Don’t let the straightforward look of a Senko worm mislead you. After a few years of regular event use, this plastic worm has lengthy been among the best bass lures. The Senko and its twin, the YUM Dinger, each supply a really pure efficiency mixed with terrific versatility.
Lure maker Gary Yamamoto designed the Senko to fall horizontally, in an extended, squiggly stomach flop, which is extra pure than the nose-down perspective most soft-plastic baits for bass assume. Many lure firms have launched Senko spin-offs starting from 3 to 7 inches, however the 5-inch fashions work greatest. Relying upon the place and the way you fish, attempt these 4 totally different approaches on how one can rig a Senko, together with a wacky rig Senko. Simply bear in mind: The primary factor is to take advantage of the worm’s liveliness.
Rigging a Weightless Senko
Essentially the most basic method to fish a Senko—the one you’ll see most individuals throwing in your native lake—is weightless. Nonetheless, there are a number of other ways to rig your Senko to maximise the delicate motion with none weight, from wacky, to Texas model.
Tips on how to Wacky Rig Senko Worms
Texas bass professional Alton Jones usually fishes a 5-inch YUM Dinger wacky-style by fixing a 3/0 Proprietor Mosquito live-bait hook on the worm’s midsection. This enables each ends of the bait to bounce and flutter freely. You don’t want any weight for this, however you may add a really small cut up shot to the road about 12 inches above the hook to get the worm down. Simply ensure you’re twitching it above the depth at which the bass are holding.
“I fish the wacky rig round riprap and boat docks,” Jones says, “dropping it slowly and letting it quiver on the underside. Then I repeatedly pull the bait forward and let it fall.” Ought to bass ignore this, he hot-cranks the worm a number of ft and kills it, triggering reflex strikes.
This model is superb round virtually any cowl, comparable to grass or rocky banks, performing greatest in shallow, principally clear water.
The O-Ring Wacky Rig Senko
One bass is about all you get with the usual wacky rig senko worm as a result of the hook rips by way of the bait and ruins it. Jones has caught as many as 30 bass on one 5-inch YUM Dinger by putting a 1/4-inch (inside diameter) O-ring across the worm’s midsection like a belt.
Use needle-nose pliers to unfold the O-ring, then slip a 3/0 Proprietor Mosquito live-bait hook beneath in order that it’s belted to the worm simply on the eye. When a bass strikes, it is going to chunk the hook straight and never tear into the worm an excessive amount of, and you may reuse the lure.
Tips on how to Texas Rig Senko Worms
Yamamoto himself rigs a 5-inch Senko Texas-style—versus a wacky rig Senko—with a 3/0 Gamakatsu EWG offset worm hook. “Weightless is the simplest approach,” he says.
After casting the bait to a possible bass lair, let it sink freely on managed slack line (a decent line will pull the bait forward unnaturally). While you see the road leap or transfer, reply with a tough hookset (it helps to have a 6-to 6 1/2-foot medium-action bass fishing rod and 12-to 15-pound-test fishing line for bass). If no strike happens on the preliminary drop, glide the Senko forward by elevating the rod tip. Then decrease the tip to let the bait carry out a brief swan dive—and don’t be shocked by a savage hit after that little up-down transfer.
The weightless Texas rig is an all-day tactic that works greatest in clear to considerably stained water. It’s not as efficient in muddy water.
Tips on how to Fish with a Weighted Senko Worm
Whereas working a Senko rigged weightless is sort of an intuition for many bass fisherman, even Yamamoto himself favored so as to add weight to his presentation. Yamamoto matches a Texas-rigged Senko with a 1/4-to 5/8-ounce bullet sinker when he flips and pitches the bait into dense grass, flooded bushes, and different imposing cowl. Although the heavier weights eradicate horizontal sink, they get the worm to bass that may by no means see it in any other case.
“Bass in deep cowl are riled by the Senko’s thick physique,” Yamamoto says. “When it hits the underside, I shake it and so they seize on.” Pair the proper depth together with your Senko presentation to idiot Spring bass into putting and begin out-fishing the opposite anglers on the water.
Tips on how to Fish a Drop-Shot Senko
A 3-or 4-inch Senko-style bait on a drop-shot rig works wonders, particularly while you fish it vertically. It’s an important guess for clear water 20 or extra ft deep.
With a Palomar knot, fasten a small drop-shot hook about 3 ft above an egg sinker and run the hook by way of the nostril of the worm. Drop the rig straight down. With the load resting on the underside, maintain the rod parallel to the water and reel till the road grows taut. Then drop and elevate the rod tip with out pulling the load off the underside. Every drop of the rod places slack within the line, which lets the Senko seduce bass with a horizontal fall and flutter.
The consultants arrived at these 4 strategies by way of a great deal of experimentation, so there’s no motive to not attempt different strategies together with your Senko and YUM Dinger worms. So long as you may principally protect their horizontal swim and physique pulse, be as daring as you want.
Wack Rig Senko with Break up Shot
Fishing in present? Then this rig wacky rig senko with cut up shot is for you. Leeches and hellgrammites undulate as they swim, which is why the Wacky Rig works so effectively in shifting water. By including a lightweight cut up shot about 12 inches up the road from the bait, it helps the Senko keep barely ticking simply over the underside, and likewise retains it within the zone longer in pockets and eddies.
I favor a 4-inch Slim Senko for this technique. This thinner mannequin simply has extra “finesse attraction,” if you’ll. The method kills it wade-able smallmouth rivers, nevertheless it’s additionally superior for largemouth within the creeks and tributaries of tidal rivers. Typically I’ll even paint my cut up photographs so that they match the underside as naturally as potential.
