TOXIC

This isn't the first thread about interactions with "pros" on the water. Seems to be a recurring topic lately. Each pro handles themselves differently and some are more cool headed about it than others. There is a "pro" big name fisherman who will forever be on my voodoo list to lose. He went out of his way to try and ruin some of my closest friends lives even going so far as to send video to one's place of employment and getting attorneys involved all because he came from over 1/2 mile away on opposite side a community area to confront a flotilla of 5 boats that are friends of mine who were drifting and just having a good time fishing together. I know plenty of "pros" and this was the most disgusting display I have ever heard of on the water.

Make it a point to look us up. Give Mini a call or I'll IM you my cell. Since my partner here in Virginia and I agree to take his boat and my truck, I am a rider and he absolutely HATES sight fishing in the Moot. Although we got stuck in there 2 years ago because of 20-30mph sustained winds all week long. He would rather come across to the the Mile Roads, Selfrege or Metro Beach. We work our way from the Salt almost all the way to the mouth of the Detroit River some years. This year we have a real character flying in from Australia again (he came last year as well) because he got hooked on smallies.

Believe me, you won't be disappointed.

Getting giddy for our 16th annual trip to St Clair in May. Like I've always said, Smallmouth are fisherman's crack. You catch just one and you'll forever be looking for your next "Fix".

JT, Yes we have been teammates for at least 20 years. I was on the Guide program for about 5 years and full sponsorship for the last 20+. Went to Page for a "Dog Pound" get together and fished Lake Powell. I have been doing shows and demos for that entire time and for a while as Pro-Staff for Bass Pro (15 years). I have written a lot of articles for the Inside Line first when it was a monthly print magazine and when it went to an on-line publication. Although Yamamoto has always encouraged me to use other baits and report back how they compare (which I have done), I have not found any other bait that I can't make a Yamamoto product work just as good if not better. As you know for those that like to throw monster size plastics, Yamamoto has upsized a lot of their baits to 7". I have the same business card you show in your profile but I did not wear my "Bumblebee" shirt for it. I still have it though

Pre rigged hooks or pre rigged plastics? I don't leave plastics on any of my hooks because most of them have a salt content that eats hooks quickly. I have pre rigged c-rig setups but that's the only bait I throw that has more than 1 knot. I tie everything direct. Always have always will.

Sometimes they get bit better. Some fishermen that I know use them exclusively. I just prefer the 5 inch.

You might want to drop down to a 3.0 EWG hook with the 4 inch.

Read back through the posts. I did give some info to help rigging. I always made it a point to take someone from the crowd in my seminars who thought the Senko was a 1 fish bait and I would have them rig it right there. Then I could show them why their rigging was causing the problem. There's no debate, Senko's are more fragile than others but believe me, it's part of what makes them work.

Remember, the pro's are fishing for a paycheck. They are going to use whatever bait gives them the best chance to win. Sponsor or not. It's that simple.

Easy way around it.........carry only your sponsor's baits.......period. You will not find another plastic in my boat besides Yamamoto. There's no way I could ever take a picture of anything else, unless someone else brought it aboard. There is no way I could run out and have to use a competitors bait.

Google "Pink Fishing Rods" lots of options that you could spruce up with some decals.

They all work for the Bait Monkey.

Peddle, Pedal, Puddle, Poodle, it's all Greek to me.

So the next big question is paddle or peddle and why?

Let me know if you ever get just a tad more South. The Potomac is calling your name.

Had a friend with an early Tracker Deep V that was a riveted boat. He fished the PWT and was regularly on very rough water. We fished Lake Michigan one year and he had a lot of rivets "pop". He told me the only cure he found that worked was to drill out the offenders and re-rivet. If necessary he went up a size in the rivet to get them to seal but according to him, he could replace with the same size most of the time. He had a portable compressor and a heavy duty rivet gun to do his repairs. FWIW.....

