4 senkos in a row stolen off my wacky rig, 6 total, WTH!!!

[throttleplate]

any ideas? here is the skinny. I was using a 3/0 worm hook with a wire cage weed guard, hooked up a senko using the o-ring and hooked it also through the worm wacky rig style, threw it out and felt 2-3 tugs and it was gone. Hooked up 3 more worms and same thing all within 10 minutes or less. Then i thought to out smart the whatever it was and put on a circle hook with wire cage which i have never had problems with wire cages before a 3/0 wrig and tossed it out to same spot and it happened again 2 times in a row minutes apart.

 

Now all day there were 4 huge carp hanging around the culvert area, also a snapping turtle, could i have been robbed by the carp or the turtle?  I have always used wire cage hooks and caught bass as i did tonite but in this one spot where i tossed my wrig i got robbed and all that was left was the darn o-ring every time. How did the creature suck or bite that worm off, anyone have this experience with the wr?

[Otter17]

Dude, sounds like a pike to me. Or something with teeth. I couldn’t really see the carp sucking it off the hook though.

[DomQ]

Turtles love to steal baits from anglers. They take them back home and stash them away like trophies. 

[Bluebasser86]

The multiple tugs screams bluegill or sunfish to me. They'll grab the end of a wacky rig and run off with it, and they'll pull the bait off the hook in the process pretty frequently. 

 

Turtles don't do multiple tugs, at least snappers don't. It's one big "thump", followed by another if you wait long enough as they're swallowing your bait. They also rarely miss on a slow moving bait and get the whole hook and everything, you'd have likely caught it if it was a turtle doing it. 

 

Carp don't tug at a bait either, they pick stuff up and run off in a hurry. 

[NHBull]

^^^^^^bluegill or sunny

[gunsinger]

^^^This^^^

[Bubba 460]

Whatever it is... He's smarter than than the average bear.

 

Had a pickerel bite off a wacky 4 times in a row, I left. Yesterday I caught a  four pound bass on a brand new spinner bait. He mangled the bait, the trailer was gone and the line was frayed. I straightened the wire, attached a new trailer and cut and retied the lure on. Cut the tag line (I thought) and tossed the bait overboard where it quickly sank to the bottom and the line ran backward through all the guides and laid in a neat little pile on the deck ~ GRRR. 

[TnRiver46]

This is why I never use wacky rig 

[Team9nine]

It’s punishment for those continuing to use wacky rigged Senkos and expecting a better outcome  0 for 6 with no bass to show for it is going to put a serious dent in your ‘fish per bait’ ratio ? 

[hokiehunter373]

Sounds like something with teeth to me.  Agreed above that I don't think it's a turtle or carp.  I can't imagine a bluegill is picking you clean like that.  I've had some big bluegills hit my wacky rigs but not tear the worm through the o ring.  

[scaleface]

Man, you are going to be broke before long .

[Fishes in trees]

Could it have been an old, loose or slick o-ring?

[gim]

I've had panfish slide the stick bait right off when wacky rigging.  They'll grab the end of it and tug on it multiple times.  I've also had small bass miss the hook and pull the stick bait out too.  A decent size bass (12+ inches) doesn't usually miss the hook.

 

Two suggestions @throttleplate, you could try a different brand of stick bait.  Zman makes a very durable elaztech in big TRD or zinker.  Its buoyant though, so you'll have to find a way to add some weight.

 

The other suggestion is to try using two o-rings.  I have never done this but I have seen people cross them and then slide the hook under the cross section.

 

Its not a pike.  They shred the plastic, not slide it out.

 

 

[Koopster]

Switch from O-ring to heat shrink. When I did that I found that the baits last MUCH longer. 
 

 

[hokiehunter373]

1 hour ago, gimruis said:

The other suggestion is to try using two o-rings.  I have never done this but I have seen people cross them and then slide the hook under the cross section.

 

Its not a pike.  They shred the plastic, not slide it out.

 

 

I do this.  Maybe that's why I haven't had any issues.  My senkos split in half at the o ring instead of just slipping out.  I always get a partial tear first and can switch out.

[moguy1973]

1 hour ago, Koopster said:

Switch from O-ring to heat shrink. When I did that I found that the baits last MUCH longer. 
 

 

I had the exact opposite effect.  When I tried shrink wrap on my senkos I had the same experience the OP is having where the fish would bite and I'd set the hook and the senko would be gone and I'll I'd have is a hook with my shrink wrap left and no fish.  I went back to my Goodie hair bands doubled over into an X shape and never looked back.  I can get 6-10 fish on one senko usually before the hair band cuts the worm in half.

[throttleplate]

6 hours ago, Bluebasser86 said:

The multiple tugs screams bluegill or sunfish to me. They'll grab the end of a wacky rig and run off with it, and they'll pull the bait off the hook in the process pretty frequently. 

i have to agree with this, my wife was fishing the same culvert and she was using tr and had no problem and even caught 14 bass on 1 senko before she had to put another one on.

 

Then she even got tired working the tr so she put a bobber on it and ended the day with 25 bass and 2 big blue gills and 2 big sunnies caught on the tr. These sunnies she caught were big and fat and hungry getting caught on a tr with a 4/0 ewg hook.

 

My o-rings are vmc new but they slide on so easy with my fingers so i punched through the senko skin just a bit also but maybe not enough. Next time the double o-ring crossed i may try also the shrink wrap or just do as my wife and use a bobber ? on the tr or just abandon the wackey alltogether

 

6 hours ago, NHBull said:

^^^^^^bluegill or sunny

agreed

4 hours ago, TnRiver46 said:

This is why I never use wacky rig 

yeah i agree, i got so mad at losing the senkos it became me wanting instant satisfaction to nail the culprit that i immediately put on the other senkos, white, blue, watermellon, orange and then even changing to a circle hook all to get swiped in a minute of hitting the water.

[throttleplate]

31 minutes ago, moguy1973 said:

I had the exact opposite effect.  When I tried shrink wrap on my senkos I had the same experience the OP is having where the fish would bite and I'd set the hook and the senko would be gone and I'll I'd have is a hook with my shrink wrap left and no fish.  I went back to my Goodie hair bands doubled over into an X shape and never looked back.  I can get 6-10 fish on one senko usually before the hair band cuts the worm in half.

where do you get these hair bands and how do you use them?

talked to the wife and we may go back to this spot just to catch sunnies and gills using gulp minnows for a good fish dinner. Eating my nemesis.

[gunsinger]

Based on advice gained on this forum, I did try the double O-ring setup and found i could save the bait more often than not.  It varied from fish to fish.  There were some times when I'd set the hook and get back a hook with 2 cute little O-rings hanging off it.  I think if something takes your worm (wacky or otherwise) by the tail and never gets the hook in their mouth, when you set the hook hard, you're going to lose that bait and there's just not much you can do about it other than buy in bulk.

 

I do find that i burn through more wacky rigged worms than T-Rigged worms but they both get tore up from the floor up.

[moguy1973]

2 hours ago, throttleplate said:

where do you get these hair bands and how do you use them?

talked to the wife and we may go back to this spot just to catch sunnies and gills using gulp minnows for a good fish dinner. Eating my nemesis.

Walmart or Amazon or Target.

 

Do a google search for Goody hair rubber bands.  They come in packs of like 250 of various sizes.  The small ones work if you use 2, but the medium and large you can double them to form an X and I hook the hook through the worm under the x so the hook is perpendicular to the worm.  I find hook up rates are a little better with it like that, although you do lose some weedlessness.  In heavy cover I use a Berkley Fusion19 weedless wacky hook in those instances.