The Heavy Jighead Bomb
Senkos are prized for his or her sluggish falling motion, however that doesn’t imply they don’t work falling quick or thumping the underside. Seize a 5/8- or 3/4-oz mushroom jighead (rigged with an uncovered hook), and thread on an ordinary 5-inch Senko. The rig casts a mile and sinks like a stone. In Northern clear-water lakes with expansive flats, this can be a nice technique for focusing on smallies, as a result of the rig casts a mile, letting you hit gentle and darkish spots on the underside from a distance. I’ve additionally used it on factors and humps over deep water for large noticed bass within the South.
That is actually the identical concept as bombing an enormous, heavy tube, however in my view, the Senko is extra streamlined with the weighted head being exterior (vs inner in a tube), subsequently, it sinks extra exactly and stands up on the underside otherwise, each of which may make it simpler in sure conditions. And when the smallies are actually biting, you should use up all these not-so-good Senko colours you’ve acquired over time, as a result of the fish simply react and eat it on the autumn.
Make Your Wacky-Fashion Senko Rig Extra Sturdy
If you happen to just like the O-ring wacky rig senko presentation talked about above, however nonetheless discover that bass are ripping it aside too rapidly on the strike, then it may be time to improve. You’ll be able to substitute that plastic o-ring for a zipper tie, making your Senko rigging virtually bomb-proof. A plastic zip tie can be considerably simpler to use across the bait.
Use Coloured Zip Ties on Wacky Rig Senko
Merely tighten the zip tie across the worm and hook, then trim. Zip-ties can be found in a rainbow of colours. I occurred to have a surplus of pink ones, in order that’s what I’ve been utilizing. I can’t say that shade hurts or helps. Appears to work, anyway.
The entire object, in fact, is to maintain the hook from tearing up the bait when a fish bites. Not solely would you must then change baits extra usually, however torn Senkos have a tendency to come back free within the water. In that case, they’re an environmental hazard–typically ingested by fish that then can’t digest them.
The hook within the picture, by the way in which, is a Gamakatsu Finesse Weedless mannequin, that comes with a built-in weedguard that really works. I’ve by no means discovered a greater hook for wacky-rigging.
Wacky Rig Senko Fishing Ideas for Spring Largemouth Bass
Now that you understand how to rig this favourite tender plastic, how do you’re employed it into your day, and the place do you throw it? Spring bass fishing might be thrilling with nearly any lure, however in line with veteran Texas basspro Jay Yelas, you may get the very best thrills while you tie on a weightless worm.
“It’s a enjoyable bait to fish, as a result of in contrast to with a crankbait or a Carolina-rigged lizard, you may really see the fish swim up and eat it,” Yelas says. “Anyone can fish it, even a rank newbie, and it’ll catch bass in water temperatures starting from 60 to 75 levels.”
Yelas fishes his weightless worms on a 6 1/2-foot medium-action spinning outfit with 10-pound-test fluorocarbon line. The mixture is ideal for skipping the bait underneath overhanging cowl. He sometimes opts for a 6- to 8-inch straight-tail worm, which he says reveals extra erratic actions than a ribbon-tail when twitched.
What Coloration Senko Ought to I Use?
“Coloration is a big a part of the equation,” says bass professional Jay Yelas. “I usually use scorching colours, like bubblegum, traffic-sign yellow, and white—all of which may provoke superior response strikes. However when bass are particularly cautious, I’ll swap to pure colours, like watermelon and pumpkin. If you happen to see a bass strategy your worm, then flip away, the colour is just too vivid.” More often than not, Yelas rigs his weightless worms Texas-style. You may as well hook them by way of the nostril or sideways by way of the egg sac in order that the top and tail dangle freely (the latter is named wacky-style). By various the hook dimension, you can also make the worm sink quicker or slower to match the temper and depth of the fish.
The place Do I Forged a Senko to Catch Spring Bass?
Irrespective of the way you rig them, these worms are lethal round shallow shoreline cowl, comparable to stumps, laydown timber, and patchy grass. Forged proper to the quilt, not previous it. Casts aimed straight at your goal are sometimes rewarded with a direct strike. In the event that they aren’t, let the worm sink till it’s virtually out of sight, then gently twitch your rod tip to make the worm shoot sideways. “Don’t overfish it,” Yelas cautions. “If you happen to don’t get an increase out of a bass after a few twitches, reel the worm again in rapidly and take a look at one other piece of canopy.” Usually, casting to tight spots within the cowl requires a skipping presentation, which Yelas has perfected. (He caught 12 bass to my one on a latest outing after I was utilizing a traditional over-hand supply.)
“It’s identical to skipping a stone throughout a creek,” he says. “You utilize a sidearm solid, and also you need the worm to smack the water in entrance of you with sufficient power that it skitters throughout the floor. This retains it low so it’ll scoot underneath over-hanging tree branches and flooded bushes. Skip it approach again in there, the place you’d by no means attain with an overhand solid–that’s the place the massive boys dwell.”
How Do I Preserve My Worm from Fouling?
Line twist generally is a main downside when fishing weightless worms. Yelas minimizes this by filling his reel solely two-thirds full, which retains the fluorocarbon line from popping off the spool in coils. “You additionally need to rig the worm completely straight; in any other case it’ll roll utterly over while you twitch it–a significant explanation for line twist.”
Yelas factors out another vital element: “Worms usually develop a problematic bend within the package deal. To take away it, take a number of worms out within the morning and lay them straight in your boat’s deck–the solar will warmth them up sufficient to get the kinks out. Then you definitely’ll be able to catch fish.”
