Senko Mystery – Worm and hook still in place

Today I was fighting a decent fish on a Texas rigged senko. I had “hooked” it about 40 feet out. It took a few runs during the fight, especially as it got close. I got it about 2 feet from shore, and then it was off. Here’s the mystery : The hook was still in place and the senko looked exactly as I had rigged it. So obviously, I never “hooked” it.

This has happened to me a few times this season. How is the fish “holding” the worm so that it can fight so hard, run, and pull drag, but not affect the worm at all?

Has anyone else had this happen? Any explanation?

The fish couldn’t have just had a hold on the tail or the worm would have been pulled down or torn off. That’s usually the case when I lose one on a senko. And the hook is usually exposed.

Are you sure that it was a bass, Bob? I’ve had panfish grab the plastic without the hook and they just tug and pull and peck with all their might. A durable plastic like Z man will stay in one piece too – maybe not a yamamoto brand though as they are not very durable.

One other explanation is that it could have been a pike. Usually their teeth will shred the plastic though unless it somehow had the stick bait in its mouth just perfectly so that none of its teeth were bit into the plastic.

It was a bass or a northern. It was pulling drag multiple times. Three runs of about 3 feet or so. Probably your northern explanation is a good one. It clamps down on the whole worm/hook so it can’t move and then it spits it at the end when it’s close to the rocks.

I know the tug and peck of panfish and even they tug the worm hard enough that they pull it down the hook shaft. I was using a Yamamoto 5 inch senko. Those are pretty delicate.

I don’t use a very strong ripping hookset like you see the pros do. I’m using a medium light rod, #8 mono, and 20 size reel. I did consciously try to set the hook twice on this one.

Lightly roof hooked fish.
I.e. Hook in roof of mouth, and unless your bending your hook out, it’s typically skin hooked because the angle of hook doesn’t allow it to grab a lot of meat.

I figured this out a year ago or so with jigs and walleyes.
Every hook works on the lips, FEW work on the roof.

What rod and how heavy and type of line? Could you have too much stretch and flex in the rod and line that you’re not getting a good hook set?

FishBlood&RiverMud wrote:

Lightly roof hooked fish.
I.e. Hook in roof of mouth, and unless your bending your hook out, it’s typically skin hooked because the angle of hook doesn’t allow it to grab a lot of meat.

I figured this out a year ago or so with jigs and walleyes.
Every hook works on the lips, FEW work on the roof.

This is my guess, especially if its an EWG hook..

munchy wrote:

What rod and how heavy and type of line?

Above I mentioned :
I don’t use a very strong ripping hookset like you see the pros do. I’m using a medium light rod, #8 mono, and 20 size reel. I did consciously try to set the hook twice on this one.
—————————

It’s not like I’m having a general problem with hooking. I’d say I’m landing about 80% of the fish I “hook” using Texas rigged senko. Last year, my first year of T Rig fishing, it was more like 50%. But I learned some tips from this site and also through experience.

I like fishing on the lighter side of the tackle scale. It makes the fight more interesting. Most of the bass I catch are in the 14″-17″ range. And I did land a 10+ lb northern with this setup.

I just thought it was bizarre that the worm and hook were still totally intact after the fight. I didn’t even need to adjust it to keep fishing.

FryDog62 wrote:

This is my guess, especially if its an EWG hook..

I use an offset J hook not EWG. Eagle Claw Southern Sproat Worm Hook. I was using a 3/0.

Bob P wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>FryDog62 wrote:</div>
This is my guess, especially if its an EWG hook..

I use an offset J hook not EWG. Eagle Claw Southern Sproat Worm Hook. I was using a 3/0.

Theoretically that should work well enough. You could try experimenting with a lighter wire hook, but the downside could be landing fish on the bank and bending out.

When I Texas Rig Senkos/flukes I use an Owner Twistlock Light hook. It’s not a true light wire hook but pretty sticky and I’ve yet to bend one out.

https://www.tacklewarehouse.com/Owner_Twistlock_Light_Hook/descpage-OTLL.html

Or the belly weighted version:

https://www.tacklewarehouse.com/Owner_Weighted_Twistlock_Light_3pk/descpage-OWTL.html

Bob P wrote:

Above I mentioned :

Missed that, Sorry. I’d say you’re too light of line/wrong type for the size hook you’re using. Try bumping up in mono size or trying some 2/10 braid.

The question was more : Has anyone else ever experienced this?

A full fight including drag runs. The fish gets off at the end.
AND the worm and hook are exactly in the same state as I Texas rigged it.

I’m not unhappy with my hook-up rate with my outfit fishing Texas rigged worms. I am mostly successful hooking and landing fish. And I get a good fun fight out of it. It was more the curiosity of how it might happen and whether anyone else has had this happen.

I think you had a new state record bluegill on there Bob!

“It was more the curiosity of how it might happen and whether anyone else has had this happen.”

Sometimes you just get jobbed.. you get the right tug and set the hook, but just don’t connect with quite enough meat to get them in your grasp…

I’ve observed this often over the years with walleye and sauger. When they are feeding on minnows shad or other bait fish they engolf the bait in their mouth and clamp down on it to the extent that the area above their mouth goes flat or even convex trying to crush and disable the bait. The result many times is that my jig and plastic is turned with the hook horizontal instead of vertical and not imbedded in the fish. The jig head is clamped in the closed mouth and can’t move forward to allow a hookset. If your lucky sometimes you can net them before they open their mouth and let go but usually they open their mouth at sight of the boat or sooner. Doug Stange always rigs swim baits and some other plastics “flat” to help prevent this. When I try that I don’t seem to get as many bites as normal same with a stinger treble hook. If someone has a good solution I’d love to hear it.

Dam Gar GARRRRRRR!

Not bass but I have seen the same issue using sickle hooks in my crappie jigs. Now I rig the plastic then use a pliers to make a slight upward and outward adjustment to the hook point and not have to give thought to the problem anymore.