where too expensive for his blood.  I did see him snag and loose two of those spinnerbaits in the lily pads.   I would venture a guess those spinnerbaits cost about the same as a pack of senkos.  I offered the help he asked for and it did not work out for him.   So l let him go and fished on. 

 

All told I caught about 12+ on senkos, fat ikas, and zoom lizards.  When I left he was still fishing and he still had nothing to show for it.  I would like to think I was lucky but I sometimes it just isn't your day. 

[everythingthatswims]

Long casts

[A KGB Operative]

For me it's lipless cranks. Never caught a single bass on one, ever. And believe me I tried to make them work.

Seriously the lipless? Love my lipless. I'm over here like I can't catch them on jigs.

[CeeJay]

Seriously the lipless? Love my lipless. I'm over here like I can't catch them on jigs.

 

Yeah, strange isn't it?  I don't even bother bringing them with me anymore.  Maybe I should spend a day fishing nothing but lipless cranks to try and end the streak  

[the reel ess]

Seriously the lipless? Love my lipless. I'm over here like I can't catch them on jigs.

I simply don't have the feel for jigs. I have a decent assortment of jigs and trailers. I get bites and miss the hookset. It's not that usual "tick-tick" feel of a soft plastic. There's a weedguard in the way of a fat hook that requires a major hookset.

[Brett Strohl]

Yeah, strange isn't it?  I don't even bother bringing them with me anymore.  Maybe I should spend a day fishing nothing but lipless cranks to try and end the streak

 

 

I've tried over the last year to get a fish on a lipless and haven't ever had a nibble on them.   I'm sure they have their place, but I haven't found anything useful for them

[Senko lover]

I've caught a lot of channel cats on hot dogs but never a bass.

 

Funny story. My brother and I w/ our family and friends were fishing a private pond......the owners pretty much used hotdogs to catch the fish. I wouldn't stoop to it, so I was over there throwing senkos and liplesses. Well, my little sister and her friend's little Barbie poles suddenly started doubling and twice a 5+ lb. bass broke their lines. My brother started fishing with hotdogs, and caught a 4# and a 5#, his PB. I will never, ever, let him forget or count that as a real catch.

 

By the end of the day, they had caught 5-6 small catfish, a giant 17 lb. catfish, 8-9 nice bass, and lots of huge bream on those hotdogs. I finally gave in and caught a small bass on one towards the end of the day.....didn't count as real bass fishing to me, though.

[Senko lover]

I've tried over the last year to get a fish on a lipless and haven't ever had a nibble on them.   I'm sure they have their place, but I haven't found anything useful for them

 

Bass rarely nibble liplesses, my friend.

[CeeJay]

Funny story. My brother and I w/ our family and friends were fishing a private pond......the owners pretty much used hotdogs to catch the fish. I wouldn't stoop to it, so I was over there throwing senkos and liplesses. Well, my little sister and her friend's little Barbie poles suddenly started doubling and twice a 5+ lb. bass broke their lines. My brother started fishing with hotdogs, and caught a 4# and a 5#, his PB. I will never, ever, let him forget or count that as a real catch.

 

By the end of the day, they had caught 5-6 small catfish, a giant 17 lb. catfish, 8-9 nice bass, and lots of huge bream on those hotdogs. I finally gave in and caught a small bass on one towards the end of the day.....didn't count as real bass fishing to me, though.

 

haha that's really bizarre  

Catfish and sunnies, I can see them eating hotdogs...but bass???  And big bass to boot...  Wow that's crazy. 

Hmmm, *looks in my fridge for some hotdogs*

 

I once caught a 6" (inch, not pound haha) bass on a dough ball. 

[the reel ess]

Funny story. My brother and I w/ our family and friends were fishing a private pond......the owners pretty much used hotdogs to catch the fish. I wouldn't stoop to it, so I was over there throwing senkos and liplesses. Well, my little sister and her friend's little Barbie poles suddenly started doubling and twice a 5+ lb. bass broke their lines. My brother started fishing with hotdogs, and caught a 4# and a 5#, his PB. I will never, ever, let him forget or count that as a real catch.

 

By the end of the day, they had caught 5-6 small catfish, a giant 17 lb. catfish, 8-9 nice bass, and lots of huge bream on those hotdogs. I finally gave in and caught a small bass on one towards the end of the day.....didn't count as real bass fishing to me, though.

That gives me an idea for a new scent product.

I have a friend with a pond who feeds the fish by hand, when he's not too lazy. I've been there when he does it and there are some huge ones in there. He says the catfish won't bite anything else and I believe him because I've never caught one even on live bait. I'll bet they'll bite a hot dog while he's feeding them.

[gardnerjigman]

Bass rarely nibble liplesses, my friend.

 

Usually when the lipless bite is on, it's hold on to your rod a little tighter during the retrieve type of bite... Really like it when they knock about 3 feet of slack in my line. 

[the reel ess]

I never had any faith in lipless cranks until a couple years ago when I started fishing a local reservoir. Now they're a go-to bait for big fish. My buddy turned me on to them in winter. We will fish deeper places in the reservoir and reel them very slow-as slow as possible to keep them out of the bottom muck and grass. But yesterday we dusted them off again. He caught 3 on one and one fish broke him off. I only caught one but it was about a 3 pounder.

 

Gold chrome is the color of choice in this place. You can fish another color if you want, but won't catch them. I don't usually believe color matters that much but I've been proven wrong on this lure.

[joeblowwwww]

if you can see them... they definitely can see you!!!

 no offence but that seems like 1 of the first things you learn about bass fishing. or any fishing.

[5fishlimit]

My brother started fishing with hotdogs, and caught a 4# and a 5#, his PB. I will never, ever, let him forget or count that as a real catch.

 

If he caught bass then how is it not bass fishing?  If it works, and gets them to have a greater interest in the sport then by all means grab a pack of ballpark hotdogs and go to town!

[A KGB Operative]

Yeah, strange isn't it? I don't even bother bringing them with me anymore. Maybe I should spend a day fishing nothing but lipless cranks to try and end the streak

Spro lipless is great. Kvd is great, i enjoy the pumpkin seed comor one and the shad. xcalibur rayburn red is fantastic. Only three I use to catch all my fish on.

[primetime]

I throw banjo minnows on every trip, or swimbaits with segments I should say....

[Tim Cianciola]

The senko is a proven killer, I use them a lot.a whole lot.lol most likely the bass can see you also if u can see it that closely and that is why no matter what u throw he says nah.

[OTR366]

 

8.  If this does not produce any interest or bites get a shotgun and ...................

 

Oops. Number 8 is for guys living in Louisiana.

 

 

 

 

 

LMAO....I was going to suggest rigging that Senko on the tip of a crossbow arrow. I think that's known as Louisiana rigging a Senko.