I've been fishing swim-baits for about a year. I was having no success with followers that turned back at the boat. I started throwing big wacky-rigged Senkos at them as they went out of sight. My 'Bit' rate is over fifty per-cent on followers.

I started rigging with an o-ring slid up on the bottom of an ink pen but it was driving me nuts having the ring roll back off the tapered end of the pen bottom. Then I found there was a tool made for this with parallel sides and a screw at the back for a handle. See it on the Carolina Chip website or e-mail Bill Mineaff at mineaff@optonline.net .

I have nothing to do with this thing other than using it. I love it

Hope this helps.

Bud

Bud thank you for this great tip. I feel like an idiot because I should've thought of it! I always just throw the swimbait back in there a week or two later to see if she will go, but I don't think the Senko would hurt anything to try. Don't know if I'll go for the wacky rig or not, but will definately try the senko follow up. I have learned so much from all you guys- I can't tell you how much I appreciate it. Dave

I want to go fishing where you are fishing :) I've always had terrible luck over the years trying to cast back on followers. If you are getting those fish to eat, take advantage of those fish and stick as mayn as you can before other people get on them - they will not act like that forever. That's gotta be fun though :)

Interesting! I virtually always have a wacky rigged Senko rod handy due to my success with that and my belief that wacky Senkos tend to attract larger bass. Normally I do not see/notice follows due to the murky water I typically fish. Eight days ago I was fishing a 13 acre lake with moderate visibility, and throwing a 7" Osprey. A six-eight pound bass followed it to the boat and stopped. I stopped. Then I quickly thought to do what Bill Siemantel suggests, working the bait in a figure eight. The encouraging thing is that the bass snapped at the Osprey, even though it did not take it. So that taught me that the figure eight move could work. My rod tip was down, so I had about 15" of line out, and if it had taken good hold of the Osprey, there might have been some debate as to whether the bass or the fisherman became more excited. (I did boat a 2.8 pound bass on the Osprey and had another miss on it. No interest in the 3:16 Mission Fish or Matt's Baby Bass or Blue Gill. Also no interest in the Chatterbait. Swimming Hula Grub, my #1 confidence bait, was the best producer for the 12 bass caught that day.) Appreciate the tip on the wacky Senko and will give that a try.

Doug fm Dallas

Get some of the 7" Senko's (the big mothers), take a couple of permanent markers and color the Senkos to match the color swimbait you are throwing i.e. green top, red sides with black dots, if you are throwing a trout bait. Theses colors will fade and blend overnight to give a pretty good look to the bait. Use this as a follow up bait. It's worked great for me the past couple of years.

Keith
Fish Blaster Baits Pro Staff
www.fishblasterbaits.com

Hey Swimbait,

I don't want anyone fishing where I'm fishing!!! The 'club' tournament guys are still 'running 'n gunning', flipping to cover with conventional gear. They're hooking an horseing the dinks to the carpet. I haven't thrown any primary lure under 6" in a year. The 'followers' will hit a 7" Senko if I don't spook them as they move away from the boat.

I feel for you guys who can walk from boat to boat across a lake. I boated a 10.2 Bass (certified scale) at daylight on Memorial Day. I was dragging a 9" pearl Tsunami up a ridge. She whacked it as I bounced it over a stump. She took it tail-first and had the front hook stuck with about an inch of the bait out of her mouth.

Oh...., this was on a two-mile by fourteen-mile pond with....five, maybe six other boats on the water. Half of those were fishing for trout and crappie. There were fish fries at the boat ramp parks. I quietly weighed my Bass and put it back.

I don't catch huge numbers of big Bass like 'Super-Matt' but I have boated six Bass over ten lbs. in the last year. Can't seem to break the eleven barrier but I'm retiring in a few months and my time is coming. I'm wanting (presumptous?) to nail the State record. It's only 12lbs 2oz. (pond it came out of is eight miles from where I'm sitting) and I have six chunks of water that, for sure, have ten-plus Bass. I have lost fish that were (saw them) definitely bigger than a ten. In my mind, catching an 'eleven' here is like you California boys catching an eighteen or twenty.....Oh so close...and I can't touch it.

After I (dreaming here) nail the State record I'll post directions with GPS numbers. Until then, you fellas all need to stay South of Shasta. I have more competition than I want already.... One of those damn Crappie fishermen will probably snag a big Bass and beat me out.

Luck to all of you.

Bud in OR

Edit; I wouldn't presume to teach you guys to 'suck eggs', but until I read Bill Seimentell's book, I did not have a clue! Who would have thought retrieving a lure 'uphill' on a ridge, would make that big a difference?? Guess I'm not too old to learn. I've read the book....at least ten times.