Dedicated Weightless Senko rod...what do you use?

[clemsondds]

Do you have a dedicated weightless wacky senko rod?  If so, what rod are you using? Spinning or Casting?  Even if it's not dedicated...what rod do you prefer to throw wacky senkos on?  I've always used a spinning setup...but slowly thinking about switching to casting. thanks

[Cbump]

I use 

 

Daiwa Tatula Elite Brent Ehrler Finesse AGS 7’ M-MH XF

 

Daiwa Rebellion 7’3” MH F 

 

t-rigged Weightless

[Hammer 4]

99.99% of the time, I reach for my 7'1" ml spinning rig which has 8# mono spooled up. Been working just fine for the last ...can't recall how many years it's been..lol

[Cbump]

10 minutes ago, Cbump said:

I use 

 

Daiwa Tatula Elite Brent Ehrler Finesse AGS 7’ M-MH XF

 

Daiwa Rebellion 7’3” MH F 

 

t-rigged Weightless

15lb fluoro on both. 

[Big Hands]

Disclaimer: I would preface this by saying that this is what worked for me, the water I fish and the way I fish. It's possible that this rod is uniquely effective for only me.

 

I went on a vision quest searching for a weightless Senko rod last year because it turns out that they have been super productive for me at my home lake. I went through eight rods and finally hit what I consider a jackpot on rod #9.

 

Rods I tried:

• Daiwa Tatula 7' M/F Spinning rod (with various Daiwa 2000 or 2500 reels)
• Daiwa Kage 6'10" M/F Spinning rod (with various Daiwa 2000 or 2500 reels)
• Daiwa Fuego 7'2" M/XF Spinning rod (with various Daiwa 2000 or 2500 reels)
• Shimano Zodias 7' ML/F Spinning rod (with various Daiwa 2000 or 2500 reels)
• Shimano Expride 7' L/F Spinning rod (with various Daiwa 2000 or 2500 reels)
• Phenix Feather 7'1" M/F Spinning rod (with various Daiwa 2000 or 2500 reels)
• Phenix Feather 7'1" L/F Casting rod (with Curado BFS reel)
• Phenix Feather 7'1" ML Casting rod (with Curado BFS reel)

 

Of these, the Expride 7' L/F came the closest, and I was prepared to call it good enough, but I had been wondering if one of the Daiwa 7'6" ML-M/F hair jig rods might suit me. The problem was that they were in very short supply or sold out everywhere. Then I came across a St. Croix Mojo Bass 7'6" ML/XF rod at my local tackle shop and it felt pretty good, so I clamped down and took it home. 

 

It slings them further than anything else I have tried, by a good bit. With the light tip, I know they're there long before they detect me. It's got just the right amount of backbone to set a hook, and then keeps the fish pinned better than any rod I have. I use 10# braid with 7 lb leader and have come to like Finesse Wide Gap, Jungle Wacky (Camo color, with and without the weedguard), and Mosquito (regular and light) hooks, and I generally use o-rings. 

 

I throw them anywhere from right on the steeper banks, and up to 15 feet deep. But I get most of my bites near the bank, and in the first 30 seconds after it hits the water. Since Senkos work for me so well, I only use this rod for Senkos, both 4" and 5", but usually fish the 5" model.

 

 

[T-Billy]

7' MH XF Ark, Tharp Series "Hammer".

[Jar11591]

My senko dedicated rod is a 7’ medium fast Fenwick Elite Tech spinning rod, Pflueger Supreme 25 with 8lb Yo-Zuri hybrid line. 

[MN Fisher]

Not dedicated, but my wacky rod this year

7'1 Mojo Bass M/F

Miravel 2500

15# Smackdown to 8# YZH leader.

[Wprich]

St. Croix Legend Elite 6'10" MXF or NRX+ 852S are my 5" wacky Senko rods

[Nelson Delaney]

I use NRX 853c 

[Bankbeater]

I don’t have a dedicated rod, but the rod I use is a 6’6” St. Croix Premier. 

[Pat Brown]

7 ft spinning medium heavy fast rod with 8 lb mono.

