4 Early Autumn Senko Tactics

It is easy to look at a plastic stick bait and have doubts as to whether it is even worth tying on! However, if you aren’t making use of these versatile baits you are making a huge mistake. Many companies have replicated the original Gary Yamamoto design and sizes range from 3” to 8” and even larger. This is testament to the success of these fish catching baits and they should be a staple in any tackle box. Dropping water levels and cooler temperatures associated with the start of autumn will often cause bass to gather in specific areas. As they start to transition from their summer hangouts towards their winter holding areas they often stack up on rock piles, prominent structure and points that are reasonably close to deeper water. Large stumps and boulders between the backs of bays and main lake points as well as deep weed lines and reed beds are great places to intercept these fish. By this time, many baitfish have grown larger and will suspend over the top of structure in shoals where they are frequently targeted by feeding bass that are feeding up in preparation for winter. At this point in the season, my main go-to bait for catching smallmouths in particular is to use senko-type baits with a number of different rigging styles: A brace of Theewaterskloof kickers that fell for a senko. Weightless The Senko was designed to fall in a horizontal manner that shimmies from side to side as it falls and when fished weightless has a very enticing and natural profile. Always make as long a cast as possible to your target (unless you are around thick cover) and allow the bait to fall on a slack line... watching your line all the time for any tell tale flick. Most bites will occur on the fall if you have hit the right zone but if not, give your rod a small twitch to get the bait gliding forward. Make sure that the bait is rigged as straight as possible and make use of the molding lines on the bait to ensure you get it right. If you don’t, it will result in a line twisting which will soon cause problems. I would generally choose to use a weightless setup in cleaner water, selecting colours that match the baitfish in your area. Dropshot Fishing vertically in deeper water often calls for a drop shot rigged senko and for this I would use smaller 3” and 4” baits hooked through the nose or even whacky rigged if that is the presentation working best on the day. Lift your rod sharply and let the rig drop to the bottom using as small a weight as possible. I commonly use a small drop shot sinker with the bait suspended from 50cm to 1m above the weight. Texas Rigged When you are fishing in heavy cover, or up against deep vertical structure, it is often useful to rig a Texas sinker with your senko. This enables the bait to be pulled through matted grass and also to fall tightly against whatever you are fishing and you can experiment with the weight according to the conditions. Typically I would use as light a weight as I can get away with but a heavy weight will allow you to dance the bait around on the bottom, keeping it in the strike range for longer. We had great success fishing this style in a test against Zimbabwe last year and it was critical that the bait fell tight against the trees to get the bites. You would generally use heavier tackle when using this approach and as always choose a bait size and colour that matches the water conditions. Wacky-Rigged This has to be one of my favourite strategies and has proven itself time and again when conditions get tough and bass are tired of seeing the same old presentations passing by their noses. Rigging the senko in, or near to the middle of the bait will cause the two “arms” to wiggle very enticingly. You can rig your bait in a wide variety of ways to suit the conditions but once again I would suggest using as light a weight as possible and most commonly I would choose to use a weightless rig. For fishing in and around cover there are weedless and weighted hooks available depending on the situation and you would want to match these to the size of the senko you are using. You can also experiment with using small O-rings to secure your hook to the bait which will extend the life of your senko by a big margin (there are all sorts of tools to make this job easier). Rocky banks and rockpiles are particularly suited to this technique and you can work the bait back to your boat using small twitches. Humminbird’s 360 imaging adds to your success as it enables you to cast to your spot before you come across it on traditional sonar. Target Selection For these techniques to be most effective, you need to be able to identify specific targets to cast at using your electronics, especially if the spots are not obvious from the surface. Because it can take a while to get your bait down to the strike zone it is important that you make accurate casts. Having Humminbird’s 360 Imaging capacity on your boat is a huge advantage for these techniques as you are able to make long and accurate casts to your spot long before you come across them on traditional sonar. Clanwilliam in particular is very suited to fishing a senko at isolated rocks and stumps and even if you think you have a waypoint for all these spots, if you even miss them by a meter you can be wasting your time. Fishing senko’s at isolated rocks works wonders, but if you are off target by as much as a meter, you can be wasting your time. Bait choice and Rod Setup Senko-like plastic stick baits come in numerous colours, shapes and sizes but at the end of the day it comes down to personal preference and confidence as to which you choose to use. Choose your line strength and rod setup according to your lure size and what type of structure you are fishing, but a general rule is to use as light a line as you can get away with. This can be a bit painful in deeper water but it is well worth the effort as bass will swim up quite a way to grab your bait. On very light setups I would suggest using light braid as the main line and a fluorocarbon leader. If I had to choose a single bait for smallmouths it would be a 4” senko in natural colours, and my rod of choice for these light presentations is a 7’ Kistler KLX medium light rod paired with 8lb braided line and 8lb Fluorocarbon leader For heavier applications I generally use a 7’3” Kistler KLX casting rod with a medium heavy taper and 15lb fluorocarbon line. It is important to use a reel with a fast retrieve as you are often fishing specific isolated spots and don’t want to be wasting time retrieving you lure between casts!