TOXIC

I “may” be a little biased but a Yamamoto DShad is all that I use.

Sometimes it’s good to pull these old posts out of the closet to see if anything has changed. Flouresent blue mono is my preferred line. I’m a line watcher and finesse guy so it’s perfect for my preference. Back when this post was originally written or maybe a bit earlier, my favorite mono was Berkley Trilene Tournament Strength in Photochromic orange. Sadly, it was discontinued.

I can’t imagine a more frustrating situation than being in open water with heavy recreational boat traffic. I would find a cove or other area out of the heavy traffic area. Unless I’m in a tournament, there’s always some fish shallow.

With a little searching, the comments both pro and con are as long as your arm.😂 Bottom line both work and it boils down to personal preference. I have used both and have good and bad about both. I will say my buddies Ranger had a habit of snapping the lower unit to trailer style no matter how snug he fitted it. I currently have a custom made wedge style made from aircraft quality solid aluminum and I am very satisfied with it.

How it was designed and how it works best can be 2 different things.😉 For a long time it was hard to describe a Senko. Not really a jerkbait and not really a worm so both terms got used. Every seminar or demonstration I ever do starts with the same statement “There’s no wrong way to fish a Senko.” That statement holds true to this day. PS.. If I’m not mistaken that’s Glen doing that interview with Gary.

The great thing about fishing plastics, no matter how they are rigged, is that there are no rules on how to fish them. I wrote an article for Yamamoto years ago on the number of ways I found to rig a Senko. I came up with 78 ways. One of the hardest things to do is deadsticking but it is a valuable technique with a weightless Senko. I used to demonstrate it when I would do demonstrations on the tank at Bass Pro. I would throw out a weightless Senko and highlight the wiggle in the fall but if it didn’t get bit, I would let it hit the bottom and I would just leave it there and the bass would surround it nose down and tails upright. I call it bird dogging. After about 10-15 seconds, I would give the bait a small twitch and one of them would always dart in and take it. It was my way of showing the patience needed to truly deadstick a bait.

My Senko box. It is 2 sided and there are a couple more colors there, like purple/blue flake and a green/white laminate.

My screen name is a nickname that I’ve had for over 35 years. I had it long before Brittney Spears sang it.😂 Its also on the license plates of my truck. Now how I got the nickname is a story reserved for a few adult beverages and friends.

Enjoy! Keep us posted.

While I no longer tournament fish, I do spend a lot of time on the rear deck of my fishing partners boat. As has been said, I rig for the time of year, current conditions and body of water we will be fishing. I carry a Plano soft sided bag that holds all of my tackle and 6 rods (4 spinning, 2 casting). It is sized to fit in one of the rear compartments easily. My tackle consists of a terminal tackle box, Senko box, Ned box, dropshot box, and a box that contains all hardbaits and moving baits topwater, cranks, spinnerbaits, rattle traps, jerkbaits. I can switch in specific boxes for current conditions like a DShad box or a blade bait box.

Easy to identify……the ever present northwoods bait thief. They come in all sizes and various species but can all be identified with a cadre of bass fisherman’s lures in their mouth. Lucky for us here in Virginia other than a few locations, we mainly have chain pickerel which are smaller but just as capable of chomping through most line choices and they are not picky. We are blessed with the Northern Snakehead which is just as toothy.

I travel a lot of overnight trips with my boat and security is always a consideration. One trip my wife booked the hotel and when we got there they had one single depth row of parking all the way around the property. When. Checked in the desk told me to park across the street in a shopping center parking lot. I was not happy. I normally put my graphs and anything valuable in a locked compartment (a joke of a lock BTW) and is covered by a Lok-R-Bar with an alarmed padlock. The padlock alarm is set up to beep if jostled and go off if moved again so I always give it a shake after locking it. I may consider a camera system as an added measure in the future.

There’s a difference between a name conveying a color or a rigging style. As for colors, I always chuckled at the multitude of tube colors when we would go to my friends tackle store on our trips to St Clair. Names like Road Kill and Baby Poop. SPRO crankbait called Cell Mate??? As for rigging, I have one that I named and all of my buddies that use it know it by that name. It’s called the Wong Rig. Get your minds out of the gutter, I named it after the Lady Bass Angler pro Judy Wong after I saw her interviewed after she won a tournament. This was long before spot lock was invented and she was fishing the discharge from a dam and in order to get her Senko to the bottom in the fast current, she rigged it on a football head skirtless jig. We were drift fishing on St Clair one of our early years (before spot lock) and even with drift socks, I couldn’t slow down enough to get a tube to the bottom without overloading my rod/reel setup. Then I remembered that interview and rigged up that rig and it shot straight to the bottom and as we drifted, the football head “walked” like trying to launch a kite that turned upside down on the ground. I proceeded to slam the smallmouth and from that day forward I have used the “Wong Rig” even on calm days for that same walking action.