 

Caught a lot of giants on this set up in April and May of last year!

[a1712]

Custom using an NFC MB-736 X-Ray blank, 2022 Metanium Shallow spooled with 10 lb. Tatsu, 2 of them actually. Brian. 

[FrnkNsteen]

6'9" ML Fenwick Elitetech Smallmouth with a 2500 Fuego.

 

LOVE that rod!

[DropShotHotShot]

I used a casting rod for years and switched to a 7' M/F Zodias spinning and will never go back to casting for a weigthless wacky, way easier to skip under docks.

 

I still use a casting rod for texas rigged weightless senkos around cover. 

[clemsondds]

7 hours ago, Big Hands said:

Disclaimer: I would preface this by saying that this is what worked for me, the water I fish and the way I fish. It's possible that this rod is uniquely effective for only me.

 

I went on a vision quest searching for a weightless Senko rod last year because it turns out that they have been super productive for me at my home lake. I went through eight rods and finally hit what I consider a jackpot on rod #9.

 

Rods I tried:

• Daiwa Tatula 7' M/F Spinning rod (with various Daiwa 2000 or 2500 reels)
• Daiwa Kage 6'10" M/F Spinning rod (with various Daiwa 2000 or 2500 reels)
• Daiwa Fuego 7'2" M/XF Spinning rod (with various Daiwa 2000 or 2500 reels)
• Shimano Zodias 7' ML/F Spinning rod (with various Daiwa 2000 or 2500 reels)
• Shimano Expride 7' L/F Spinning rod (with various Daiwa 2000 or 2500 reels)
• Phenix Feather 7'1" M/F Spinning rod (with various Daiwa 2000 or 2500 reels)
• Phenix Feather 7'1" L/F Casting rod (with Curado BFS reel)
• Phenix Feather 7'1" ML Casting rod (with Curado BFS reel)

 

Of these, the Expride 7' L/F came the closest, and I was prepared to call it good enough, but I had been wondering if one of the Daiwa 7'6" ML-M/F hair jig rods might suit me. The problem was that they were in very short supply or sold out everywhere. Then I came across a St. Croix Mojo Bass 7'6" ML/XF rod at my local tackle shop and it felt pretty good, so I clamped down and took it home. 

 

It slings them further than anything else I have tried, by a good bit. With the light tip, I know they're there long before they detect me. It's got just the right amount of backbone to set a hook, and then keeps the fish pinned better than any rod I have. I use 10# braid with 7 lb leader and have come to like Finesse Wide Gap, Jungle Wacky (Camo color, with and without the weedguard), and Mosquito (regular and light) hooks, and I generally use o-rings. 

 

I throw them anywhere from right on the steeper banks, and up to 15 feet deep. But I get most of my bites near the bank, and in the first 30 seconds after it hits the water. Since Senkos work for me so well, I only use this rod for Senkos, both 4" and 5", but usually fish the 5" model.

 

 

Thanks for the feedback! Very interesting! Can you compare casting vs spinning? 

[Catt]

9 hours ago, clemsondds said:

Even if it's not dedicated...what rod do you prefer to throw wacky senkos on?

 

Powell Inferno 703C 7' Medium Heavy X-Fast 

Lew's Team Lite TLL1SH 7.5:1

Berkley Big Game 15# Mean Green 

VMC Weedless Neko Hook 2/0

[BrianMDTX]

Fenwick HMX 66M-FS-2 rod (MF)

Daiwa Revros LT2500 reel

20 lb. Sufix 832; 6 lb. YZH leader

Gamakutsu 1/0 circle octopus hook 

Senkos with O-ring

 

St. Croix Bass-X 61MLXF rod (ML/XF)

Daiwa Revros LT2000 reel

20 lb. Sufix 832; 6 lb. YZH leader

3/0 Gamakatsu EWG

Senkos, Zoom Tricks, etc. weightless TR

[Cbump]

It’s interesting how some automatically think wacky and spinning setup when they hear weightless senko. 
 

I think t-rigged with a casting setup. I like the power to set the hook and the 15lb line to pull them out. 

