Whats Up With Senkos?

[RenzokukenFisher]

Today out fishing one of our local ponds with a buddy we ran into a guy having some good luck, took a peek at what he was using and boom! A Senko. It blows my mind how this thing catches fish. Its basically skunk proof in my area and after looking around at different bodies of water on fishbrain, countless 5+lb fish are caught on it, but even tiny dinks will eat it too. Funny enough after fishing for around 5 years now I've finally decided to start throwing it and I have to say my confidence with it now is very high. It just makes me laugh thinking about it sometimes, all these different lures, colors, rods and reels, and at the end of the day that Senko comes out on top. Again maybe its just these pressured Cali ponds but thought it could be a fun topic. Are Senkos popular in your neck of the woods? Any big fish on them? Why do you think bass love em?

[Columbia Craw]

They provide the best characteristics of the easy meal.

[roadwarrior]

 

[OmegaDPW]

I fish a lot of stick baits. Usually not Senkos because they come off the hook too easily, but the Creme stick baits are always on sale at Wal Mart for $1 a pack of 5 and they work great. 

 

The funny thing with stickbaits is that I never catch anything with them on a weighted TX rig. I hook them weedless (usually a 3/0 EWG) and just cast them out. Green Pumpkin is the choice of color for my ponds. 

[gim]

4 minutes ago, OmegaDPW said:

but the Creme stick baits are always on sale at Wal Mart for $1 a pack of 5 and they work great. 

 

I found these in a bargain bin last summer at a Walmartian location.  I had never even heard of them.  I grabbed on bag.  Based on advice here, some suggested I go back and buy all of them left in there because they were going for 59 cents.  I went back a couple hours later and picked out the last 4.  At just over 10 cents/stickbait, why not.

 

I like the natural sink rate of the yamamoto stick bait but it definitely lacks durability.  I also use yum, stick-o, creme, zman, and a scheels brand.  Zman has by far the most durability, but its naturally buoyant.

 

I would say that about half of all my largemouth caught this season have come on a stick bait.  I generally nail weight mine for a neko rig which allows it to fall faster when I'm fishing deeper weedlines.

 

 

 

[islandbass]

I too am amazed at the senko but I stopped wondering that and have since learned of all the available colors, only one fools them the most on a lake I fish where the bass are stingy with biting. 
 

I have tried other stick baits, yum, etc., but none of them hold a candle to the senko in terms of productivity AND action. The others don’t even come close to action or sink rate. I believe these are the two traits the senko has them beat. 
 

Now hold up. It does not mean I fish them exclusively. No way. Their biggest minus is is their durability of lack thereof and their price at most retailers. Not a complaint, at all. But it is what it is. 
 

The stik-o, creme,  and just recently trying the zman stick baits for the first time also work at times. Not much success on the yum dinger no matter how much I believe they should work. I still use them because it’s better to have and not need than to need and not have. I know I will encounter a time where the bass will prefer it over the senko. 

[Reel]

I've been using senkos since 1999.  You were missing out on a lot.  You would not believe me if I told you how good they were these first years. 

What makes them so effective is that they move without you moving them.  There is nothing better to imitate a living thing.  

[scaleface]

I dont use Senkos because of the price, use Yum Dingers instead. I depleted most of my supply the past two weeks so visited my local farm store to replenish . The shelves were bare of Dingers. Evidently Dingers are getting popular here.  

[Bankc]

The Senko ranks at a 5.  The Strike King Ocho is a solid 8!  That's 3 better!  And that's science, so you can't argue with that!  😜

 

Seriously though, Senkos are great, and I know a lot of people swear by them.  But most any Senko style stick bait seems to work about the same for me.  And most of the others are cheaper and last longer.  Of course, I have to admit that I don't fish them weightless too often, and that's where the softer plastic of the Senko matters most. 

[Pogues2300]

Guess I’m in the minority but I’ve seen very little difference in fish catching between the stick baits. Just was wondering if maybe everyone is using senkos at lakes I fish that other varieties may work better due to conditioning. That being said when I watch a senko flutter down I’m tempted to bite it 😊 

[RenzokukenFisher]

1 hour ago, Reel said:

I've been using senkos since 1999.  You were missing out on a lot.  You would not believe me if I told you how good they were these first years. 

What makes them so effective is that they move without you moving them.  There is nothing better to imitate a living thing.  

I was born in 2000 but man after hearing all the stories and seeing when most giants were being caught it mustve been wild fishing those 90s and early 2000s years. Also that action without rod movement is something I have alot of faith in with jigs. The way that skirt unfurls and moves in the water is too good

[RRocket]

Senkos are REALLY hit or miss here. I mean REALLY. And personally they don't work for me. At all. Waste of time to even rig one. Seems to be stick baits in general though and I have no idea why. Roboworm? Nope. Tried on dropshot and wacky. Zero. Did have plenty of luck with Z-man Big TRD..but I'm guessing it was the Ned presentation rather than the worm itself. For that reason I no longer use worms, just alternatives. OSP Dolive Stick..But it's more fish shaped. And of course poop baits.

 

Was at a pond yesterday and 4 out of 5 guys were fishing Senkos and were skunked.

 

I was the 5th guy and was catching fish on poop baits.

 

I really can't explain it.

 

I'm about to embark on a FlickShake odyssey this week to see if worms fished in that manner will work. Just waiting for the Jackall Flick Shake to arrive.

