michang5

I've used clear plastic-y and black rubber bands. The clear ones melt from the salt in the senko. The black ones work better, but they become loose over time. I've cast out only to launch the senko while the band is still on the hook. I've not found any difference between hooking perpendicular versus parallel. A few months ago I was losing fish on the wacky switching from the bank to a kayak. I've practiced my hookset technique (feel tap, count to 2 while reeling down slack, and side sweep) and that has made the biggest difference. Caught three in a canoe today with textbook hook placement each time. YMMV. The link to o-rings in my previous post and the reply above was a game changer for me. No more paying 30-50 cents each at Lowes.

Boom!

I just remembered something that I saw months ago. Insert a screw into the hole where the pen point sticks out. Instant rings holder. Dunno why it had been buried in my brain until just now.

I had good luck with roadrunners heads (1/8oz white with chartreuse eye) with a Zoom tiny fluke trailer at the end of December. My friend was killing it during the same time. He caught a 5+# LMB and lipped it just as his line snapped. For whatever reason, I've stopped throwing them recently. Might need to bust them back out soon.

I throw 4" and 5" senkos weightless wacky. I use rubber o-rings to maximize the longevity of each senko. I've used a variety of hook brands and sizes. I've currently settled on the Owner Weedless Wacky hooks in 1/0 size. Pretty happy with the setup, but I've honestly been throwing the drop shot more lately. ​And instead of the wacky tool, you just need the bottom half of one of these pens.

Shallow, extremely clear creek that I fish at (with 4-6' depth) has been very productive with wacky Zoom finesse worms and nose-hooked Zoom tiny flukes. Both in watermelon red flake. Both weightless using small (smaller than 1/0) drop-shot hooks.

After trying to repair a Shimano Sedona myself and massively screwing the pooch, I'm going to send my spinning reels to a reputable local repair person in the future. I'm fairly meticulous and mechanically inclined (at least with small form factors, such as electronics and soldering), but I just couldn't put the gearing back together correctly -- even with several YouTube videos at my disposal. Disassembled and reassembled three times and still couldn't get it right. In the trash it went.

I fished from a canoe yesterday and was able (I think) to grab both a male and female from a bed. Sight unseen, I cast a baby brush hog to shore and SLOWLY dragged it back. A 1.25# hit immediately. Released it and cast the BBB in exactly the same place. Immediately a 2.5# with round belly took it. Released quickly right in front of the bed. Not 100% , but seemed likely.

Here in central Texas, many of the bass are already paired up on beds. Being that this is the first pre-spawn/spawn I've fished (started in July), this is all new to me. I've spent just about every day the last week or so trying to figure out the bedded fish on my city lake and small neighborhood ponds. I've been able to agitate and hook most of the males on the beds with a hula grub, lizard or finesse jig. The bigger females (often times there are two around a male) don't seem to give a flip about what I'm throwing. They just casually swim back and forth. Do I just keep at it with the same presentation and bait? Switch one or both? Move on? I'm assuming that I have to appeal to the females feeding instinct -- instead of guarding with the males. Correct?

The photo I took of you with your DD and my Boga should be in a textbook on how to take a fish weight picture! If your club mate is calling BS, then he/she is a moron.

If i wasn't breaking off line, I don't think I would be changing it. I lose about 4-6" each time I tie a new leader so it should last me awhile. I like the idea of flipping hi-viz line around. If I ever keep line around that long, I'll definitely give it a try.

Somehow missed that skimming the replies. Thanks for pointing it out. Glad to know I'm not the only one.

I guess I'll be the lone voice of dissension. Since I mostly fish from the bank, I get snagged more often and have to break off. Sometimes I'll get a bad wind knot when the line flies back at me and I have to cut it. And if I'm ever running straight braid (we'll see what happens this summer when I go back to throwing a hollow-bodied frog), a snag could cost me yards of braid. After 6-10 really bad snags, I'm usually down pretty far on the spool and it starts to affect my casting distance and retrieve. So I have to change out the braid. So I'd say I have to change every 3 months.

I am really enjoying my Stradic 1000FI paired with a St. Croix Premier 6'6" MF rod. I got the Cabelas-exclusive split-grip model, but I think the full grip is nice as well.

After several months of having no success with occasionally fishing a roboworm, I finally caught fish with my last two Aaron's Magic worms. Now I have to go get more! Ha!

