Senko
Smallies
By
Bruce Edward Litton
Senko-style worms long ago eclipsed the
popularity of traditional and twister-tail plastic worms for shallows and
middle depths, especially when rigged Wacky, hook in the middle. Typically, the
hook is attached by an O-ring, which prevents the worm from breaking free. A
tool specifically designed for placing them on these worms is easily available.
Most anglers intend Senko-style worms for largemouths, but in my own experience
over the last decade, I’ve settled on catching most of my largemouths on
traditional-style worms, while most of my smallmouths come on Senko-style
worms. They sink faster, provoking the quicker responses of smallies. By
comparison, largemouths are slow fish. An aggressive smallmouth will charge a
worm plummeting towards bottom, which a largemouth might refuse.
Lake,
reservoir, pond, stream, river—during summer you may enjoy catching smallmouths
from all five types of water. None excludes the Senko. While so much gets
written about smallies 20 to 25 feet deep on lake drop-offs, plenty get caught
in close to shore anywhere from three to 15 feet deep, so long as rocks provide
habitat. Summer smallies ambush prey eagerly compared to largemouths. From comfortable
lairs of concave formations, and from between and underneath rocks. They
explode outward like artillery fire to snatch meals. Smallies can seem as
active during summer as largemouths during fall, but much of the time—not
always—I will let them pounce on a Senko, rather than provoke any to chase down
a crankbait or whomp a spinnerbait. Bronzebacks strike a wide range of lures
during summer doldrums, and I’m interested in increasing my knowledge of uses,
but often I feel most comfortable with the simplest approach.
There’s
irony about that claim. Fishing a Senko, no weight added, just a size 2 plain
shank hook under the O-ring, involves wider awareness than using other lures
limited to various retrieve actions. I wouldn’t say turn-handle retrieves are
mechanical, but they do narrow focus relative to the line reeled back to the
spool. During patient intervals while letting a Senko sink, repeatedly pausing
after you take up line by moving the rod—more so than turning the reel handle—the
mind can open up to what might happen, and this added awareness can put you
more in touch with the fishing to gain practical results.
Even
topwater plugs fished slowly might not have the subtle appeal of letting a
Senko sink as deep as 15 feet or more among rocks. All the while you wonder if
a bass will transmit a tick before that plastic reaches bottom. If nothing
happens, you can visualize how much the Senko flutters when you barely twitch
it. Maybe if you then give it a jerk to make the ends pull back quickly like
spreading crayfish claws--that will do the trick. Or instead, by just lifting
it off bottom, easily, this might seem as if forage is trying to sneak by. The
possibilities are as open as the given situation and imagination allows, and imagination
is more important for seeing what goes on under the surface than the visual
feedback electronics provide. Looking at a screen is a lot easier than
developing a habit of immediately visualizing how your worm might behave,
relative to a bass’s possible inclination to take. Fooling around with a worm
in plain view to observe how it reacts to your rod tip can help cement this
ability to your neurons.
Just as
varied a cadence can be created retrieving a Senko as working a topwater plug.
A bass won’t crash in view, but it’s thrilling when you anticipate a take you can’t physically see. I don’t buy the
new presumption that claims maybe, after millennia of human denial about the
issue, fish do think, but I don’t underestimated
their acute perceptual sensitivity, which determines what fish will do. Every
individual bass is different. Radio telemetry studies prove this point, so the
better you get at creating possibilities teasing hits, the more and bigger you
catch.
A
five-inch Senko is heavy enough for some bait-casting outfits, but I’ve always
preferred spinning. Reel position is easy on the wrist manipulating the rod,
but a bait caster may find his outfit fitting to his own style. A
five-and-a-half-foot rod allows better accuracy than longer, although longer
rods cast farther. Shorter also means the wrist is closer to the tip, so you
have better control while working the worm. It’s not sticks and brush fishing,
or not for the most part, nor heavy weeds, so six-pound test monofilament
suffices.
Six-pound
test works in a stream as it does in any of New Jersey’s reservoirs. The
average stream bass is nine or 10 inches long, but they aggressively take fat
five-inch Senkos. One of the advantages of fishing Senkos in streams is the
long cast. Smallmouths often inhabit shallow stretches a couple of feet deep
during summer afternoons, and if you get too close, they spook in that clear
water. Catapult a Senko, and a bass may rush from five or more yards distant.
Catching bass this way can seem too easy, but when it happens, enjoy the
excitement, because New Jersey streams see a lot of pressure. Bass usually
don’t react as eagerly to get on your hook as—once and awhile—they might. Any
of our freestone streams offer opportunity, but especially to catch big
smallmouths, you have to spend time and endeavor seriously.
Reservoirs,
on the other hand, offer tough summer smallmouth fishing, pressure intense, but
I’ve heard stories of fast action on the Newark Watershed Reservoirs, which
have boat restrictions and involve a yearly fee. Fred Matero and I have done
fairly well at sunset on Round Valley Reservoir, but nearly all of the bass are
stream-size. Fred’s done better on Merrill Creek Reservoir.
Lake Hopatcong, however, shines in the
memories of me and my son, where on a number of summer occasions we’ve caught
and released multiple smallmouths of nearly three pounds and larger. Dow’s Boat
Rentals offers anyone with a New Jersey Boating Safety Certificate the
opportunity to get on the lake.
I’ve
caught smallmouths in 12-acre Saffin Pond, but the Delaware River always feels
as if its resource is inexhaustible. That’s not true, but anyone with any
imagination can feel the mystery of its expanse, acres upon acres of bass
habitat expressed in myriad variations of the river’s course. Productive float
tripping is a foregone conclusion, but wading works out if you read water
closely and find spots that hold a few.
Wherever you fish these worms, it’s the type that matters—the fat
heavy-bodied worms you can rig Wacky. A number of brands exist, and I choose
Strike King almost exclusively. I’ve tried scented Gulp! but haven’t noticed
any increase in catches. Unless you meticulously organize equipment, you might
repeatedly forget to place these worms back in the sealed packaging. They
shrink. I’ve lost a couple of worm hooks, not to mention worms. It’s all but
impossible to separate the hook, once that bait hardens.
Summer is the stable season. The bite is steady and the days long. There’s lots of opportunity in New Jersey to get out and slow down at catching smallmouths.
