I was just wondering if anyone has tried this? Ive heard a senko under a bobber works well in the north country and was thinking of trying it out.

I've never tried it but it sounds like a good idea.  I think wacky rigged would be better than t-rigged.

last year the first time ever trying a senko type bait. i set it up under a float, it does work . Tho not as well as weightless on a 4/0 hook.

I was able to hook a nice walleye a pike and some sm/mouth bass fishing it under a float.

Kevin

Sounds like it would work well on a slightly windy day with a little chop on the surface. Then it would have a nice wiggle action if wacky rigged.

I've been using a slip bobber/Senko set-up for the last two seasons and this one as well. It allows to fish two rigs at the same time - legally - and with a partner, it gives us four presentations. I'm usually working a drop shot on my second rig and a partner might be working a spinnerbait or tube. Fishing alone, I've had many doubles; fishing a partner, we've had 4 "quads" over the years. Talk about a lot of fun! H

 

The bobber stops can be found at any sporting goods store - even WalMarts. They have the stop set-ups & small plastic beads in the package. You can find the cigar floats at Dicks; you can use all kinds of slip floats in this application, but after trial & error, I've pretty much settled on this one. It's about 4" long and the bright colors make it easy to see, even in a decent chop.

I've chosen Fireline Chrystal, as my main line, because it stays on the surface of the water, between the float and your rod tip. This makes slack retrieval much easier, as well as hook-sets. And, for me, it's easy to see! The glass bead under the float prevents the eye of the crane swivel from sticking in the bottom of the float. (There actually is a method behind my madness, believe it or not!) It also ads a little weight to help get your Senko down faster.

Do NOT use a barrel swivel! You know....the kind that are used with "snap-swivels". Use a quality crane swivel or ball bearing style only. These turn much easier than the barrel types. The Senko hanging below a bobber, has a tendency to turn....so you will need to avoid line twist, as much as possible. I really like to use the Spro Powerswivels, size #8 or #10. They work as well as any ball bearing swivel, but they are expensive and not easy to find everywhere.

You can use any hook you want; however, I would highly recommend you give this one shown a try (crush down the barb!). I've had excellent results with it. When the bobber goes under, you just start reeling her in! The leader between the hook & swivel is anything you want it to be. If I'm fishing fairly shallow in weedy/wooded conditions for LM, I'll beef it up to about 10# test - or more! But for open water SM fishing, the 6# test cited above is about as good as it gets.

Now....the most important part! How far up the line do you set the bobber stop? This is what I do. I find bait on the structure I'm fishing. Then I attach an ice fishing depth finder - the lead weights with the alligator clips molded into them - to the hook. I lower this boatside until it hits bottom. I adjust the bobber stop so that the float is about 2' underwater. This will be correct, for having your Senko presented 2' ABOVE THE BOTTOM. Got that? Simple...effective. Remove the depth finder, slip on a Senko. Cast it a short distance from the boat. The float will lay flat, until the Senko is at the end of it's travel. Now the float will semi-stand up, bouncing about and imparting a rather dramatic action to your wacky rigged Senko.

Lots of folks have a prejudice against bobbers. I guess they automatically associate it with live bait fishing, but it's quite different. You still need to present your Senko in front of fish and and you have to find them! I've posted here, previously, my technique of how I wacky rig these Senkos, so you can do a search on that. Hope this is of some help to some of you folks.

Great info !!! Thanks

Crestliner2008,

I contacted the mods this should be permanent if it isn't already..

Hey guys this should be a sticky or in the tackle box section permanent.

That's great info, I love fishing LM's, Spots, actually anything that swims that way.

Floats are great!

Tight Lines All!!!  

After reading this thread I tried it out a couple days ago and believe it or not it worked.  I only got one fish in about three hours but it was worth it to leave the float out there while I fished normally.

Sounds like it would work well on a slightly windy day with a little chop on the surface. Then it would have a nice wiggle action if wacky rigged.

I have luck on this set up also.  A little wind gives it a great action.

does anyone ever have problem with bluegill pecking at the senko though?

Crestliner2008,

I contacted the mods this should be permanent if it isn't already..

Hey guys this should be a sticky or in the tackle box section permanent.

That's great info, I love fishing LM's, Spots, actually anything that swims that way.

Floats are great!

Tight Lines All!!!

Check it out!

First topic sticky in this section.

Crestliner2008,

Thank you!

-Kent

I can vouch for fishing a wacky senko with a bobber.

It has kind of been an inside joke in our bass club because one of our members had won a tournament with this method, but he was catching largemouth.

Our last tournament this past fall was at Burt lake, after having terrible luck trying to catch anything i had pulled up on a weed flat in about 8 ft of water toward the end of the day, fish were surfacing everywhere but for the life of me i couldn't get a bite.

