I looked through all the Senko faqs titles and did not see anything on how deep in the water column a Senko can be used practically. They may eventually sink to 50 ft. or more, but....  I am guessing that most people fish them in water under 15 feet. Assuming you are using 5 or 6 lb. line with a 4" weightless, Texas-rigged Senko, what is the deepest water you would fish it in after letting it sink to the bottom?

When I am attempting to fish a senko deeper than about 12-15 feet (which is rare), I stick a nail weight in one end of it.  Technically its now a neko rig, but the plastic part is a senko.  This is when I'm wacky rigging it.  Sometimes they hit it on the fall.

12' and weightless only.

Any deeper and I want a weighted bait.

 

I also fish it weightless, wacky style, in less than 12 feet of water with good success mostly on the fall or dead-sticking shortly after the fall.

Rarely use a 4” Senko T-rigged, drop shot yes.

5” Senko wacky rigged weightless 15’- 20’ max depth, usually 3’- 12’. Better choices for deeper water.

Tom

I have Carolina rigged a 5” Senko but weightless no usually any deeper than 10-12ft.  Now, fishing lake Powell in Arizona I fished a weightless Senko in 300 ft of water but we were fishing “butt cracks” which are the cracks in the canyon face that go all the way to the bottom and the fish hold in them at different depths.  Deepest I let a Senko free fall in that situation was about 20ft.  Side note: I caught a lot of smallmouth doing it.  ?

5" Senko weightless 100% of the time and once the salt has dissolved, I go with nail weight. 

Texas and wacky is the only way I throw them in mostly water under 15ft.

weightless usually 3-12'. anything deeper i get impatient and throw it neko style with a super light nail weight. you'd be surprised how much faster the fall is compared to weightless with a  1/32 or 3/64 oz. nail weight

24 minutes ago, EWREX said:

weightless usually 3-12'. anything deeper i get impatient and throw it neko style with a super light nail weight. you'd be surprised how much faster the fall is compared to weightless with a  1/32 or 3/64 oz. nail weight

Ditto

With that nail weight it will pendulum away from you. Perfect when fishing a hard veg line. 
 

 

 

 

Mike

I have personally seen my father do this in 30+ foot of water while we were double anchored on a main lake point while I was fishing a jig and it can be deadly! He was using a spinning reel with the bail open and casting as far up wind and current as possible and letting it "intersect" the main lake point. He was essentially fishing a fly-lined/ long soaked plastic like we do when salt water fishing a live bait. Not my favorite technique (I prefer others like the jig I was fishing), but under the right conditions it can be very effective. The current/ wind kicked up and killed technique, but it was deadly for a hot minute when the conditions are right. 

Someone here (maybe roadwarrior) posted about just putting it on a long drop shot if you are trying to fish the bottom of the water column in deep water. Then just let it fall all the way to the bottom, just using the DS to skip the slow part. 

 

With that said, unweighted probaby no deeper than 7 feet unless I just know for sure it is the deal. 

I’m a finesse fisherman by nature but I don’t have the patience to fish a wacky or weightless senko deeper than ~ 8 feet. More than 10 feet and I will begin using a dropshot rig as mentioned here. A long leader length is key so the wacky rigged bait has time to do and space to do its shimmy. I imagine a Carolina or split shot rig will have a similar effect but I’ve never tried them.

I use them regularly in 75’-125’ jigging for lake trout.  I use 3/4-1oz jig heads. 

Legendary angler Mark Pack was known for targeting suspected bass with a weightless M-Pack Shad (7" Fluke style). Try counting that down 25-30' while holding the boat in place with your trolling motor.

 

Pacman was known for catching double digit bass & 50# sacks on Lake Fork.

T-rig it on a dropshot with a long leader and you can let the weight hit bottom and then let it freefall slowly the rest of the way. A wacky rigged senko on a dropshot works well also. 

Weightless, 15 feet. With a bullet weight,  up to 3/8oz maybe 30. 50 feet would be pushing it. Another method I like for deep senkos  is the free rig.

If I'm throwing it around the bank and around cover wacky weightless. But if I'm wanting to go out into the water more with it I use a weighted wacky jig. Either 1/32 or 1/8 oz. I mainly bank fish ponds but if I want to chuck it towards the deepest spots in the middle I'm using a weighted wacky jig head. 

On 2/3/2022 at 12:51 PM, roadwarrior said:

12' and weightless only.

Any deeper and I want a weighted bait.

 

I would agree