By Dan Durbin
May 19, 2011
How to have your kids catch bass on a Senko, even it they “aren’t ready”
I’ll be honest, when I first saw an ad for a Senko, I thought the bait was nothing more than plastic byproduct. Maybe it was the left over scraps melted down from the lizards and tubes that Mr. Yamamoto had left in the factory? It was, dare I say, BORING looking.
But then, I tried one.
It sank faster than most plastics, and the lure, like a Sea Monkey, seemed to come alive when you added water. After catching bass after bass, I’ve learned that the worst thing an angler can do with a Senko is try to jiggle a rod to impart action. The thing is, Senkos do it all on their own, no batteries or jigging required.
I discovered I had a lure that would not only produce a few more checks at the tournament weigh-in, but one that would also give my kids a bent pole.
I took my sons Blake and Hunter out on my local favorite lake loaded up with snacks, a Nintendo DS, and plenty of juice boxes. For once, with them along anyway, I left the live bait at home.
I knew that my kids (being 5 and 7 years old at the time) didn’t have the patience to work a Texas-rigged worm or wacky rig. But, if I could just get them to pay attention to the bobber while snacking or playing games, I thought I’d have a fighting chance at starting their bass fishing education.
So, instead of soaking a worm and a bobber with hopes of having a small panfish respond, I told them that this time if the float vanished, it would be a bass like Dad caught.
I took a Senko and rigged it with a circle hook and attached a slip-bobber. As Dad fan casted weed flats, I had them simply lob a bobber out and “sort of” pay attention.
“Dad, my bobber is moving,” Hunter said. “Should I reel now?”
Because of the circle hook, I just told him to go ahead. His St. Croix rod loaded up and something far bigger than any bluegill my son had encountered began to pull. Hard.
A few minutes later, Blake’s bobber slid under the water and I told him to start reeling, too. He didn’t know his bobber had become submerged, as the PB&J sammy his mom packed him had his full attention, but the results were the same. The little fellow struggled and wondered why a two-pound bass pulled so hard that a 40-pound, 5-year-old could barely stay on board the boat. This is where the importance of the circle hook comes into play. If your daughter or son doesn’t notice the initial strike, the circle hook slides up and catches the bass in the corner of the mouth, not in the guts.
We became used to this pattern. They were able to pay attention, somewhat, to their lines and still catch fish. Dad didn’t have to monitor every second of every one of their casts. This kind of fishing was!
One day after a cold front, I took the boys out fishing and we picked up on our normal routine. I started working a lipless crankbait over some weed flats as they let their bobbers dangle with Senkos.
I didn’t get a bite but they had several. As I would bring the lure in with no takers, their bobbers disappeared on a regular basis. It wasn’t until I noticed a largemouth following my crankbait that I figure out what was going on. A chunky three-pounder followed my lure in but sank into the abyss at the last minute. Seconds later, Blake’s bobber went down.
We had a new pattern.
Anglers in musky territory know that one of the most effective ways of catching muskies is to cast artificials out and leave a sucker dangling just below the boat. The musky comes in, attracted to the artificial, but doesn’t commit. Instead, it nails the sucker that is easy pickings. That day, I figured out that bass do it too, and a Senko is the perfect “sucker.”
For recreational events, this pattern is deadly. The beauty is that the tactic is a one-two punch for bass. Pick a deep weedline and cast crankbaits, spinnerbaits, or other fast presentations and leave a Senko out for the fish that are negative or ones that follow your bait but don’t bite. You may not see them come in, but they’re often there.
There are two ways to work this pattern. You can put your Senko on a slip bobber with a circle hook and wait for it to go down. If it’s windy, just add a split shot or two. Easy!
Another tactic is to set the rod in a rod holder, set the drag light, and wait to hear the drag start to slip. When it does, pick up the rod, tighten the drag, and begin reeling. There is no need to set the hook on either presentation. A reel with a “clicker” is nice so you can hear it when a bass strikes.
A key to the pattern is to use a color that represents the natural forage of the lake. When I’m casting a Senko, most of the time in Midwest waters, I like a green color of some kind. But, if you’re leaving one on a bobber for a dead stick presentation, go with whatever baitfish is present. If shad or Cisco are forage, dangle a clear or silver option. If bluegills are schooling out where you are casting consider a bluish color and dip the tip in some orange dye.
Either way, anglers need to realize that Senkos have all the action they need standard, right from the factory. They do what they are told for bass, and humans need not try to interfere with their Yamamoto-given talent.
Just sit back and let the Senko do your bidding. Your kids will love you for it, and you might just cash some extra checks at the tournament.