 

[islandbass]

@RRocket: I hear you! Senkos never worked for me since I bought my first pack in about 2005 and I started fishing in 2004. 
 

I became a master of working it this way and that way, and zero. Zilch. Nada. I was so disappointed and started thinking it’s hype, what a bunch of hooey but at the same time, I thought, come on dude (me), it’s working for so many people so what’s my disconnect with them. I wrote them off by 2007. 

 

I am referring to the 4” and 5” senkos. Fast forward to about 2018-19 give or take. I decide to try again. I finally got it. I did some tests with hook type and size, line, casting and spinning. 
 

I’ve been catching bass in senkos (and other stick baits) since then. So stick with it. 
 

my findings based on my waters

 

hook - 3/0 straight shank hook preferred with no offset.  Offset hooks both SS and EWG are nicer to rig but I don’t miss with the SS. I’ve noticed the 4/0 and 5/0 hooks lessen to some extent some of the shimmy. Perhaps because the longer length occupies more of the senko and therefore, reducing the length of the worm that shimmies. 
 

line - 8-12# mono or fc. Fortunately, I do not face heavier cover conditions.
 

spinning or casting  have been equally productive but the spinning is for more convenient because you don’t need to pull line out. 
 

color - baby bass is my primary choice. . Other “green” color schemes of similar tone also work. 
 

hope this encourages you to try again. Now go get’em! 😎👍

[roadwarrior]

The Guarantee

 

 

[RRocket]

4 hours ago, islandbass said:

 

hope this encourages you to try again. Now go get’em! 😎👍

Thanks for the encouragement, but I'm done with Senkos. They just don't work here. Or rather, there's much better options that easily outproduce them.

 

I'm curious to see how the Flick Shake does though.

 

As for any "Guarantee", what do I get since it doesn't work? A free bag of Senkos? LOL 😆 

[LonnieP]

Never had much luck with Senkos. Ive had much better luck throwing a weighted Texas rigged worm

[scaleface]

Texas rigged senkos, Dingers... are big time bass catchers. I use pitch them in cover and out on structure. They flat out get bit.

[LrgmouthShad]

Senkos were better for me about 3 years ago but they still catch fish well. My biggest problem with using a weightless senko whether it is weightless Texas style or wacky is I don’t think it is a bait that you can expect to catch numbers of big fish. It is a slow technique that will get inactive fish to bite, but not a bait that is easy to fish faster. I use it off the bank nowadays on fish that I am confident I have located and cannot get to bite other lures. Going to definitely experiment more with neko rigging one soon though. 

[king fisher]

I don't fish soft stick baits often, but when I do it's a Senko

[TOXIC]

Well, I could literally write a book on Senkos.  As a matter of fact, I pretty much have if you research my posts here.  I’ve been throwing them since 1986, Yamamoto baits was formed in 1983.  I’ve been pro staff for the last 25 years.  Used them in my guide service, caught conservatively 1,000’s of fish on them from north to south, east to west, written articles on the 78 ways I came up with for rigging them.  Pics are all Senko fish from different years in Wisconsin, Virginia, Florida and Michigan.  I could add a lot of other states to the list as well but I think I’ve made my truth obvious.  Do I like Senkos? Yeah kinda….😂😛

[little giant]

Been using them forever it seems!! Two rods set up for them, ML bfs and a MH falcon cara. Used many different brands but now I just use Tiki sticks or Gambler. If the bass are snoozin', a drop or two of Anise oil wakes them! 😃

[gim]

2 hours ago, RRocket said:

They just don't work here. Or rather, there's much better options that easily outproduce them.

 

I wouldn't keep using something that didn't work either.  Why beat a dead horse when its already dead.

 

Whopper plopper is the lure that doesn't work here.

[islandbass]

9 hours ago, RRocket said:

Thanks for the encouragement, but I'm done with Senkos. They just don't work here. Or rather, there's much better options that easily outproduce them.

 

I'm curious to see how the Flick Shake does though.

 

As for any "Guarantee", what do I get since it doesn't work? A free bag of Senkos? LOL 😆 

Lol, No problem. They didn’t work for me for over ten years.  If you ever get the urge to try them again, perhaps choosing a color that is the same or as close as possible to the most productive color of soft plastic in your waters. 
 

This is just a pipe dream but it would be cool to pin on a map the general area we live and note what bait types, sizes and colors have been best for us (and most productive since any lure can work anywhere at any given time) and see what correlations and findings result. Honestly, I think about this just about every winter lol. 

[RRocket]

48 minutes ago, islandbass said:

. Honestly, I think about this just about every winter lol. 

I always have stuff like that running through my head!

 

Green Pumpkin hasn't been productive for me in the least but it's boss in other parts of the country. Ghost Shrimp? Killer on Smallies here. One of my most productive poop baits is Golden Shiner. I always presumed they thought the poop bait was a clawless crawfish. But a golden sparkly one? Makes my head ache! LOL 😆 

[islandbass]

@RRocket: As cool as June bug looks, it has only caught 2 bass in 20 years. Here is a short list of lures that have never ever worked for me but I like

Bill Lewis Rat l trap

Rapala Xrap - despite the brilliant retrieve cadences I’ve devised 

sn 

Zara Spook/Lucky Craft Sammie - this one is painful to acknowledge because I like walking the dog.

Zoom Fluke

Chattetbait

 

With that many lures not working for me in the pacific nw, I’m beginning to wonder if I’m the issue. 🥹