He's Sold On A Senko
By Stan Fagerstrom
Western Staff Writer
December 15, 2009
Part Two
Not that many anglers put hundreds of bass in the boat year in and year out. I know a guy who does. I also know that around 700 of those bass he catches will be hooked on the same lure.
That angler is Roger Luce, the former Pacific Northwest bass guide I wrote about in Part 1 of this two part feature. As I detailed in Part 1, the lure this bass specialist catches most of his bass with is a 3-inch Yamamoto Senko.
I’ve known and followed Roger’s bass fishing endeavors for years. He keeps an exacting record of the numbers of fish he catches and releases. Most Pacific Northwest anglers won’t put 700 bass in the boat all year long no matter how many different baits they employ. Roger uses his share of other bass lures, but it’s that deadly little 3-inch hunk of plastic Gary Yamamoto came up with years ago that does the most damage.
“The 3-inch Senko,” Roger says, “is in my opinion the best all around bass bait ever made. It just flat catches tons of bass. It is the most productive lure I’ve used in 30 years of bass fishing. I never go out without a good supply of them.”
Almost all of us have our favorite bass lures. I always value the opportunity to visit with a bassin’ man who has Roger’s experience. When I do, I endeavor to find out exactly how he fishes the bait he likes best. I want to know the gear he fishes it with as well as what he does with it once it hits the water. Here are some of the answers.
“I always fish the 3-inch Senko with a spinning outfit,” Roger says. “They go together like mustard on a hot dog. Having the right rod is equally important. I use a 6 ½-foot G.Loomis rod that is light and has a very sensitive tip to detect light strikes.”
This former bass guide’s line choice is Stren Magnathin. He buys big spools of it in three different pound test ratings. These tests are 6, 8 and 10-pounds. He switches line tests on his open faced spinning reels to best deal with the problems he faces wherever his angling trips take him.
Roger nearly always uses weights with his 3-inch Senkos. “When I’m fishing lakes,” he says, “the weights I use most range from 1/32nd-ounce to 1/8th-ounce. In the rivers I may go from 1/8th-ounce to 1/4th-ounce but I almost never go above that.”
Roger makes his own weights out of hollow core pencil lead. He cuts small pieces of this tubular lead down to a cone shape in the desired size. He uses these light weights to get his small Senko down where the fish are with no fooling around waiting for it to sink. He figures he catches more fish as a result.
You’ll find this knowledgeable bass-catcher tying on different 
Gamakatsu hooks depending on the technique he’s using. When he fishes Wacky Style he uses a Number 4 Gamakatsu Octopus hook. For rigging Texas Style he favors a Number 2 Gamakatsu extra wide gap.
“I like light wire hooks,” he says, “because that really helps me get a sure hook set.”
One of the great keys to consistently successful bass fishing is matching tackle and tactics to deal with the ever changing conditions you’re certain to encounter. Fish with Roger as I have, and you’ll soon see this is a procedure he always follows.
That’s one of the reasons he presents the smallest of the Senkos in more than one fashion. He loves to fish these little hunks of plastic dynamite Wacky Style. But if Wacky Style doesn’t produce desired results, he may switch to using a drop shot approach or the split shot technique.
Once again it is the existing conditions that determine his approach. “I find Wacky Style and drop shotting works really well with the 3-inch Senko if the cover isn’t too heavy,” he says. “Rigging it Texas Style works great where the cover is too thick to use an exposed hook point. When I’m on large reservoirs with little cover I often fish it with a split shot. That way you can cover lots of water but keep the bait in the strike zone all of the time.”
If you’ve fished bass much you’re aware that a switch in colors can sometimes make a big difference in results. Roger Luce often departs from conventional wisdom where the color of his 3-inch Senkos is concerned.
“I like to do things other fishermen won’t,” he says. “For instance I like to fish white Senkos in the low light periods in the early morning and late evening. I use many different colors in these lures. My best have been those in brown or green shades.”
I’ve detailed Roger’s approach dealing with everything from his rod, reel and lines to his weights, hooks and bait colors. Now what does he do after he gets one of these remarkable little Senkos in the water? Let’s take a look.
“I cast,’ he says, “and I watch my line to make sure it falls free so the bait drops straight down. Once I get my Senko on the bottom, I fish it differently than most people. I shake the bait so it stays within a foot of the bottom during my retrieve. My procedure is to raise my rod to lift the bait up and then let it fall back. Once it’s down I reel in any slack and start shaking it again.”
Does this procedure pay off? Well, Roger has taken as many as 117 smallmouths with in just one day with it. You might also ask the same question of one or another of those estimated 700 bass he catches with it each year. Incidentally, the biggest largemouth he has put in the boat so far weighed 9-pounds. His largest smallmouth weighed 6-pounds 4-ounces.
Those are big bass wherever you hang your fishing hat--- especially so when you’re dealing only with northern strain fish as is the situation in the Pacific Northwest. I’ve done most of my own largemouth fishing in the same region. The closest I ever came to reaching 9-pounds was 8-pounds, 13-ounces.
I said earlier in this series that those Pacific Northwest bass weren’t at all fond of Roger Luce. When I got to thinking about it, maybe that was the wrong thing to say. Roger, you see, is a catch-and-release guy all the way. He realized early on you can’t gobble your cake one day and then expect it to still be on the table tomorrow. The same thing applies to bass and most of our other game fish. I think those thousands of bass Roger has caught would rather have to deal with a sore mug for a week or so than have come to a fast end in a sizzling hot frying pan.
When Roger, as he so often does, gets smallmouth really going after his 3-inch Senkos, he bends down the barbs on his hooks. “This helps in two ways,” he says. “It makes for a better hook set and helps when you want to turn the fish loose.”
As I’ve mentioned, Roger enjoys helping other bass anglers. That’s why he told me to go ahead and use his e-mail address in this story. His e-mail address is exbassguide@msn.com. Check with him if you have questions. He also has some informative videos on youtube.com. Go to http://www.youtube.com/user/exbassguide to find them.
That’s about the size of it. I’ve told you how one of the Pacific Northwest’s top bass anglers clobbers both largemouth and smallmouth and the lure he uses most often to do it. If that doesn’t give you some ideas to try next time you’re on the water, you’re nowhere near the big copycat that I’m fixin’ to be!