A few years ago, I went out fishing at a local lake with a friend who urged me to try out this new lure, it was a soft plastic cigar shaped worm by Gary Yamamoto called a Senko. It immediately became one of my go to lures and it still remains to this day.
There are many ways to fish the Senko: Texas rig, Carolina rig, Wacky, Dropshot, etc. But my favorite way to fish the Senko is on a Texas rig weightless on a 3/0 or 4/0 offset worm hook in red. This worm is heavy enough to fish with a baitcaster, but I usually fish it on spinning outfit with 6 lb. flourocarbon.
Presentation: Cast the bait out and let it fall, keep a loose line but keep contact with the lure because this is when most strikes occur. Once it hits bottom, raise your rod tip slightly to raise the worm then let it drop again, keep doing this and you will get bit. The lure doesn’t just stay in one place, instead of falling straight down the bait will actually back up for you. If you’ll just feed it a little line, the bait will actually float back towards the bass, creating a strike for you. That’s a fish catchin’ action I’ve never seen in a worm before. The Senko has another plus that bears mentioning. This bait has a natural action to it that absolutely anyone can fish effectively. The Senko will walk perfectly with very little rod-tip needed, by just barely twitching it. The best tip that I can give you when fishing the Senko this ways is that you can never fish it too slow, the slower the retrieve, the better. Keep an eye on your line because sometimes the strike will be so subtle, so set the hook when you see that line move.
The Senko comes in many great fish catching colors and I’ve tried most of them, but my favorite would probably be the watermelon w/black flakes. So go out there and give this lure a try, you will not be disappointed.