I only wacky with finesse worms in the summer for suspended fish. Not my favorite way to fish. 

 

[Fishin Dad]

For weightless wacky it is an old 7’ Cabela’s ZX bass Medium Fast with 15lb. Braid to a 12 lb. Fluoro leader.  

 

For wacky jigging, it is a Cabela’s ZX 7’1” MH Fast casting with Daiwa Tatula SV and 15 fluoro.   
 

I had purchased those Cabela’s rods a long time ago and I just feel so comfortable with them throwing stick worms, I haven’t changed them out yet.   I will be sad the day they break.  They are dedicated to wacky stick worms.  
 

I do Texas rig stick worms in extreme cover, but really feel that wacky gets more bites.  Skip, pitch, flip, bomb cast, dead stick, etc.   Stick worms can do it all.  
 

good luck in your search.  

[detroit1]

My dedicated senko rod is also used for flukes. Nothing fancy here. A 6-10 or 6-9 mh-f  (can't remember ha ha) spinning rod (shimano $65) and a pflueger 2500 pres. 15# braid to spro power swivel, and 6' of 8# floro. It works for me.

[Darth-Baiter]

me. 

 

I threw with a Fury 733 mostly last year, but I in general I have a Kayden Med with a 2500 Vanford spinning.  I use that on the Delta since I need to watch the line move to detect bass because of the current.  and I cast way far to not spook those elusive pressured fish.  

 

the Kayden is way more parabolic than I thought I would love, but dang it if that bend isn't a fish holding rod.  and it tempers my..."waaahhhh- fish on excitement."  plus the whip-tip flings dang near anything.  Senkos are heavy, but not all my worms are Senkos.  some are light.

[Big Hands]

1 hour ago, clemsondds said:

Thanks for the feedback! Very interesting! Can you compare casting vs spinning? 

Oddly enough, with the ML/F and L/F casting rods with the Curado BFS reels, I couldn't get the distance I wanted, and had to lob them higher than I wanted to to get the distance I did get. Distance is important to me because the lake I fish has been heavily pressured for decades and is relatively small (2,200 acres when full) so I try not to announce my presence staying farther from my targets. I feel that I have pretty good accuracy with the Hair Jig spinning rod and need to.

 

Just so you know what I am doing with Senkos: I fish the Senko right against steep walls, and the smallest notch can hold fish that can hard to coax out from those small notches. From late Spring to early Fall, I am often throwing at the literal edge to 6" from the edge. 12" away is not terrible. Often, I'd rather bounce off of the shoreline than land 24" from it. In a lot of the areas I fish, a boat length from shore is often anywhere from 15-20' to 70' feet deep.

 

Admittedly, I still have some experimenting to do with regards to line choice. I had 15 lb braid with 6-8 mono or fluoro leaders which I didn't really like for anything (line dig issues more than anything, and couple that with less performance than I am able to achieve). I ended up selling the Phenix L/F Feather and one of the Curado BFS reels. I am trying some different lines with the ML/F Feather/Curado BFS that I kept and haven't had the opportunity to fish them much at all, let alone up shallow so we will see soon hopefully. I'll be trying both 6-8 lb mono and 20 lb braid with 6-8 lb leader after that to see if I can get this rig dialed in. 

 

I like the Feather/Curado BFS for light Texas rig and shakeyhead fishing more than anything else. To be clear, I am fishing what I think most would classify as more old school 'finesse' than true 'BFS' style presentations.

 

It's interesting to see how much variance there is just in the way others fish weightless Senkos with regard to line, rod and reel choices. 

[Cbump]

Yeah I wouldn’t call a senko bfs. They are heavy. 

[TOXIC]

There’s a post floating around here on the front page about a baitcaster vs spinning for weightless Senkos and my lengthy response.?. Although I don’t fish wacky style, I fish a lot of weightless Senkos and my rod and line choices are always based on where and how I will be fishing.  For example, I don’t use the same setup on lakes vs rivers or on fishing docks, open water or vegetation.  If I had to make a general statement, my preferred rod would be a 7 ft medium CastAway Skeleton and 6lb mono on a spinning setup.