I am almost on board..........almost

[crankbait2009]

wordy thread, but thought I'd share.......

 

I am primarily a crankbait user.

Over the past 8 years or so, a friend of mine always tries to get me to use worms/plastics.  He swears by them, along with many others.  I have purchased worms over the years, would use them for a couple casts from time to time, but obviously have ZERO faith in them.  They didn't produce immediately, so back in the box they'd go, and back to the crankbait I'd go.  Normally I'd at least catch one bass every trip out via the crankbait.  That was good enough for me.  Essentially, it was enough to get by, and I was OK with that. 

 

Back in April, there was a month long kayak tourney that I signed up for, so I figured I would need a lot more than crankbaits if I wanted to have a fighting chance.  So I stocked the yak with everything in my arsenal.  So every time out, I tried everything.........Between the cold weather and the rain, it wasn't a fun time.  Again, the plastics, along with everything else never produced for me.  Back in the box they went.  Needless to say, I never caught a fish in the month long tourney.  Well I caught catfish on a crankbait, but obviously they weren't the desired fish.

 

May pulled me in a couple of bass via the crankbait.  All was well.

 

Fast forward to the month of June.  June 10th to be exact.  Went to my main body of water.  I found a river that branched off the lake and I took that back for a couple miles, fishing along the way.  The waters were very calm.  No boat traffic due to the shallow depths.  No one would dare go back there.  Except for me and the kayak .  I started with my trusty crankbait casting over and over, coming up short.  I tried a few other lures on and again, nothing.  I was frustrated and bored at that point, so I dug to the bottom of the barrel and pulled out my circle hooks, and 5" senkos.  (Saw a kayak video a while back, where the user swore by these worms and if all else fails, throw one and you'll catch a fish ).  Obviously he left an impression in my mind, so I listened.  I tossed out the wacky rigged green pumpkin colored senko a few times, and nothing.  Paddled a bit to the next promising spot, tossed it out.  nothing.  Wasn't giving up yet, close, but not yet.  Hit the next spot, tossed it out, as soon as that worm hit the surface of the water, BAM!!  I didn't even have time to set close the bail.  Scrambled to close the bail, and set the hook all in one motion.  I lost him due to not being able to set it in time.  I was excited at this point.  So I figured, well, let's try that again.  Tossed it to the same spot, I was able to get a turn and a half in before the bass slammed it again.  set the hook, got him in.  Now I was even more excited.  Thinking it was a fluke, I paddled about 20 feet up, casted to another spot, and same thing.  about a turn and a half of the reel and another largemouth slammed it.

 

At that point, It was hard for me to swallow my pride to tell my friend he was right and that they do work.  SO I refused to.  I tied on a couple other colored worms, T-rigged, to see how they'd do.  They didn't.  So I quickly lost faith.  Threw the crank for a bit, nothing.  figured I'd try one last time with the senko again.  Tossed it out, and slam....another one.  SO after the third, I sent my friend a text and pictures showing what had happened.  I could tell it made him proud

 

I stopped after that, it was time to go home.

 

I plan on going out tomorrow to the same river, using the same senkos, and I will see how they produce.  If it happens, yet again, then I will no longer say worms suck!, and they actually produce.  As of right now, I still have zero faith .  I am almost there though.

 

Here are pictures of the first two I caught.

 

 

[fishballer06]

I'm a like minded fisherman as you. Things like jigs, texas rigs, drop shots, shakeyheads, etc. leave me with little confidence and very seldomly produce for me. However, a wacky rigged Senko like you mention is my confidence lure whenever I can't get a bite on anything else.

[visagelaid]

I really dig worms, and if its a tough day, they will get the job done more times than not.  I was really into Senko's in particular, but found that they are not very durable.  I have recently switched to the Strike King KVD Ocho.  I really dig it.  Its much more durable and I think it catches more fish.  Im not entirely sure if the caffeine scent has anything to do with it, but I really dig them.

[crankbait2009]

I did lose a few senkos that day, due to the fact I did not have my o-rings on hand.  Never thought I'd fish the senkos, so never bothered to bring them.  They are now on board and I will definitely use them tomorrow.  Hopefully that will save a few more worms for at least a few more casts.

