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Senkos Gain Weight
New technique continues to win tournaments 
"Red" Falcon Lures Bait-Jerker Hook & Outlaw Baits 5" Limp StickPortland, OR – February 2, 2007 - Every angler spends at least a few minutes every trip thinking of ways he can get an edge on the fish. In recently months there has been one technique out West that has been consistently producing big stringers of fish (largemouth, smallmouth, and spotted bass) however tournament anglers have been very reluctant to speak up about it just yet. This technique has been winning events from Oregon’s Columbia River to California’s Lake Shasta and The Delta to Texas’s Lake Fork. Do you know what it is? No it isn’t the drop shot or the swim bait. It’s a weighted senko rig!
What Is It
What is a weighted senko you ask? It consists of a senko style bait (such as the new popular Outlaw Bait’s Limp Stick) with a wide gap hook…but not just any wide gap hook, it’s a special wide gap hook.
The hook used in this special technique has a unique weight on the shank allowing the bait to still flutter to the bottom with the bait’s standard horizontal fall while adding enough weight to allow the bait to be fished in as deep as 20-40 feet of water.
The most popular hooks amongst pros are from Falcon Lures (www.falconlures.com). Their patented Bait-Jerker Hooks and unique K-Wacky Hooks are especially popular. These specially weighted hook allows the bait to still have its’ natural fall but the bait sinks much faster getting down into the strike zone of deeper suspended bass.
Falcon Lure K-Wacky Hook
Best Applications
The best time to fish this rig is when the fish are suspending or on vertical cover or structure. For example, any time bass are holding on steep banks this technique has been deadly. Also try fishing this rig when bass are holding or suspending around docks…especially deeper docks such as docks with 15-25 feet of water under them.
Another great application is when bass are suspended in flooded trees or when fishing deep weed edges with a drop off on the weed edge. Allowing the bait to fall down a weed edge in deep water, or down the side of a flooded tree, will surely tempt big bass.
Maybe the most popular time to fish this rig is anytime you can’t get our standard senko style bait down deep enough, such as in heavy winds or when bass are a little deeper in current and a weightless bait won’t get down there and stay down.
Why The Recent Success
The recent success is simple to explain: deep bass rarely see, or often times have never seen, a bait like this in deep water. Because bass can move up or down in the water column quickly and at anytime, it is tough to fish a bait that always stays in front of the fish as they move up and down vertically in the water. Here’s an example of this: If you’re fishing a crankbait for suspended fish in 10 feet of water, then the fish move up 6 feet to feed on a school of shad swimming by, you’re missing out because your bait is running below the active fish. If you’re fishing a texas-rig or jig, the vertical fall of the bait falling nose down to the bottom often times is not appealing to bass. Now, for the first time, bass are seeing these horizontal falling baits wiggling their way down in the water column right in front of their face and its just the ticket to trigger big bass into biting. The Outlaw Baits (www.outlawbaits.com) Limp Stick has been a popular lure because it’s hollow and as it falls the bait releases air bubbles.
Fish It Right
In order to fish this bait right, there seems to be 3 common elements:
Fluorocarbon line in 8-20 lb test (such as the new Vicious Fluorocarbon which has a faster sinking rate and has very low stretch for better hook sets and increased sensitivity in deep water)
A plastic stick bait (Limp Sticks have been popular recently for all species)
And a weighted hook (most common is Falcon Lures’ Bait-Jerker weighted Hook)
Next, get yourself parallel to a nice steep bank with cover (rocks, timber, etc.), deep dock, or find some flooded timber or vegetation. Cast your bait tight to the cover (or skip it up under the dock). The key is to let the bait fall in the water on controlled slack line. You don’t want to move the bait much because most of the senko style baits have a built in “wiggle as it falls” action. (The Limp Stick’s bubbling action makes the bait look like a minnow losing air as it dies and falls.) Let the bait fall all the way to the bottom while watching the line as you give it slack. You might see the line pop, or stop sinking midway down…or you might see your line start moving off to the side. If any of the above occurs, set the hook! Also, anglers stress the importance of fluorocarbon line for this technique such as Vicious Fluorocarbon which has a very fast sink rate over other lines (not to mention its $14.99 price point for 550 yards bulk spool is equally impressive – see www.vicious-fishing.com for more info).
Closing Thoughts
So if the weighted senko is so good why don’t more people know about it? Simple… touring pros don’t want other pros to know about it. Think about this, in a recent tournament on Lake Shasta the winning fisherman caught spotted bass out of 40 degree water on a “senko style bait”…do you think that senko was fished in 2-5 feet of water like a normal senko fisherman does it? Not in 40 degree water my friend. As it turns out, those fish were caught on a weighted senko in 25-40 feet of water as I later found out.
Give this technique a try this year. You won’t be disappointed. |
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