You may have seen Yamamoto pro Tai Au fishing a Senko and not even realized it. He fishes it fast — faster than anyone I’ve ever seen. “The Senko is probably my number one money-maker bait, but when my non-boaters see how I fish it, they’re like ‘no way!’” says Au. “There is so much you can do with a Senko — I’ve never been on a lake that you couldn’t catch them on a Senko.”
We went out with Tai to see how he does it, and probably couldn’t have picked a worse day — the barometer was climbing (if you didn’t read about Tai’s take on the importance of pressure, you’ll find it here), there wasn’t a cloud in the sky, a north wind was blowing, and it was a holiday weekend on Lake Pleasant. Enough said. In spite of that, by 6:15 he had four fish in the boat, and by the time we got off the water at 10:30, he’d caught over a dozen feisty bass.
THE RIGS
Au starts out with darker colors early in the morning, and as the sun gets up he switches to lighter colored baits. He primarily fished two baits on Pleasant that morning: a wacky-rigged Senko and a Neko rig. On the Neko rig he uses a *Daiwa Neko Fat Worm.
Tai uses a silicone band about ¼ of the way down from the head of the Neko worm, then rigs the hook under the band. Rig it so the hook opens toward the tail so that when the bait hits a rock, the weight will keep the point from digging in. For a 5-inch Neko Fat Worm use a Gambit G7 7mm band, and for the 6-inch bait use the 8mm. You’ll need special pliers that hold the band open so you can slip the bait into it. The bands come in black, clear, red, and watermelon green. Tai uses clear. They make it very easy to switch baits — just pull the old bait apart to remove it, then use the pliers to put a new one in. You can get a 12-pack of silicone bands for less than $4.00. Use any size 1 hook you’d use for dropshotting, says Tai. He puts a 3/32-ounce tungsten nail weight in the head. Insert it carefully so you have it centered the first time — if you try to reposition it you’ll get a big hole in the bait and the weight could fall out.
With the Senko, he simply hooks the bait itself right through the middle – no wacky ring, no silicone band. Needless to say, he goes through a lot of Senkos, but he says if you use a band on a Senko it can fold over on itself and hook itself, meaning you’ve wasted a cast and have to reel it in and fix it. He fishes the Senko wacky rigged about 90% of the time, and uses a 1/0 wacky rig hook on the 6-inch Senko and a #1 on the 5-inch. Both the Neko rig and the Senko are fished on spinning gear with braid, and about an 8-foot Sugoi Fluorocarbon leader in 6-pound test for the 5-inch Senko or Neko rig and 8-pound-test line for the 6-inch Senko. In a tournament he’ll re-tie after every fish. He uses Pit Bull pliers — the best pliers ever for cutting braid, he says, and they only cost about $13. (www.pitbulltackle.com)