Senko Re-Bait

[Koz]

The title is not a misspelling. It's a pun.

 

Senkos have been our go to bait so far this year, but my 11 year old son goes through a ton of them when he's fishing a weightless Texas rig. His setup is fine, but his casting technique is a bit harsh and he gets so into his fishing he forgets to check his rigging every now and then. That's leads to a ton of Senkos going airborn on their own or lost in the deep.

 

The other day we're fishing a lagoon that is new to us and we're getting a lot of action from juvenile largemouth bass (less than 1 lb). The lunkers have been laying low for a few weeks, so at least we're catching something. Anyway, he gets a strike on a Senko, starts to bring it in and loses the fish and once again loses the bait. So I give him his 14, 292nd lecture on re-checking his bait and not ripping every cast.

 

He sets up another Senko and on his next cast he gets a hit, and this time he lands the catch. He goes to take out the hook and he sees both Senkos in the mouth of the fish. What are the odds that the same fish hits his line on consecutive casts? That was kind of amazing.

[j bab]

That's awesome. I've had that happen except it was an hour later in the same spot. Consecutive casts is even crazier! Shows that the bass was either very territorial and aggressive OR it really liked the taste of the senko  

[MassYak85]

I've had that happen with pickerel especially. My friend broke off when one bit, then later I caught it and got his lure back. 

[Bluebasser86]

I've seen it happen pretty often actually. Had a smallmouth a few years ago that my buddy broke off in the morning, went back that afternoon and caught it with his bait still in it's mouth. Actually had it happen last week where the guy I was fishing with missed a bite and lost his wacky worm. We fished the spot again a few hours later and I caught the fish that threw up his bait right as it got to the boat. Caught a smallie on a guide trip a few weeks ago that ate my plopper. When I got it to the boat, it threw up a Ned rig, had another Ned stuck in the roof of it's mouth, and had a darter head with a Kalin's Sizmic grub sticking out of it's throat. I imagine that fish was pretty relieved to have all that junk removed from it's face before being released again. 

[NYWayfarer]

11 hours ago, MassYak85 said:

I've had that happen with pickerel especially. My friend broke off when one bit, then later I caught it and got his lure back. 

 

I had the same experience with a Pickerel this weekend. I cast a wacky rigged dinger to some pads. I felt a tug, set the hook only to reel in empty line, no hook no bait. I thought my knot slipped, which hasn't happened in awhile.

 

Tied a Fluke jr on and cast to the same spot. Pickerel slammed the bait and when I reeled him in I noticed he had the Dinger hooked in the side of his mouth. His needle like teeth had cut my line as I was able to see my knot was still intact.