Weather: 80, partly cloudy with an intermittent 5 mph wind
Water: 70 and clean
Lures and Techniques: Weightless 5" Senko, Texas Rigged, in Green Pumpkin and Mattlures Hard Bluegill
I am trying to get on the water at least one afternoon each week. It does not really give me much time, but it is some much needed relief from the work week. I am an educator by trade, in a low socioeconomic area, so I wear stress like a freshly starched tie. Fishing, for me, is not so much relaxation, but a determined, focused deviation from the world. It is an intrinsically motivated, self competition much like the game of golf. Each cast and retrieve is a multistage process requiring intense focus to achieve the desired execution. Nothing exists beyond the boundary of the shoreline. Only the fish, the environment, and my tools. With my game, a "quickie" is tough to execute. I am an all day fisherman; requiring time and experimentation to unlock the day's pattern. Fishing a lake in only an hour or two just goes against my grain. But, as they say, beggars can't be choosers. I launched with five rods intending to comb each area with multiple presentations covering the entire water column with different styled baits. Finesse with a senko, reaction with a KVD 1.5, power with an E-jig in cover, and the big bite with a Mattlures Hard Bluegill. This is how my mind processes kayak fishing. Limited time, plus limited mobility, means cover each likely area with a multitude of offerings until I can unlock the daily pattern. However, twenty minutes in, I decided to pick one strategy and roll with it. My swimbait bite died in February and my confidence is just not where it needs to be with the big baits. I decided to pick up my newest technique, finesse fishing with a Senko, and run and gun the most likely spots. Mojo Bass in hand, I paddle toward some bed-fish marked on my last trip. The first three fish I found were quality, but still in a neutral mood. My third stop, a downed log adjacent to an overhanging evergreen, produced a nice, spawned out eighteen incher last time. A swirl at the bank indicated bass still using the area. The strike came about ten seconds into my retrieve, but I totally whiffed on it. After saturating the area with Senko I moved to the evergreen. Skipping the Senko all the way back to the root ball was the ticket as a nice nineteen inch, spawned out female annihilated the bait passing from the canopy to the open water. My second fish of the day came from a protected pocket on a sea wall sheltering two beds. Approaching the area, I backed off about fifty feet; keeping my boat, and noises, far out of their range. I missed a nice take on my first cast, but connected two retrieves later. The small, fifteen inch male struck a good ten feet past the bed. Two hours, two hits and six misses. I need to work on my Senko hook sets; something is causing me to miss an unnatural number of takes. A good day, sans miscues; I will take double bogey fishing.
Water: 70 and clean
Lures and Techniques: Weightless 5" Senko, Texas Rigged, in Green Pumpkin and Mattlures Hard Bluegill
I am trying to get on the water at least one afternoon each week. It does not really give me much time, but it is some much needed relief from the work week. I am an educator by trade, in a low socioeconomic area, so I wear stress like a freshly starched tie. Fishing, for me, is not so much relaxation, but a determined, focused deviation from the world. It is an intrinsically motivated, self competition much like the game of golf. Each cast and retrieve is a multistage process requiring intense focus to achieve the desired execution. Nothing exists beyond the boundary of the shoreline. Only the fish, the environment, and my tools. With my game, a "quickie" is tough to execute. I am an all day fisherman; requiring time and experimentation to unlock the day's pattern. Fishing a lake in only an hour or two just goes against my grain. But, as they say, beggars can't be choosers. I launched with five rods intending to comb each area with multiple presentations covering the entire water column with different styled baits. Finesse with a senko, reaction with a KVD 1.5, power with an E-jig in cover, and the big bite with a Mattlures Hard Bluegill. This is how my mind processes kayak fishing. Limited time, plus limited mobility, means cover each likely area with a multitude of offerings until I can unlock the daily pattern. However, twenty minutes in, I decided to pick one strategy and roll with it. My swimbait bite died in February and my confidence is just not where it needs to be with the big baits. I decided to pick up my newest technique, finesse fishing with a Senko, and run and gun the most likely spots. Mojo Bass in hand, I paddle toward some bed-fish marked on my last trip. The first three fish I found were quality, but still in a neutral mood. My third stop, a downed log adjacent to an overhanging evergreen, produced a nice, spawned out eighteen incher last time. A swirl at the bank indicated bass still using the area. The strike came about ten seconds into my retrieve, but I totally whiffed on it. After saturating the area with Senko I moved to the evergreen. Skipping the Senko all the way back to the root ball was the ticket as a nice nineteen inch, spawned out female annihilated the bait passing from the canopy to the open water. My second fish of the day came from a protected pocket on a sea wall sheltering two beds. Approaching the area, I backed off about fifty feet; keeping my boat, and noises, far out of their range. I missed a nice take on my first cast, but connected two retrieves later. The small, fifteen inch male struck a good ten feet past the bed. Two hours, two hits and six misses. I need to work on my Senko hook sets; something is causing me to miss an unnatural number of takes. A good day, sans miscues; I will take double bogey fishing.
I fish senko style baits quite often. If you fish them wacky, the problem may actually be in your rod. I have found that ideally you want a fairly soft rod tip and most jig/worm rods are too stiff at the tip. If you are missing them while t-rigged, maybe you could try changing hook size or the shank? When is your first tourney? Tight lines!
ReplyDeleteI catch everything, so far, when rigged wacky, but only seem to miss them when T-rigged. I was using a EWG Gamma 2/0 hook so maybe that is too small. My first tourney is the SKA event on April 21 at Lake Oconee here in GA. You should come down and fish it with me. What is your schedule looking like for this Spring-Summer? Shoot me an email and we can fish when you are heading near this way; maybe GA or TN.
DeleteYeah, I would think about moving up to a 4/0 or even 5/0. I usually fish a 2/0 when wacky, but bump it up for t-rigs. I wish I could make it to the SKA events, but other than the smallmouth get together they are doing up here in NC, I probably won't be able to swing it. I will, however, be in GA for a few days in late May-early June. I will email you the details shortly.
ReplyDeleteI've been getting quantities of fish on that presentation lately too, just not much quality. Right now it feels like to me they are still hitting hotter colored baits, but I've started to get more and more on the green pumpkin too, so maybe the flashy baits are slowing down.
ReplyDeleteI would definitely beef up your t-rig hooks. I don't fish senkos much, but even with the thinner profile of a Trick worm I like to use at least a 3/0 owner, which might be different sized from whatever you use.
I stopped by Wally World for groceries and came back with some bagels, another pack of senkos, and some 4/0 Gamakatsu EWGs.
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