Anyone have problems with weightless senko

[STETSON1B]

i always seem to have bass grab my senko on the fall when i'm fishing deeper water (7 ft or deeper) and they always just grab it and sit there with it and there is no way for me to tell if there is a fish biting it because they don't run with it or "tink"--"tink" it and when i pull up to twitch the senko i pull it right out of their mouth..i call it "dumping" a fish.

what if any technique do you use to make sure you don't "dump" a fish?
or what tackle could improve the chances of detecting these fish i have tried everything from finger on the line, to watching the slack in my line, to slowly reeling up nothing seems to work?

[spencerinstl]

Are you texas rigging it or wacky rigging the senko? I get a better hookup ration by wacky rigging the senko.

[wiscobassin]

Im assuming that with wacky rigged weightless, i had the same issue for a while i tried using gama circle hooks rather than a wacky hook and it help a bunch with my hook up percentage for the fish that were "just sitting with the bait"

[STETSON1B]

this is the lash up i'm talking about

[SteveDB]

Not knowing the setup you are using, I`d say try a more sensitive rod. If you don`t think it`s the rod try fluorocarbon or braid w/ a fc leader for more sensitivity. Learn to feel for that mushy feeling and lastly be a line watcher all the time. You`ll see alot of bites that you will never feel.

[godshippy]

The biggest tip that I can give you is that the 5" Senko falls a lot faster than you might think. It's a little less than a foot per second. So take that into consideration and count down how many seconds it takes for the lure to hit bottom, and if you feel weightlessness still after it should have hit bottom then that's a fish on.

Also, what rod are you using? Are you using a casting rod or a spinning rod? What type of line are you using?

You might want to try braid with a fluorocarbon leader if you're already using fluorocarbon. It'll give you a little bit more sensitivity.

[Scott F]

When fishing deeper water, you get a general idea of how long it takes for the bait to reach the bottom. If it stops falling short of where it should. Set the hook.
This is why I always use superlines with stickbaits. Watch the line. Floating superlines will cause a disturbance on the water when the bait is sucked in. Set the hook.
Hooksets are free. Anytime the line or bait does something unexpected. Set the hook.
When fishing a single hook, sometimes, they just don't get the point in the mouth and you miss them. The good thing about Senkos is that even if you miss a fish, they often come back to hit it again.

[JerryC]

Its tough sometimes when using weightless senkos detecting the bites. Thats why a lot of times you get the hook in the fish's throat which is never fun to deal with.

[STETSON1B]

thanks guys i'm an intense line watcher and do detect lots of bites while watching the line i am in the process of having my rod builder build me a 7 foot heavy action g loomis glx rod for 260$ and ill have tough as hell guides put on so i can rub flourocarbon to help out, this should cure my problem....

i am still stuck between the split grip and full grip i mean i like the split but i hate it...

[Snyder Rods]

thanks guys i'm an intense line watcher and do detect lots of bites while watching the line i am in the process of having my rod builder build me a 7 foot heavy action g loomis glx rod for 260$ and ill have tough as hell guides put on so i can rub flourocarbon to help out, this should cure my problem....

i am still stuck between the split grip and full grip i mean i like the split but i hate it...

- Go ahead and have it made with the full-grip... yes, it will make the total rod heavier, but only slightly. Sensitivity in a rod is more in how light the tip is... consider getting micro guides to lighten the tip.

What kind of reel/rod is this for... baitcasting or spinning?

I agree that a more sensitive rig will help you feel the bite. The Fluorocarbon will help also, but so would a low-stretch mono such as Stren Magnathin, Stren Brute Strength, or P-line CXX.

Another thing that will increase sensitivity would be to use a conventional worm Texas rigged with weight.

[Nickk]

thanks guys i'm an intense line watcher and do detect lots of bites while watching the line i am in the process of having my rod builder build me a 7 foot heavy action g loomis glx rod for 260$ and ill have tough as hell guides put on so i can rub flourocarbon to help out, this should cure my problem....

i am still stuck between the split grip and full grip i mean i like the split but i hate it...

wow, that's a deal for a GLX

[STETSON1B]

yeah he's only got one glx 7 foot med-heavy left for 260$ (baitcaster)........how will this hold up around structure ((lillys wood etc))... with a weightless senko rig / t-rig set up???

i figured i would get the mbr844 just to be safe but alls he 's got left is mbr 843......maybe if i find it to light i could trade on here(TT)..........

[BASSLAYER]

BCR893GLX & 12lb fluoro never had a problem detecting a bite. I must have caught over 500 bass last year just on that rod and not one was hooked in the gullet.

nothing is truer than Loomis Description.

Anglers want a responsive tip to cast these weight-free rigs (you’re practically casting a bare hook!) yet they also need sufficient power to set the hook. A lot of strikes occur just as soon as the bait hits the water and those fish are the ones that are the hardest to hook. This rod offers a great combination of both and thanks to GLX, it's about as sensitive as a rod can get. It will cast those feather-light, weightless rigs a country mile because we’ve designed the tip to do that, but then we engineered a little extra power into the butt-section to help you close the deal.

[nsfisher]

I had that same problem But then I switched to weighted worms; and it hasn't happened since.

[smalljaw]

A lot of guys I know gut hooked bass when the Senko first came out because the fish hit that bait without moving very often. I'm not sure why it happens but I believe it has to do with the look and slow fall of the bait make it seem like such an easy prey item that fish will just plain eat the darn thing but I do have some suggestions. I'm not big on wacky rigging so texas rigging is how I fish them 80% of the time and one thing I do is not only watch my line but I also count it down to the bottom, I have caught a lot of fish without feeling a bite only knowing the bait stopped at a 7 count instead of the 11 count it took for it to hit bottom, so I set the hook and most of the time it is a fish. The other thing you can do is don't let much slack in the line, it is hard to do at first but you will get good at it, when you fish the bait on a semi slack line you feel the bite or you'll notice a feeling like there is grass on the bait, fishing the Senko like that has kept me from gut hooking fish on it for a long time but I will still miss a fish or two, but I'm not killing them so its a good thing.