I was throwing a wacky senko on a wide-gap hook, and jokingly told my co-angler i might have better luck with a bobber!

I set the bobber so the senko would be hanging just above the weeds. On my first cast, not even 5 seconds after being in the water the bobber went under, and i landed a 5.08, i had laughed about it just thinking it was a fluke until i went from 0 lbs to just under 18 lbs within an hour! I would definitely suggest using a bobber with a wacky senko to catch some smallies!

I can vouch for fishing a wacky senko with a bobber.

It has kind of been an inside joke in our bass club because one of our members had won a tournament with this method, but he was catching largemouth.

Our last tournament this past fall was at Burt lake, after having terrible luck trying to catch anything i had pulled up on a weed flat in about 8 ft of water toward the end of the day, fish were surfacing everywhere but for the life of me i couldn't get a bite.

I was throwing a wacky senko on a wide-gap hook, and jokingly told my co-angler i might have better luck with a bobber!

I set the bobber so the senko would be hanging just above the weeds. On my first cast, not even 5 seconds after being in the water the bobber went under, and i landed a 5.08, i had laughed about it just thinking it was a fluke until i went from 0 lbs to just under 18 lbs within an hour! I would definitely suggest using a bobber with a wacky senko to catch some smallies!

Exactly how I use it to set the bait just above the weeds or structure, it works GREAT!

I've caught bass from the back seat using this method. Most of the time I set the float 8 to 13 feet deep while we are fishing bluffs or deep weed edges. It works!

  I gotta quick question please.  I read about the swivel being some wait to get it down.  Is there any time or any depth that any of you would or do put a split shot on?

you want the bait to fall slower. any extra weight will kill the action. this best works on structureless flats  where SM are roaming for food in the pre and post spawn

you want the bait to fall slower. any extra weight will kill the action. this best works on structureless flats where SM are roaming for food in the pre and post spawn

I agree with your first statement, but disagree with the second. I use a float rig most of the year. Have taken a lot of different species that way, including smallies, even in August. And I use it on multi-faceted off-shore structures as well. The key is to locate bait.

ok ill try that. thats just when and where if had the best success

http://www.in-fisherman.com/video

theres a video here called smallmouths in space that explains fishing a stick bait under a float. its under the in-fisherman category

I was just wondering if anyone has tried this? Ive heard a senko under a bobber works well in the north country and was thinking of trying it out.

Back2 has it right. put it under a slip bobber wacky rigged. You'll need some wind tho. the wind moving the bobber up and down will impart the motion to the wacky rigged senko. Can be a killer rig at times.

What type of rod would be good for this? I am thinking long and limber kinda FNF style? but would like to hear from those that have used the technique.

Thanks

reo

Great thing about senkos under a float is that you can throw them into current and just let them go with the flow. Its more of a horizontal approach instead of letting them sink and bringing them back up and so on.

There was a full article on this in BassMaster a couple of years ago. The guy wacky rigged and floated the Senko just over a submerged weed line. It helps to have a light wind which imparts action to the bobber and hence the Senko. The guy did very well and landed quality fish.

I've been doing this for a long time. I put a weight about 15" above the hook and a bobber about 30" above that. I cast to the shallows and reel slowly over the drop off and weeds.

I first tried it to make it easy for my grand son but soon found out this really works good. My wife and I were out last week end and caught 12 in less than 4 hrs.

Lost a couple big ones at the boat.

Bob

A couple weeks ago i heard this technique on a local sports show from Doug Stange for fall small mouth. So last weekend my old man and i went drifting a little local river. dad kept to his normal strategy of standard texas rigging gulp while i was trying this, and lets just say by the end of the day we were both doing this.

Since we were keeping rock bass to clean and the average fish is a little smaller in this river i had to make a few changes to the above presentation so i figured i would share.

Lure: instead of using a senko i used a 5 inch gulg wacky work, cut in half. This worm is thinner and more fluid, i feel you get more action with less movement. This allows you to sit the bait on the structure(strike zone) longer.

Hook: i used a 5/0 gamaktsu oct hook, small enough for the rocky and big enough for the brownies. I also put a 1/16 once split shot sinker directly above. This keeps the bait down in the current.

Bobber: I used a cigar shaped foam pegged bobber, sold everywhere. I ran the bait about 2 feet below surface.

Line: 2lb berkley vanish and a 4.5 foot shakespeare ultra light, its a must for finesse techniques .

Presentation: 3 to 4 short twitches with about a 10 second pause between. They seemed to always hit on the pause.

Location: I was casting this right on top of submerged logs and right next to log piles. I tried the open flats thing but had no luck with it.

I know most you guys probably fish bigger rivers/lakes than i do so you might over look this. But for you guys who cant get to the big water or just want to go to the near by stream for an hour or two, this will bring in the smallmouth. This is also a great technique to use with younger/just starting anglers.