5 secret summer tips for lakers, bass, muskies, pike and walleye

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Summer Secret #2: Senkos for Largemouth Bass

Gord Pyzer
Gord Pyzer

I bet there isn’t a serious bass angler who doesn’t have several bags of Senkos or similar soft-plastics stashed away. This stickbait shines when the bass bite is tough. Just rig it wacky-style or weedless, cast it out, let it flutter to the bottom on slack line, then let it sit there for as long as you can stand it.

But there’s another way to fish this amazing bait that few anglers have considered—as a topwater lure. If I hadn’t watched Bassmaster Elite pro Bill Lowen do it, I would never have believed it myself.

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Lowen rigs his Senko arrow straight and Texas-style (below), with the hook point barely embedded to make it weedless. Fishing in the same shallow, weedy back bays and coves where most anglers would fish a frog, he looks for any lanes or openings, then swims the Senko over top as many of them as possible on any given cast.

Bait

He retrieves the lure at a slow pace, making it look like a tiny water snake slithering across the surface. If a bass explodes on the worm and misses, Lowen stops reeling. Unlike most surface baits that remain on top, the Senko will slowly slither to the bottom, appearing to be mortally wounded. Sometimes, he’ll allow the bait to sink even if a bass hasn’t shown itself. In either case, any lurking largemouth can’t resist it. Talk about a hot summer bite.

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