Having worked for a number of years as a Trainer in the industry, racing deaths are a sad, sad thing. Very few understand the science that goes into track management. It is a complicated mixture of drainage, soil, clay and sand and is usually tailored to the climate the track is located in as far as combinations. We scratched many a horse when we felt the track we were racing on was dangerous. While some horses excel in wet conditions (we called them mudders), a track not designed for heavy amounts of rain will oftentimes have "the bottom fall out" where holes or soft spots in the strata develop. Keeping in mind these animals are putting excessive amounts of force on leg bones that are the size of pencils, the risks of serious injury increase greatly with track conditions. Sadly for most a leg break or bad injury is a death sentence for these animals. It's the economics of racing. That being said, I witnessed a lot more egregious practices on horses during my time in the industry. It's a very good thing they shut the track until they can get it back to a safe condition.

How true. It seems that all finesse presentations (especially those started out West) once they get more mainstream get "bubba'd" up to heavier and heavier lines, weights and baits as the technique spreads. I attribute it to those who just can't leave a technique alone and have to tinker or change it to make it feel more like it's their own. It's ok with me though because I am a hardcore finesse fisherman and I tend to downsize more than upsize. I throw my Ned offerings on a 7ft medium (or M-F depending on the rod manufacturer) spinning with 6lb mono, either a CastAway Skeleton or Quantum Smoke.

I just answered that question in a IM. I'll post it here.......... Pretty tough to explain but I'll give you an overview. I am talking about T-Rigging on a Gamakatsu 4.0 EWG hook. Not wacky rigging. First, you have to make sure you insert the hook point into the head of the Senko the right distance. Leave too much forward and your line will cut the Senko, too little and it will rip the head of the Senko. Second, make sure when you twist the bait head over the offset hook eye, you don't rip it. Third, when you push the bait forward to insert the hook point in the middle of the senko, make sure that when you are done, the point you inserted isn't ripped because you didn't get the insertion point correct. And finally, make sure when you bury the hook point in the top of the bait you give it plenty of bait to grab and make sure the Senko looks just like it would lying there with no hook as it does rigged up. In other words, straight with no bends or crimps.

First, to answer the OP's question....If you are going to weight the bait, I would fish the cheapest knockoff. Once weighted, you have overruled the "natural" action of any Senko™️ "Style" bait. Second and just my opinion...........If you are tearing up Senkos at a cyclic rate, take more time and possibly learn how to rig them better so that they last. I have caught 15 smallmouth on 1 Senko T-Rigged. Rig them wrong and they are a 1 fish bait.

Personal Preference. I like the 4.0 EWG because it cut my gut hooked fish by clients waaaaay down. I adopted it for myself.

Not in my experience. My preferred way to rig a weightless Senko is Texas rigged on a 4.0 Gamakatsu EWG hook. The only time I have ever broken off on a hookset is if I got lazy and didn't retie when I should have. I have a hard time stopping fishing to retie. Sometimes I press my luck. Just as an example, I have caught many catfish up to 8lbs on this setup, bass over 6lbs, 5lb smallmouth and even a 14.9lb snakehead. I have been using BPS Excel mono. There's a neck to setting the hook where you really cross their eyes but don't "snap" the rod. It's the snap that breaks you off.

I use plano boxes and restock as needed (for Senko's I use the double sided I attached a pic of). When I'm fishing, I want to open a box grab a bait and get back to fishing. Not open the box, grab the bag, unroll the bag, open the bag, get a bait, reseal the bag, roll up the bag and put back in the box. I know me and if I tried that, I would have bags littered all over the boat and in the compartments telling myself, I'll put them away when I get home. I do keep a bag of my favorite Senko color in my pocket most days. Saves even more time.

Not to sound like a pompous arse but having been with Yamamoto for 20+ years and having done hundreds of seminars and demonstrations with Senko's (I can't vouch for any other knockoff). I have always recommended a spinning setup and always will. That's not to say you can't fish them on a baitcaster, many do and are very successful, but if you really, really get into the multiple ways to fish a Senko, a spinning rod is just the right tool for the job. A Senko is, without a doubt a finesse bait. It's meant to be thrown on light line and weightless for most applications. Weightless, I throw no more than 6lb test mono. You can rig a Senko with braid and leaders and weight just like any other plastic and it will produce but.........where is really outperforms all others is weightless. I'm sure I've posted a long winded explanation at one point or another so I won't do it again. Glen also has a good article here on the site. My favorite rods are a CastAway Skeleton and a Quantum Smoke. Length and power tailored to your preference.