I live in an apartment complex with a pond that has some 1-3 lb bass in it. Nothing huge, the pond might be 1/3 of an acre. I'm sure I've caught every bass in it at least once.
For the last week, I've been going most nights around 7:30, and catching bass. I stop when I catch & release 4-5 bass. Don't want to shock them too much.
Using a green pumpkin Senko, rigged texas style and weightless on a 2/0 worm hook, it's been taking me generally 15-20 casts to get to that 4-5 fish limit.
Last night.... a personal record. 5 fish in 7 casts. Biggest was about 20", smallest around 14".
I think it's fair to say that the Senko rules that pond....
I'm going to see if the ultra vibe speed craws I bought (yeah, peer pressure is a horrible thing) do as well after the rains ease.
For the life of me, I don't understand why bass like Senko-type plastic stickbaits. But that's what's been working for me, too. Just toss in out -- I've been targeting fallen timber, beaver huts, rocks, etc. -- then drag it back in. no action I can tell, though fish seem to hit it when it falls off something. I will do anything to avoid using a t-rigged plastic -- much prefer cranks, buzzbaits, etc. -- but i wanna catch fish. Only thing is that, regardless of how quickly i set the hook (and i try to set it immediately after i feel a bite), i still deep hook fish occasionally. Barbless helps, but doesn't eliminate deep hooking. I've just been taking compound action cutting pliers and actually cutting the hook as close as i can to the point, then releasing fish. using 3/0 and 4/0 EWG hooks with a 4" worm in green or red flake pattern (BPS brand -- forget exact pattern name).
Only thing is that, regardless of how quickly i set the hook (and i try to set it immediately after i feel a bite), i still deep hook fish occasionally.
Weekend with the boys at football camp.... So haven't tried the speed craws yet. Will do that at least twice this week to see if they like them.
I've got the opposite view from spider crack.... While I love the crank baits and jerk baits, I avoid them because I have a hard time unhooking fish from the treble hooks. I do bend back the barbs on all hooks I use, and even then, I sometimes have problems with really solid hook sets (had one come through the TOP of a fishes head, right about eye level.... don't think he survived that one). I can get 90% of my bass unhooked from a single hook within 20-30 seconds or so, compared to maybe 10% of treble hooked fish in the same time frame. That's ME and my (lack of) skills though, not saying anyone else has the same problem.
I almost always get a "superficial" hookup from cranks, buzz baits, etc., so while the the trebles are dangerous to me -- which is why I never lip the fish with my hands, only with a net, lipgripper, bogagrip, etc. (I do lip fish when using a single hook.) But the hooks almost always pops out (I typically use pliers) with minimal damage to fish. You do get hookups outside the mouth occasionally, but in my experience those are far less damaging to the fish than a 4/0 hook in their gut.
So I've gone for ca. 3 years without seriously injuring a bass with trebles (a lot them w/cranks)-- as far as I can tell (and I realize catch-and-release mortality can't be evaluated simply by how the fish responds immediately on release). But just this weekend alone I think I deep hooked ca. 3-5 fish while t-rigging with a senko-type plastic. Now that's out of a lot of fish (nearly 50 fish over 2 days, although not all caught on worms). But with those 3-5 fish, they were hooked so deeply I thought it better to actually cut the hook than try to get it out. [added: that's 6-10% of fish are deep-hooked, at least in this sample.]
side note: I noticed that most deep hooked fish occurred when the bass grabbed the worm and headed in some unexpected direction, e.g., sideways or towards me, so took just a bit longer (sometimes just a second or two) to tightened up and set the hook.
I know it's me and not the world... But with my current skill set, I have to go with what I'm comfortable with. There's probably a better technique than what I use, as I see most people getting fish off faster.
I switched to the finesse hooks from gamakatsu and have noticed I don't deep hook near as much. I also use an o ring type deal when I wacky rig and then may have helped as well.
i use BPS 2/0 octopus hooks for drop-shot, and don't ever recall deep-hooking a fish with them -- hook is almost always in the top lip or top of fish's mouth. for texas-rigging this past weekend, i was using BPS XPS Wide Superlock hooks (4/0, i think), but wasn't very pleased with them. they bend much too easily -- even had one break. that's okay when i'm hung up (can pull it free w/out breaking line), but not when i bend the hook from fighting a fish. i do like lighter-wired hooks, but don't think i'll be using them [i.e., these BPS hooks] again.
what brand/style hooks do others use/recommend for senko-type baits?
I do know that in one scenario this weekend when I was catching a lot of bass very quickly, I'm pretty sure they were competing for bait, so perhaps more likely than normal to swallow the bait before I could set the hook. In other contexts, e.g., catching redfish off a jetty when they were stacked up, I've switched from jigheads w/J-hooks to circle hooks and cut bait to eliminate deep hooking. What would be the equivalent of a circle hook for bass fishing?!
I wouldn't knock 'em without trying 'em first. I have some BPS wide gap hooks that aren't working great, either gut hook or miss half the time. Says 3/0 but they look like 2/0. I'm hunting for something else. I like the gamakatsu but they're pricey.
Never caught a bass on a senko or chatterbait. A friend gave me some senkos last year in Georgia and I purchased a few this year but have yet to try them. To busy catching fish on flukes ....my plan is to do a post on
"My first Senko Bass"
Quick follow-up on hooks. My most recent favorite hooks for Senko-type plastics is a Mustad Mega-Bite EWG 4/0 37177BLN. Avail at Wally-World for $4.24 (5 hooks). These are heavy gauge steel, very sharp and I've gotten great hook sets with them repeatedly (dozens over the last 2-3 weeks) -- great penetration, even through bone and lip. Realize that also is a function of line and rod -- using 7' medium action w/fast tip and 15lb braid. Wish I could find cheaper hooks, but I want great hooks more than I want cheap hooks.
In my opinion, Senkos are a fantastic bait, their record attests to that fact. But in my experience, the Zoom mag finesse has out performed them every time I have thrown it against a guy throwing Senkos. But I digress. That's just my experience. And Senko vs speedcraw? Depends really on how they are fished. Speedcraws work best Carolina or Texas rigged. Rig a Senko that way, it's no contest. Speedcraw in a walk.
Sooner or later it's gonna happen. Killed my first fish with a buzz bait last week -- 12" bass hit lure on a pause, and somehow the trailer hook impaled him in the eye socket and apparently spiked him in the brain. fish was dead when I got it to the boat. don't think i've ever seriously harmed a bass with a buzz bait before (i know that claim is more complicated as you can't always know) as hooks are almost always in the lip or outside of mouth.
Just a thought, but is there any reason a circle hook wouldn't work on a senko? It wouldn't be weedless but if you rig wacky they aren't weedless anyway. With the circle hook even if the fish swallowed it no harm done. Anybody ever tried it?
I don't wacky rig.... never tried it. So it wouldn't work for me.
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