One of my favorite baits to throw in April is a Senko. I fish it a number of different ways, and I’ve learned that it can be unbeatable when you’re in a situation where some bass are post-spawn and some are spawning.You can fish it like you’d fish a Texas-rigged worm or a floating worm, and you can even Carolina-rig it. It will catch post-spawn fish that are roaming or suspended, and it will catch fish that are holding tight to cover. And that’s what you find a lot of in April in South Carolina.
A whole lot of people have picked up a Senko since Gary Yamamoto came out with it a few years ago. It’s a soft-plastic bait, salt-impregnated, and it’s fairly heavy. I don’t know whether that has to do with the salt or the consistency of the plastic when it’s poured, but so far, no one has really been able to copy the action the bait has when it’s falling. A lot of baits look like a Senko, but they don’t have the same action — and I don’t pretend to know why not.
What has made the Senko popular is that it’s an easy bait to fish. Anybody can catch bass on one. You just cast it out, let it sink to the bottom on a slack line, do nothing else, and get ready to set the hook. The majority of the fish I catch on a Senko hit it on the first fall.
I really like to fish specific targets with a Senko — cast it to a dock, a buck bush, a willow, the inside or outside edges of grass, clumps of grass — and let it fall on a slack line. It’s really important not to tighten up on it, but to let it fall on a totally slack line, because the action will be better.
You need to try it in clear water, where you can see the bait fall four or five feet. You can actually see that little quiver that makes the bait look like something that’s dying, falling to the bottom. I think that is what really attracts fish.
The main way I rig a Senko is weedless, just like you’d Texas-rig a worm, except that I don’t use a weight. I fish it on 15-pound Trilene fluorocarbon, because fluorocarbon sinks and helps add some action to the bait. I’ll fish it on a 4/0 Owner “J” hook, and it’s important to rig the bait so it hangs exactly straight down.
You don’t need to use a weight because a Senko is so heavy. A 5-inch Senko weighs 3/8ths of an ounce. A 7-inch Senko probably weighs a half-ounce, so it’s perfect to fish on a baitcasting outfit.
Anytime I can fish a bait on 15- to 17-pound test line and a baitcaster, I feel comfortable. I feel like I’m on the offensive when I get a bite. If I’m having to fish a bait like a floating worm in 8-pound test and a spinning rod, I feel like I’m playing defense every time I set the hook.
When I pick out a target, like a bush or a pier post, I’ll cast to it, let the Senko fall next to the target on slack line, maybe wiggle the rod tip a little, maybe bring it back and drop it one more time, then I reel it in and make another cast. The bait really works best if you don’t try to give it much action — that little quiver or wiggle is all it takes.
If you’re fishing the bait real deep, you can fish the 7-inch Senko, and you can rig it with a little 1/8th-ounce weight. One BASS tournament I fished last year when I made the cut, I remember Jerry McKinnis pulling up to me, and while I was there fishing and he was filming, I caught a 7-pounder on a 7-inch Senko. I was fishing it about 25 or 30 feet deep.
Floating worms are great baits around the spawn — before, during and after — and I fish a Senko now instead of a floater for a couple of reasons. I rig it on the same hook, but if I’m going to fish it like a floating worm, I want to be using 14-pound Trilene XT. Since the bait is heavier, you have to fish it quicker than you’d fish a floating worm. I fish it in the usual floating-worm colors: whites, chartreuse, pinks and limes.
The difference is when you get a fish’s attention. All of us have seen a bass pull up behind a floating worm. With a floating worm, you kill the bait, and it just sits there. A lot of times, you see the bass kind of stop; he’s cautious because he’s not sure it’s real. With a Senko, when you get a fish’s attention and he comes about 10 feet to the bait, you can kill it, and it will settle down and start to sink, quiver and wiggle, and he thinks it’s something dying, and he eats it.
I really don’t mind having to fish the bait faster, especially in clear water, because I like to fish a bait faster when you’ve got visibility of five to 10 feet.
The third way to fish a Senko is rigged wacky-style. You push the point of your hook through the middle of the body of the worm and leave it exposed, leaving roughly even lengths of tail and head on either side of the hook. I like to rig a Senko this way right after the spawn, maybe when you’ve got a few spawning fish around. What’s happened is, by that time, everybody has been on the lake for two months, pounding the fish, and they’re not as aggressive. You fish targets with a wacky-rigged Senko, casting to a post or a bush, and you give it a real short twitch with your rod tip and let it fall. The bait’s action does the rest.
Because a Senko relies so much on a bass seeing the lure, it takes a little something different to fish one in stained water. I will fish it with a light weight, an 1/8th ounce worm weight, and I’ll just cast it to cover and let it fall. I like to fish the normal stained-water colors: black/red flake, green pumpkin/black flake.
A lot of people don’t even think about fishing a Senko on a Carolina rig, because they think most fish are hitting baits that are floating up off the bottom, but really, most of your bites on a Carolina rig happen when your bait is dragging along — right where a Senko will be.
I don’t know that there’s been a bait that’s been introduced since I’ve been fishing tournaments that’s made as big an impact as a Senko. If you remember how things changed when the Shad Rap was introduced, or the tube bait, you know how much of a following those baits had. I think the Senko is the same kind of bait.
Davy Hite is a 42-year-old native of Saluda who lives in Ninety Six. He has fished professionally since 1993. He was the BASS Angler of the Year in 1997 and 2002, and he won the 1999 Bassmasters Classic and the 1998 FLW Tour Champion-ship. He is sponsored by Triton boats, Evinrude outboards, All-Star rods, Pfleuger reels, Berkley Trilene, Yamamoto Baits, Owner hooks and Solar Bat sunglasses.
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