Senko magic worth the expense?

[Slayem9]

Yesterday I was fishing for shallow water bass and pickerel using Senkos and came to a few conclusions regarding baits that fall apart after one or two fish.

The recreational user may ask himself Â*if the cost is worth it for a few fish per lure, most of which will be dinks or pickerel'? For the tournament angler that needs a limit and the pay off is substantial, this may not be a relevant question, but the for casual angler, that knows he can catch fish on knockoffs, paying over 70 cents for one worm and one or two fish doesn't make sense.

The magic of the Senko lies in the super-softness of the bait plus the high percentage of salt for weight. Fish are attracted by the worm's unique body action on the quick, horizontal fall. For some strange reason, (in my opinion) bass can detect lure softness and density before it even bites it and the softness of a lure [/i] is usually a superior fish attractor and bite-retention quality.

It's possible that the action of a soft plastic lure is quickly perceived as body consistency and chewabilty (for lack of a better word), by the way it acts on the fall or on the bottom. That's possibly the reason soft plastics have been the most popular of all lure types for decades.

Many knockoff jerk sticks lack a high degree of softness or weight and though durable, are only good as jerkworms in very thin, weedy water. Plastic without salt, is more buoyant (ie Slugo) and the texture when bit, is totally different than a salted plastic. Â*I won't get into the controversy that bass can taste the salt and therefore hold on longer, Â*but a salted plastic is internally textured and spongy. For some reason, Senkos (and other soft plastics) have been found in bass digestive tracks! Again, the trade-off for super softness, is durability and the magic of the Senko or any other properly salted, soft stick-worm is lost if either of those two elements are missing. Â*

I pour my own plastics, and yesterday caught far more fish-per-lure than on my Senkos. To the Senko's credit (and softness), I was able to cut off the ruined ends and wacky rig the final three inches of a 5" Senko and still caught a few more bass (a total of 4 small bass and one pickerel on one bait).

My lures are somewhat less soft, but contain the same ratio of salt. The back half of my sticks, have more taper and therefore a different action when twitched on the way down. My jerk worm, like the Senko, has also been picked up off the bottom on the initial fall and allowed for an easy hook set, which in itself, is normal for many dead-stick plastics.



It's nice to know I don't have to pay over 70 cents for a worm and for less fish, just to experience the 'magic' of the Senko or Cut Tail. If I was a diehard tournament angler, I would probably use Senkos at least half the time and my own the other half because any knockoff, shaped like a cigar, will work better as a shallow jerkworm in weeds.

Eventually, Yamamoto may have to come down in price to maintain market share and does have some good sales on his In-Side Line site.