Well, our planned trip for today was called off. We had some severe storms roll through and my boat is stored on my daughters farm and not only is she without power, which means I can’t get the massive doors open on the barn, all roads to the farm were blocked by downed trees. We are supposed to get another round of storms this afternoon as well. My problem with all of the electrolyte drinks is that they make my hands and feet swell up. Back in my young days, I worked in a factory where we repaired and retrofitted all sorts of rail cars. A lot of our work was done outside in the heat. In the bathroom and showers they had dispensers with salt tablets. I don’t know if there was any additional additives in them but we were instructed to take them on a regular basis.

Heading out again Sunday with a few changes. First, I’ll be gulping water all day Saturday to get my hydration level up and second, I told my fishing buddy that we are going to start earlier (safelight) and end earlier. I need to ease into this summer heat.

Here’s one of the bass.

I’ll make this a report but it’s really a warning. Went to the Rappahonock River here in Virginia chasing bass. Caught a few on a dropshot and Ned. I caught a Snakehead that totally destroyed a Buckeye Su-Spin rigged with a Yamamoto Shad Shape Swimmer. Water temps were in the high 70’s, air temps in the low 90’s. My first real exposure to summer heat. I just got back from St Clair where we were in the day/night temps in the 60’s and 40’s. My system was not ready for that shock. I was in lightweight fishing pants, hooded fishing shirt, gloves, buff and hat. I brought plenty of water but by the end of the day I felt like crap with a throbbing headache. Got home, took a cold shower and drank about a gallon of water and started feeling better. Be careful out there! 😉

Short answer, I have not noticed any change in performance as a Senko gets used. Here’s another thing, put a Senko and a knockoff in glasses of water for an extended period of time. A Senko will not expand anywhere near what the knockoffs do. I’m no chemist so I can’t tell you why but I’ve seen it with my own 2 eyes.

We added Headwaters as an annual February Trip and have gone the last 4 years. While not exactly small baits I have done well with. 5 inch weighted Senko, and a weightless DShad. One of our guys did get a good one on a slider head. We have never found the lake to be “too” busy. A little congested at the 2 lane ramp but that is expected.

Sometimes the truth hurts and @A-Jay is 100% correct. Having owned multiple boats and sizes I can attest to it. With that being said, if you are ok with the downsides and the dealer is offering you a good warranty, then it’s probably a pretty good deal. Just be advised, “if” you go to sell sometime in the future you will take the savings hit in resale assuming you don’t upgrade anything.

To be honest, I have drastically cut back. I have rigged my gear more to the body of water and my personal strengths. For example, I am heading out to the Rappahonock River this weekend and will rig a weighted Senko, dropshot, swimbait, Ned and crankbait. My tackle bag contains all the different colors and terminal tackle and some of what I call “what if” baits. 😂

Good luck on your search, unfortunately I will be of no help. I have setups for every technique and in some cases multiple rods for the same technique. I don’t like to retie. 😂

One of the big boys came to my hanging block cage. It’s usually too free swinging for them but he got it done. Bad thing is they will destroy a feed block in no time. I used to hang a suet block o the deck and they got so tame they would fly down with us sitting out there. They would even bring their youngsters with them.

It’s not so much how you make the connection but that you make the connection however you can. Fishing is a great way to do that. I’ve always said spend the day with someone on a boat and you will get to really know them. My grandfather started it when he took me to Canada with him and my grandmother. I gave my father some of the best days of his life either on my bass boat later in life or my 2 man pvc boat catching 75-100 smallmouth a day on the Shenandoah. So much so that’s where he wanted his ashes spread. My father in law was a fly fisherman and tied his own flies. I was able to take him to the magical waters of the Shenandoah as well where we wade fished with him and I learned the art of fly fishing. My son and daughter have spent quality time with me on the boat. As a guide I had very rewarding experiences. Taking wounded soldiers out in multiple events literally changed my life. 24 years of fishing with friends on Lake St Clair and more recently Florida has kept me connected and balanced in retirement. So yeah, boating and fishing has benefited me and those around me for years.

Spring has sprung, especially with a recently retired wife who is looking for things to do. She just dropped $700 on a yard guy to come and clean out the beds around the house and put down mulch. All while I was fishing in Michigan. 😆. It does look nice though.