What is a senko

The Senko. Ahhh man. Some fisherman consider it the holy grail of bass fishing while others laugh at even its mention. Created by one of the most notable pro fisherman of our generation, Gary Yamamoto. It may very well be the most versatile bass lures of all time. Some people may actually refer to all stick baits as a Senko, but in reality it is a brand name.

Developed around 1996, Yamamoto’s first mold in the design was a bic white board marker he was using to develop other fishing ideas. Generally, the Senko is used as a finesse bait with slower retrieval rates. It has a subtle action that can entice lethargic bass. But this was not the original intention of the soft plastic bait. His original vision was more of a twitch bait, similar to that of the slug-o developed in the 80’s. As the popularity grew, so did the imitations from other brands. On the market today we also have Berkley’s The General, Strike King’s Ocho, and the YUM Dinger, to name a few. Like those just listed, some of the products of the market may more closely resemble a worm over others. Some of these not even resembling a living being on this planet.

Being on the market for over 25 years anglers have found it to be useful in a variety of situations. For those situations, some of the ways rigging the bait have become more and more creative. There are ways to rig for fishing cover deep or grass in the shallows, skipping under docs or finessing around beds. For some anglers, the wacky rig may even be considered cheating! And it is so easy to rig. This means you can be any skill level and still catch bass with this! Generally with no matter how you rig the Senko, the retrieval is going to be slowwww. Read that slowwww. This is bait you definitely are going to feel the slowness of fishing with. But isn’t that a good thing?!