Few soft-plastic lures hit the bass world with the impact of the Senko. And that's saying something, considering plastic worms have been staple baits for bass anglers since 1949. That's when Nick Creme developed the formula for a lifelike wiggler from the exotic new vinyl materials invented during and just after World War II in the fledgling U.S. petrochemical industry.
Creme melted and poured the new concoctions in the kitchen of his home in Akron, Ohio, and became known as the father of the modern plastic worm. Soft plastics companies developed a plethora of shapes and a rainbow of colors in the ensuing years, but the lures were still pretty much kissin' cousins of the original Creme Scoundrel.
Then along came the Senko.
So Many Options
Were it not for Gary Yamamoto's reputation as a no-nonsense genius in the fine arts of marketing and fishing soft plastics, the Senko may have drifted to obscurity. After all, the lure features neither the flapping appendages nor the slithery tail most anglers believe are necessary to attract a bass' attention and trigger a strike response.
In his quiet and persistent way, Yamamoto put the Senko to work and, like Creme, he's now the person most singularly associated with a genre of fishing lures. Today, the word Senko is used to describe not only Yamamoto's cigar-shaped lure, but all of the other knock-offs that have followed. The Senko is the Kleenex of salty, soft-plastic stickbaits.
It would stand to reason, therefore, that the man behind the Senko would know a thing or two about fishing it.
But Yamamoto is surprisingly basic in his approach. While bass anglers have experimented and perfected a wide variety of Senko applications – from weightless and wacky to heavy sinkers on Carolina rigs – he relies mostly on a setup that may be used least among the throngs of Senko fans.
"I normally throw it Texas-rigged with a sinker," he said in his matter-of-fact manner. "Pretty basic, really – just an 1/8-ounce weight on a 5/0 straight-shank hook. I don't throw it wacky-style much because I don't like to fish with the exposed hook."
He acknowledges the Senko's versatility and the numerous ways anglers have found to use it.
"You can't use it wrong," he said in describing the stories he's heard from anglers who customize their setups to match various situations.
"The most popular way is weightless – either Texas-rigged or wacky-style – but I like to add a light sinker. It's really good around vertical cover and the sinker makes it fall straight down in a nice spiral."
Potomac Bite
Senkos were employed by many at the recent Chevy Open (Potomac FLW), including Yamamoto. They probed weed flats, tidal washes, dock pilings and wood.
Yamamoto concentrated on poles and other vertical objects to make the cut in 7th with two limits that combined for 30-14. He finished 8th with 10 bass over the final 2 days that weighed 22-04.
He used 5-inch Senkos weighted with his standard screw-in, 1/8-ounce bullet sinker to get a spiraling descent around the cover. He spooled up his casting reels with 14-pound Sugoi fluorocarbon.
"I seldom use spinning rods, but I know a lot of people do," he said. "Whatever works for them is how I recommend they fish the Senko."
Notable
> Yamamoto has heard from many anglers about how they use their Senkos, but the first method that comes to mind when he's quizzed about oddball setups is really off the wall. "Some people in Canada and around Lake Erie are cutting 5-inch Senkos in half to make two baits," he said. "Whatever they want to do is fine with me. It still catches fish even when they cut it in half."
