Re: what's your favorite bass bait
Hey Jay,
I live in Vero Beach, Florida and I love bass fishing. You said you're fishing at a dam fed creek that has some laydowns. I would take into account a couple of things. First, I would change baits based on the speed that the creek is flowing. I saw someone post to try senkos. I have to agree that a senko is a great lure for a couple of reasons. I used to be a fishing guide here and I found out about the senko soon after the original one was developed. I fell in love with them and even had a rep come out from the company, Gary Yamamoto Custom Baits, and we caught over 100 bass that day fishing them different ways. You can fish them on top by using them weightless on a texas rig. This works well in slower moving water when the topwater bite is on. When it seems to slow down or stop, add a light bullet weight to it to allow it to sink slowly. This will allow you to work the water column more efficiently. If the creek is shallow, the senko will sink slowly unweighted naturally. The senko is a great bait to work around structure because when you rig them texas rigged style they are virtually weedless. This means you can work them over the stumps, logs and any other obstructions. The faster the water is moving, the heavier the bullet weight I may use. Although no longer guiding, and thus no longer sponsored by Gary Yamamoto Custom Baits, I still buy that brand and here's why. First, I like to give my business to the person that came up with the original design or idea. I'm loyal that way. Second, the plastic they use allows the bait to "shimmy and wag" more than most other spin offs. Third, They just don't add salt to the bag of baits, they impregnate the soft plasic. This does a couple of things. It adds weight to the bait allowing me to cast it a very long way on a baitcaster, and if you're fishing around cover, I would recommend using one as they offer more power to horse fish out of heavy cover. The impregnated salt also stays with the bait, and as the bass bites down on the senko , he gets the salt taste, and as this is a natural occurance in live prey, the bass will tend to hold on longer to it allowing you more time to sense the strike in moving water, thereby allowing you more time to set the hook.
Gary Yamamoto custom Baits(GYCB), makes the senko in various sizes and thicknesses, and they come in a ton of different colors. The most popular size by far is the 5". Find out what colors are the "go-to" ones in the area you fish and try some of those. Don't be afraid to order new or varying colors as you may find a magic one that nobody else knows about. I did. Also a lot of times I change colors to experiment, and I feel the fish are targeting the magical action of this bait more than any particular color. You can downsize if necessary, if you're creek has smaller fish. The smaller bait will get more bites from smaller fish but make no mistake, larger fish will also hit these smaller senko's, making it a win win situation. Although I love to target big fish, and have caught many here in Florida, sometimes when I take my son with me it's about the number of fish caught, not just the size. If you have any other questions, you can reach me at my email:
terry.fagan@att.net