 

I did try a jig here and there in the lilly pad beds, but I've never caught a fish with a jig either.

 

I bought so much terminal tackle throughout my years of fishing since 2009.  I have all this terminal tackle for worms, for what reason? to say I have it?  I'd say so.

[12poundbass]

I have no confidence in crank baits and always resort back to top water or my trusty Senkos. I try other things all the time and like you with Senkos if I don't get bit after a few casts back to the Senkos I go. My wife only uses Senkos and she always catches more than me. Last year 99% of the time I used Senkos and I caught more than her, first time in several years I actually caught more than her ( I'm not scared of saying she catches more lol)! After joining this forum in October I'm trying other things this year and so far.....you guessed it, her Senko loyalty is still ahead. It's ok though I'm just giving her a head start. ?

[Glenn]

Two things that will help:

 

 

 

 

[Raul]

I own a ton of senkos and hardly ever use them and I would rather tie something else when I'm forced to fish with soft plastics and it's hard for me to recognize: 1 they catch fish, 2 they are idiot proof. I avoid them most of the time but every now and then I tie one ..... and .......

 

 

my second largest ever was caught with a 4 inch Dinger.

[bholtzinger14]

I was the opposite. I only fished with wacky rigged senkos. I went out this last year and bought me 6 new setups to start trying out other things. I cant say that I have caught more fish using other baits, but it is so much fun trying other things. I am sure when I figure out when to throw this or when to throw that my numbers will go up with the other baits. 

[crankbait2009]

As I mentioned, My numbers certainly went up that day.  Went from my normal 1, to now 3 in a short amount of time.  This also happened between 10Am and 1PM.  Not the ideal times to fish, but obviously these bass missed the memo.

 

I usually get one fish from 9am - 1pm

[jr231]

Not to nit-pick... But you said you pulled out your senkos and your circle hook... And missed your first fish when you tried to set the hook ! Keep in mind you just need to reel with a circle hook and the idea is that it will catch perfectly in the corner of the mouth. Trying to set the hook with a circle hook will definitely result in lost fish... 

 

 

BTW .. you can use a bigger hook . I use a 3/0 ewg and Texas rig the senko weightless first.. no takers, I'll flip it and put it on wacky... Can't count the number of bass I've caught over the years on a wacky rigged senko using a 3/0 ewg . Is it ideal ? Not really. But highly convenient when you also have success fishing them Texas weightless. Just a thought. 

 

Also 3 out of my 5 biggest fish were caught between 12-5pm. In summer ! When it's "too hot to fish" 

[crankbait2009]

hmm, i thought i lost him due to missing the hook set, mainly due to not being ready for it.  I knew treble hooks will help set the hook on their own, I didn't know that with circle hooks.

 

thanks for the advice

[scaleface]

I have faith in all lures  , some lures I have more faith in .

[Doelman]

I'm like you, I've stayed away from soft plastic baits until about last year.  I kept hearing about how great these senkos are so I asked my buddy who fishes bass tournaments pretty often about them, "I never fish without one tied on to one of my rods" he said, well heck, now I have to try them.  I've caught my largest SMB (5 lb), LMB

(7 lb), and pike (41") with them since, they're ridiculous, from the deep south to Canada they catch fish.

 

I was fishing a local lake last week.  I caught 1 LMB on a jerk bait and then I turned to the senkos since the bite was so slow, caught 8 more with the largest at 6 lbs over the course of 2.5 hours.  I talked to 5 other boats on the lake that afternoon, one guy caught 2 and the rest said "not a bite".  I still like to fish with other lures, but these things catch fish when nothing else does, no doubt about it.

[onetime]

2 hours ago, Yeajray231 said:

Not to nit-pick... But you said you pulled out your senkos and your circle hook... And missed your first fish when you tried to set the hook ! Keep in mind you just need to reel with a circle hook and the idea is that it will catch perfectly in the corner of the mouth. Trying to set the hook with a circle hook will definitely result in lost fish... 

 

 

BTW .. you can use a bigger hook . I use a 3/0 ewg and Texas rig the senko weightless first.. no takers, I'll flip it and put it on wacky... Can't count the number of bass I've caught over the years on a wacky rigged senko using a 3/0 ewg . Is it ideal ? Not really. But highly convenient when you also have success fishing them Texas weightless. Just a thought. 

