Another Trip to the Rapp

[TOXIC]

Three of us headed to the Rappahonock Saturday.  2 in 1 boat, 1 single in another boat.  River was up, muddy and flowing heavy.  Tide was rippin, little to no debris.  We worked the mouths of creeks and had very little luck.  Switched over to laydowns and isolated cover close to drops and it was on!!  For me anyway.  Best 5 would have gone 20lbs which is very respectable for this river.  All fish caught upriver from the Hopyard Landing.  We did go downriver and the water got even dirtier.  We were all throwing the same color Senko on spinning and I whacked them while my buddies struggled.  Biggest problem was that the color Senko I was using is now discontinued and were part of a 100 count bulk pack that we pro staff get when the QC folks a the plant determine something is not right with the color.  Just my luck.  I will say this....my being able to work the bait a little differently than the other guys accounted for my success.  I guess 20 years of throwing a Senko pays off and the notion that the Senko is an "idiot" bait doesn't hold water.  But to my one buddies credit, he went to the Chickahominy River on Sunday and whacked a 6lber on the same bait but Saturday belonged to me.   

 

 

[Junger]

Just curious, how'd you work the senko?

[TOXIC]

Mostly it was understanding current and how it affects the bait.  I used the current to my advantage and getting the bait to go where it needed to.  Also slowing down and letting the bait get to the bottom.  Knowing where to throw so that the bait was in the strike zone when it came through the cover.  Working up current breaks and down current breaks....just to name a few...... 

[rickyg]

That is an awesome day on the Rapp.  My dad has done quite a bit of fishing down that way and really knows how to work the current.  It definitely helps and I need to get him out there so he can teach me. 

I haven't done a lot of fishing recently on the lower Rapp, but enough to know that doesn't happen very often.  You've probably motivated me to give it another go.

[TOXIC]

9 minutes ago, rickyg said:

That is an awesome day on the Rapp.  My dad has done quite a bit of fishing down that way and really knows how to work the current.  It definitely helps and I need to get him out there so he can teach me. 

I haven't done a lot of fishing recently on the lower Rapp, but enough to know that doesn't happen very often.  You've probably motivated me to give it another go.

We run from Hopyard up to the bridge.  We have run South to Port Royal but that's a looooong run.  We spend our time up north.  There are a lot of good bass but with it being a river with a lot of current, you have to fish it differently.  Plus there's the possibility of some big smallmouth.   

[Choporoz]

4 hours ago, TOXIC said:

Mostly it was understanding current and how it affects the bait.  I used the current to my advantage and getting the bait to go where it needed to.  Also slowing down and letting the bait get to the bottom.  Knowing where to throw so that the bait was in the strike zone when it came through the cover.  Working up current breaks and down current breaks....just to name a few...... 

That's the tough part for me...especially weightless.  I'm soooo much more comfortable with even a lightly weighted wacky head, like an Owner Ultrahead Wacky.  Spent a bit of time yesterday trying a weightless wacky for first time in years....I don't think it got to bottom very often...I blame current in a kayak, but honestly, I just struggle with having enough patience for weightless plastics -- except maybe flukes...and skipping....but neither of those necessarily needs to get to bottom

[rickyg]

7 hours ago, TOXIC said:

We run from Hopyard up to the bridge.  We have run South to Port Royal but that's a looooong run.  We spend our time up north.  There are a lot of good bass but with it being a river with a lot of current, you have to fish it differently.  Plus there's the possibility of some big smallmouth.   

Sorry I wasn't clear.  From my point of view, anything below where the old dam was, is lower Rapp since I do the majority of my river fishing above there for smallies.  I have fished down around Tappahannock in the creeks, but it was a long time ago.  There *are* some nice smallmouth just below the Falmouth bridge.  I've fished the area around Little Falls Run from a kayak and kinda got an itch to try down around Hick's Landing.

[TOXIC]

15 hours ago, Choporoz said:

That's the tough part for me...especially weightless.  I'm soooo much more comfortable with even a lightly weighted wacky head, like an Owner Ultrahead Wacky.  Spent a bit of time yesterday trying a weightless wacky for first time in years....I don't think it got to bottom very often...I blame current in a kayak, but honestly, I just struggle with having enough patience for weightless plastics -- except maybe flukes...and skipping....but neither of those necessarily needs to get to bottom

For many years, I was a Senko purist and considered it sacrilege to put any kind of weight on it.  That's both good and bad.  The good was that it taught me how to fish a Senko weightless in all kinds of conditions and helped me get "in-tune" with what the bait was doing.  The bad was that there are definitely times when a weighted Senko is helpful.  The way I got my patience weightless is visualizing the bait underwater and what it is doing and since I fish it so much being able to know what it does in all kinds of conditions/current/wind/line size/hook size, etc.  I got my first weighted schooling when I lived in Florida.  When I first moved there I didn't catch a fish on a Senko for the first month (and I fished pretty regularly since I had a dock and lift my boat sat on).  Then while hosting my friend from the Elite series as he practiced for a tournament, I hooked up with a lifelong tournament river fisherman who happened to be a Senko freak.  He showed me the error in my thinking.  And it worked wonders.  I brought that mindset back to Virginia and the Potomac and have really increased my production as well as giving me another option.  I still don't like wacky rigging and do not do it.  I've never witnessed anyone out fishing me on a Senko wacky rigging when I was Texas Rigging.   

[Sam]

Toxic, one day I have to show you a "Senko" bait that a guy gave me a few years ago and no one at GY's place ever heard of it or had seen it.

 

It may not be a Senko, but it sure looks like a Senko.

 

I have the number I was given for this color in my Senko stash and will try to pull it out this weekend and get the info to you.

 

It is supposed to be fantastic on the Chick River.

 

More later.

[TOXIC]

Color choice is very personal.  I have a friend who fishes the Chick a lot and he does VERY well.  He only uses 1 color and he told me the other day that he has gone through 200 bags this season.    Another buddy using that same color caught a 9.27 a couple of weeks ago.  

 

I have my personal favorites depending on the bodies of water I am fishing but I never go without a good stock of 297.  It's Yamamoto's best seller and there's a reason.  It will work anywhere and in any color of water.  Some other colors may work better but 297 will always get you bit.