I'm new to artificial worms. They had just been "invented" when I quit fishing, as a young adult. Anyway, I've gotten the impression from reading and watching other anglers at the small ponds I fish, that you slowly retrieve the worm across the bottom, or -- if in a boat -- merely drop the worm down and jiggle it a little, then retrieve and try again a little distance away.

Yesterday, however, a guy showed up and caught 2 bass in 15 minutes (about what I normally get in a 2 or 3 hour session). He was using an artificial worm (nothing special, he showed me it was a brown colored Yamamoto of the type I think are called "senkos", with no weight, and using a 4/0 hook. He was very active and covered a lot of surface by casting out about 30 or 40 feet and then retrieving pretty rapidly by raising his rod tip, lowering it and reeling up the slack, and then raising his rod tip again. I suspect the worm was being pulled almost to the surface and then allowed to sink to the top of the weed bed (only 2 or 3 feet) over and over.

So, is this a known worming technique? Does it have a name to distinguish it from the slower type of fishing worms that I see others use? I certainly like the fact that it keeps you busy, like casting and retrieving a spinner bait, and I know it works!

He was yo-yoing a senko. It is one way of fishing those things. Another way is casting it out and letting it fall till it hits the bottom then lifting the rod tip and letting in fall again. It's a little slower than what it sounds like this guy was doing. The thing about a senko that attracts a bass is the flutter it does when it sinks. The bass just love it.

If you want to know anything about a Senko just go to the top of the General fishing page and click on the sticky post "Questions about Senkos". Start reading and by the end of it you will be a Senko Pro.

Thanks!  Sometimes (all the time?) I just charge right past stickies without seeing them.

I really like this technique because I'm antsy when I get out to the pond and slow worming is hard for me to discipline myself to do.  Plus on these ponds, letting a worm fall all the way to the bottom and then pulling it through the weeds is going to lead to a weed encrusted bait very quickly.

I'm off to read about Senkos!  

I'm a firem believer that you can't work a Senko 'wrong' .  They work from top to bottom and anywhere inbetween.

Dan