By now everyone has heard of Gary Yamamoto Custom Baits version of the do nothing worm called the Senko.
It became such a success that a lot of other companies copied it and have released their own versions of this lure as well as Yamamoto creating a spin off company, called Kanami, which sells the original Senko but they sell it in a smaller quantity bag, 5 instead of 10 but at the same cost per each item, and they call it the Flash.
Me personally, as of the writing of this post, I have yet to find any other brand as effective as the original Yamamoto Senko aka the Kanami Flash.
I like rigging my Senko’s on a 7’6 Medium Heavy/Fast Action Kistler Helium 3 rod, with 8-15 pound Seaguar Fluorocarbon line, depending on how much structure I’m fishing around. Rigged weedless, Tex-posed or Wacky style with no weight on an X-Point Offset XStrong Wide Gap Worm in Hook Black Nickel size 3/0 hook, over the years I have found this is the perfect hook when Texas rigging the Senko. The weight of this hook causes the Senko to fall almost perfectly vertical as the lure “shimmies” as it falls slowly. Of course when using the wacky rig I prefer a the Owner Jungle Wacky Weedless with titanium weedguard through the middle of the body.
Don’t worry not being able to cast these lures far without any weight, they cast like a bullet shout of a gun without any problem.
There is a whole multitude of colors available, a person can spend quite a bit on cash on all kinds of different colors but if I had to pick only 2 colors they would be Watermelon Black/Red Flake, for dirty water and the Watermelon Black Flake for clear . I have had luck with these 2 colors everywhere I’ve fished them. I do have a few other colors that I really like.
As far as size goes, again if I was forced to pick one size it would without a doubt be the original 9 series, which is 5 inches long and about as big around as your finger.
Fish them around any structure, trees rocks, deep humps, whatever. Flip them into structure, pitch them under boat docks, cast them into rip rap, like I said, fish them anywhere. The biggest trick is to fish them slow. If fishing around structure lift up on the rod then lower it. This will cause the Senko to “swim away” from the structure then when you lower the rod, the lure will swim back towards the structure.
This action has also helped me alleviate some snags. When you pull up and feel it push up against a snag, throw some slack in the line and it swims back where it came from, away from the snag. Many times this has triggered the instinct in bass to attack the lure so always be prepared.
I’ve had many times when swimming the lure across tree tops, hanging up in the tree and having bass just slam the lure about ripping the rod out of my hands so now I purposely try to get them stuck to get this reaction bite.
When you cast them out let the bait settle to the bottom on a slack line. To accomplish this, after the cast don’t close your bail or turn and click the reel handle, feed the line out until it stops sinking. Now of course if you find yourself feeding out 10 feet of line, knowing that you cast into 5 foot of water chances are that your lure has been eaten by Mr. Bass and he’s swimming off with it.
After it settles to the bottom let it just sit there motionless for awhile, about a minute or so. Then twitch the rod slightly the stop. Continue to do this back to the boat. Do NOT over work this bait. They were designed to basically be a do nothing bait and are most effective when treated as such.
If the bass are not responding to the super slow retrieve just speed it up a little but don’t treat it like a jerk bait. Remember, soft subtle action is all that is needed. Try different speeds, shorter or longer pauses, let the bass tell you how they want it.
Remember, when fishing these lures, just like when fishing just about any soft plastic, watch your line closely. I cannot stress this enough. If your line or lure does anything you didn’t make it do, twitch, jump or if fishing in current your line goes upstream, reel up the slack and set the hook, HARD! Yes, I’m talking a bone jarring, eye crossing hook set. You have to be able to penetrate the hard bony structure of their jaw.
Until Next Time, Good Luck and Tight Lines To Ya!