Other than once or twice from a kayak, my drop shotting is usually from the bank. This week I pulled in a 3# and two 2#. One fish was from deeper water (10-15') and two were in shallow water (1-3'). Unlike the "video-game fishing" I see the pros do from a boat in deep water, my bank drop shot technique is more like a slow Carolina rig. I cast it out and wait for the weight to hit bottom. Reel up slack. Starting with the rod tip at 10:00, I lift it to 11:00, drop tip back down to 10:00 and reel in the slack. I usually just pause 3-10 seconds after dragging the bait -- no twitching or shaking. It seemed so odd that it worked that I had to double check with my two fishing buddies awhile back. They confirmed that they essentially the same when fishing the drop shot from the bank.

DarrenM and several others have help me settle on these two setups. Wacky setup #1: medium-fast rod > 10# braid > 6# fluoro leader > Gamakatsu size 1 drop shot/split shot hook or Mustad size 2 drop shot hook > wacky zoom finesse worms. Biggest fish was 5.0#, and it required the excellent drag of my Stradic -- and prayer -- to get it in the canoe. Wacky setup #2: medium moderate rod > 20# braid > 10# fluoro leader > Owner 1/0 weedless wacky hook > o-rings > 4" or 5" senkos. Biggest fish was just under 6#. I'm going to consolidate to 15# braid for both setups soon. I am also evaluating whether I need the weedless hooks (cost-benefit analysis). But otherwise I'm happy with the components.

I don't fish a lot of cranks, but when I do I like using Norman Speed Clips.

I've never had a line wind around a guide like in those videos. My wind knots mostly happen when I have to break off a snag. The line flies back toward me and often has a knot somewhere. I only started having this problem when I began using 10# braid (PowerPro Super 8 Slick) a few months back. My other rod that I've used longer has 20# braid and I've never had a wind knot with it. So if it's really bugging you, try a step up in braid size. I just got some 15# braid and am eager to see if it is a good compromise between the two #s.

I swung by local Walmart today to pick up a ship-to-store order of 300yds of 15# PP S8S yellow braid. No local stores carry it and the WM price was quite a bit cheaper. I'm eager to see of it is a good compromise between the 10# and 20# braid I'm currently using on my two different spinning reels. Con: I've experienced more than a couple of wind knots on the 10#, the worst being when I'm breaking off a snag and the line flies back toward me. I've never had a wind knot that required cutting on the 20#. Pro: Granted I'm using different sizes reels and different rods, but I can cast the 10# much farther than the 20#. FrankW, I just might recycle the 20# that is currently on my spinning reel onto my Tatula for a test. Ooh... That's a smart and economical idea.

Thanks for this report, FrankW. I've long debated whether to switch my preferred SS8 to my Tatula. I will stick with my Seaguar Red Label fluoro.

Here is a thread I started. I got a lot of the same great advice from the same cool folks. And I did some testing of my own and posted a few of the findings. http://www.bassresource.com/bass-fishing-forums/topic/130873-need-help-from-kayakers-that-fish-wacky-senkos/page-2#entry1460497

As you noted, the Premier has better guides and is made in USA. I have a 2-piece 6'6" MF Premier spinning rod and really love it. It is a split-grip model that is supposedly exclusive to Cabelas. I use it mainly to throw weightless soft plastics. I caught a 5# largemouth on Saturday with it, paired with a Stradic 1000fi and 10# braid and 6# leader. One heck of a fight. The fish spun my anchored canoe 360* and pulled a ton of line. Probably my favorite catch to date.

I personally have no confidence in Texas-rigging a senko. I have lots of success with wacky. I increased my success when I added the 4" senko to my repertoire alongside the 5". While there are many folks much more skilled with them, I detailed my recent senko testing here: http://www.bassresource.com/bass-fishing-forums/topic/130873-need-help-from-kayakers-that-fish-wacky-senkos/page-2#entry1460497

I can't help you with the swap-out, but I would caution you on the septon knobs. I picked up a second-hand Shimano Stradic 1000fi a few months ago. Great reel, but I noticed that the handle was starting to get sticky. Same thing happened with my old Sedona. I googled and found a LONG thread about people having issues with the septon knobs used on a certain generation of Shimano reels. Several of the replies came from a Shimano representative and the gist was the company acknowledged septon breakdown due to exposure to certain types of sunscreen and mosquito repellant (my Sedona started having knob issues after some Off! mist got on it one day). Certain weather and humidity conditions were also cited. Not surprisingly, no replacements were offered by the rep. Sorry I don't have the link handy. I found it over a month ago. I didn't see any reason to pile on, so I just bought a pair of Reel Grips and stuck one on the Stradic knob. Problem solved.