Detecting Bites on weightless soft plastics...

[Airman4754]

All great advice. I went from braid to straight 12lb fluoro and that helped. I went from a 4 power to a 3 power with a better blank material and that really helped. I never liked the line on the finger thing, but it did help. 

I also weigh my line before I twitch it off bottom. I started using bigger EWG's that make it harder for them to swallow so I match the hook size to the length of the bait. For wacky I use jig heads with EWG's. I haven't gut hooked a fish on a Senko in a few years now. 

[Luna2406]

23 hours ago, avidone1 said:

Are you using quality graphite rods?  They are costly but truly a pleasure to fish with.   that being said the braid line should transmit bumps very well unless your setup is a really heavy one like you would use for musky or something.

I never hold the line between my fingers.   but line watching is a habit.  Any unnatural movement gets a hookset.  Oh, and I also don't play the feeling game with bass.  When in doubt set the hook.   I have set the hook on weeds, logs, rocks, and of course fish.  I'm never embarrassed by it.   The only time I regretted it was when I set the hook in a tree and broke a really nice rod.  But then again, I ve broken rods setting the hook on 2 pound bass.  that was kinda funny.  I ended up landing the fish by the old "hand over hand" retrieve method.  Rod was not defective, just not my day.

- Do you set the hook more than one time when you aren't sure if you got it the first time. I ask because the other day, i cast saw it fall felt the tick set the hook, fought it for a bit, the water was clear so I could see it the whole time, i kept it from jumping and then all of a sudden I saw the hook and worm come out of the mouth...haha first time thats happened. Had to do the "hand over hand" method last week when a fish broke my rod during the fight lol it was a blast. 

21 hours ago, Crestliner2008 said:

Depending on the type of water you fish and cover you fish, you might want to try a 1/0 Circle hook. You can either wacky rig with it or nose hook it. These hooks will at least put the odds in your favor to reduce deep hooking. But then again, it depends on the type of cover you are working in. If you do try the circle hooks, make sure they are the "Inline" design, not off-set.

- have you seen any big difference from wacky rigging the worm and nose hooking it? I've never tried nose hooking a worm before. I use them for cat fishing never for bass tho, would I set the hook like a normal hook or just pull tight like i would on a catfish? 

21 hours ago, MassYak85 said:

Almost always, unless it's a complete dink, the first "tick" that you feel on the line is them completely inhaling it, so you should swing when you feel that. When I fish them I usually let them sink all the way to the bottom on completely slack line. I use braid + flouro leader so my line sits on the water and I can watch it travel on the surface as the worm sinks. Actually, my favorite thing in bass fishing is watching that telltale "speed up" or "twitch" the line does on the surface when a fish has it. It's like the equivalent of watching your bobber go under as a kid. If I see that happening, I reel up the slack and set the hook. Now if it gets to the bottom and I don't suspect one has it, I reel up the slack and feel the senko for a second. If there is any extra pressure or my line starts swimming off to one side I set the hook. If I am actively working the senko and twitching it on a slow retrieve, or if there is too much wind to watch the line on the surface, I usually don't swing as soon as I feel the tick, I make sure I feel some of the weight of the fish first. 

- Watching the line fall faster or twitch has become my favorite too! Do you work a wacky rigged senko or just texas rigged worms? 

19 hours ago, BobP said:

As above, I prefer using fluorocarbon line for Senko fishing because braids do not transmit a bite on slack line or when a fish picks up the Senko and swims toward you.  Another thing I don't hesitate to do is pinch down the barb on my EWG hook that I use for Senko fishing.  Will they still sometimes swallow the hook?  Yep, but you can get it back out without damaging the fish.  For me, it kills the joy of fishing to land a deep hooked bass and hurt a fish I have no intention of taking for food while trying to unhook it.  And personally, I've never had a bass spit out a barbless hook during the fight.

- I lose fish even with the barb not pinched down so I guess I can go ahead and pinch mine down. I agree with you, nothing ruins a catch for me like gut hooking a fish.