 

Also 3 out of my 5 biggest fish were caught between 12-5pm. In summer ! When it's "too hot to fish" 

 

 

Very good info here, especially the first paragraph about a circle hook. I can't imagine not fishing plastics as they are my bread and butter, just goes to show you, different strokes for different folks 

[fishwizzard]

I almost exclusively fish soft plastics have somehow never managed to get a 5 inch senko to work that well for me.  I'm going to start forcing myself to give them a good try and start going out some days with nothing else in my tackle bag. 

[Darren.]

Congrats and welcome to the soft plastic side of fishing!  

 

That's primary for me, wacky, Ned, drop, and so on. All do

produce fish, in fact, the Ned has not allowed me to be 

skunked once since I started using it - even when my go-to

techniques failed!

 

Anyhow, 4" senko-style have been my most successful size,

despite buddies killing it in the same water with 5" versions.

I just didn't have the same luck. That said, I did get my PB

on a 5" senko...but that's another story.

[Dorado]

Then there are ribbontails. Learn to add these guys to your soft plastic arsenal. On days that I can't buy a bite on the wacky, a black Power Worm would just get destroyed some days. Welcome to the cult 

[snake95]

@crankbait2009

 

I thought I was the only guy in the world that didn't fish soft plastics!!! (Until last year, when I made it my mission to learn to fish with them -- persistence led to experience, experience led to confidence.  Summarized my experience with it in the post below. Now I actually find myself going out with nothing but plastics.

 

Now if only I could catch a fish on a jig...

 

 

 

[crankbait2009]

I tried a black ribbon tail (berkley) last weekend, for a few casts, and nothing happened.  SO I gave up.  I'll eventually try it again, but I'll ride the senko wacky rig train for awhile

[Angry John]

There are a lot of good worms out there and i find that the standard GYB worms are to soft to last.  They have a unique action that some times is unbeatable. Something very similar that you may want to try is a small 4 inch worm like a cane thumper.  It has a smaller profile but sinks very slow.  Fall rate has a big impact on how well they work some times.  In shallow water early season i like the 4" post spawn the larger 5 and 6 inch work better for me.

[RMax]

16 minutes ago, crankbait2009 said:

I tried a black ribbon tail (berkley) last weekend, for a few casts, and nothing happened.  SO I gave up.  I'll eventually try it again, but I'll ride the senko wacky rig train for awhile

Don't start your Texas Rig experience with Ribbon tails. I have had 10x more experience fishing with craws over T-Rigged worms.  A small ribbontail didn't get a nibble yesterday but they were hammering D-Bombs.  The best part is if you lose patience for a bit, with baits like Pit Boss's and Rage Craws, you can swim them and they'll have quite a bit of action.  I have caught a good amount of fish this way and its even saved me from being skunked. 

[Dorado]

10 minutes ago, RMax said:

Don't start your Texas Rig experience with Ribbon tails. I have had 10x more experience fishing with craws over T-Rigged worms.  A small ribbontail didn't get a nibble yesterday but they were hammering D-Bombs.  The best part is if you lose patience for a bit, with baits like Pit Boss's and Rage Craws, you can swim them and they'll have quite a bit of action.  I have caught a good amount of fish this way and its even saved me from being skunked. 

I respect that. You got my attention. I'll throw some Pit Bosses and Kinky Beavers next time I'm out. 

[AO2point4]

I'm the same way, I'll toss a senko for a few casts, get bored of it, and switch to something more fun to fish, like topwater. That's why I do a lot of "fishing", and not a lot of "catching". 

[TOXIC]

I was just the opposite years ago.  I am a finesse fisherman and threw 90% plastics year round.  My tournament partner is a cranker and I have to admit I throw a lot more cranks now.  What you need to realize is that there are times when 1 will outproduce the other but as a general rule, finesse plastics will always produce.  Whenever I get frustrated, the weightless Senko comes out and I have had 4 different rods rigged with different senko presentations at times.  I will never be caught without a senko rod rigged up.  This was last weekend.  You can see the bait....

 

 

[bh91]

Not sure if it was mentioned but it seems like more of a patience issue than of a faith in plastics