Senko
Also called stick bait, soft stick worm, dinger
What is a Senko?
A plain, salt-impregnated soft-plastic stick worm whose only action is a slow, shimmying fall. One of the most effective bass baits ever made.
Senko at a glance
- Common size
- 5 inch
- Action
- The fall, and nothing else
- Rigged
- Wacky, Texas or weightless
- Bite shows as
- The line ticking or moving off
What is a Senko made of?
Senko is Gary Yamamoto's brand and the word most anglers use for the whole category. The bait is a featureless cylinder with tapered ends. It has no tail, no appendages and no built-in movement. Salt loaded into the plastic makes it heavy enough to cast unweighted and gives it a dense, slow sink.
How do you fish a Senko?
On the fall it shimmies, both ends quivering, and that is the entire presentation. Cast it, watch the line, and wait. Most bites come while it is dropping and register as the line ticking or swimming sideways rather than as anything you feel in the rod.
Rig it Texas style for cover, wacky style for a slower horizontal fall, or weightless and nose-hooked in open water.
Why is it recommended to beginners so often?
It works everywhere and it is nearly foolproof, because doing nothing is the correct technique. There is no cadence to learn and no way to work it wrong, so it removes the main thing that stops a new angler catching a bass on plastics.
The cost is durability. Soft, salt-heavy plastic tears easily, and a Senko is often a one-fish bait unless you rig it with an o-ring.
Watch the line, not the rod tip. On a weightless Senko you see the bite before you feel it.
What this means when you’re choosing
- Five inch as the default size. Four inch for pressured or cold water, six or seven when you want a bigger profile.
- O-rings if you fish it wacky. They cost cents and turn a one-fish bait into a five-fish one.
- Bulk packs. You will lose and tear more of these than any other plastic in the box.
The common mistake
Working it like a worm
Every instinct says to hop, drag and shake it, and every one of those cancels the only action the bait has. The shimmy happens on a free fall, so twitching the rod pulls the bait up and stops it. Cast, leave the line semi-slack, watch where it enters the water, and do nothing until it is on the bottom.
Common questions
How do you fish a Senko for bass?
Cast it out weightless or wacky rigged, leave the line semi-slack, and let it sink on its own. The shimmy on the fall is the entire action, so do not twitch or retrieve it until it reaches the bottom.
Why do Senkos tear so easily?
The salt that gives them their density and slow fall also makes the plastic soft. Rigging wacky style through an o-ring rather than through the body is the standard fix, and it usually turns one bait into several fish.
Where this comes up
The guides that use senko and show it on real gear.
Last reviewed . Senko is one of 222 terms in the fishing glossary.