# Gut hooked Senko fish....



## bassboy1 (Apr 29, 2009)

The senko bite has really heated up in the past few days. This is the first year I have really thrown them much. However, I am finding about half of my fish are being gut hooked. Last night, 3 of the 6 fish I caught on the 6 inch senko were gut hooked, and I am fairly sure that 2 of them didn't make it. One was a largemouth that was almost 2 pounds, which really pains me, seeing as our lakes are 25% largemouth (75% spotted), and the fish in this lake are generally on the very small size. 

My setup is a 6 inch Yamamoto Senko on a 4/0 Gamakatsu EWG hook. When they get gut hooked, I have to really fight to get it out, and have to cut the line, and use pliers through the gills. They are leaving blood all over the boat deck, so I assume I am doing something wrong. Sometimes, they get gut hooked when I have a slack line, and never felt the bite, or when I am giving them just enough to grab is (so I think), or anywhere in between. I have tried rigging it both Texas rigged (hook imbedded completely) or Texpose (hook goes all the way through, and just the very tip is imbedded. 

Is there anything I can do to decrease the number of gut hooked fish?


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## Zum (Apr 29, 2009)

You can try wacky,with a circle hook.
Not the same fishing style I know but seems to help.


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## Quackrstackr (Apr 29, 2009)

If you don't want to kill them, just cut your line and leave the hook in them. It will rust out.


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## Bubba (Apr 29, 2009)

Quackrstackr said:


> If you don't want to kill them, just cut your line and leave the hook in them. It will rust out.




This is what i've always heard...Leave a little line hanging out of the corner of the mouth(2-3 inches) and just let the hook be.


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## BassAddict (Apr 29, 2009)

I use a 3/0 skip gap on even my 6" fat sticks and rarely (if ever) gut hook them. I also give the fish only about 2-3 seconds (enough time to think "there's a fish" and reel up the slack) when i feel the tap-tap before setting the hook. After all id rather have missed fish then gut hook em. Hope these few tips help!


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## Brine (Apr 29, 2009)

BB,

My guess is you just haven't gotten in tune with fishing this way yet. I went through the same process when I made the switch from power fishing to finesse. I had been used to feeling the fish bite and never having to rely on watching my line. Now I'm the exact opposite. 90% of my fishing is with soft plastics with little or no weight, and 90% of my bites come on the fall or with slack in the line and I never feel them. The more you do it, the more you will learn how to see the strike rather than feel it and thus gut hook far less fish. It's easy when you see your line running one way, but seeing the line "tick" takes a 100% focused and trained eye as does the awareness that the lure is no longer falling when it should be. Long casts and windy days make this more difficult to accomplish, but then again, if it's windy, I'm usually throwing a different bait. Fishing like this can be considered boring, but you have to change the way you look at the entire cast from the moment it hits the water to the time you have reeled it in . In that respect, there is much more to focus on rather than just flingin and slingin. I still like that too tho....  

When your bait hits the water, use your rod to take up the slack in the line (so that the senko is pointing directly at you) and then focus on where your line meets the water all the way until the lure stops sinking. Know what the fall rate of your lure is, and if you continue to count your bait down and happen to catch a fish suspended lets say at 6 feet in 10 feet of water, you can then start counting down the senko to that depth and swimming it back. This is one way I can catch fish right behind another boat that is either fishing below the fish (shakey head, Texas rig, etc....) or zinging a spinnerbait by that the fish don't want to exert the energy to chase down.

I would guess that most of the fish I guthook these days (which is zero since Feb this year) bite on the fall and then start swimming toward the boat (deeper water). If a fish does this and then slowly starts swimming at the boat, the line looks as if it is merely sinking. That's why knowing the fall rate of your lure and the depth you are throwing it in are important. I have set the hook on fish before that I never saw anything happen with the line, but realized it's coulnd't still be sinking given the water depth. In that case, you need to reel up alot of your slack before setting the hook. 

Hope some of this helps.


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## russ010 (Apr 29, 2009)

I've been using Senkos pretty exclusively lately (especially during the last few tourneys)... I gut hooked one at acworth, then started looking at my hooks a little more... I switched over to a Daichi 5/0 swimbait hook and the rest is history. The only other hook I use is the Owner EWG 4/0 and that is still my hook of choice. I'm throwing my Senkos on my Daiwa Alphas Ito and 6'6" GLoomis Heavy rod with Halo Fluoro 15#... I don't know if you're still trying out fluoro or not, but it should help out - and start watching your line!


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## Captain Ahab (Apr 29, 2009)

Use braided line!


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## bassboy1 (Apr 29, 2009)

russ010 said:


> I don't know if you're still trying out fluoro or not, but it should help out - and start watching your line!


I'm using it exclusively on my rods/reels. I really liked that Seaguar red label you brought me, so now it is all I use. However, I was actually throwing these senkos on dad's spinning rod, since I am still a couple rods short, and wanted to keep a jerkbait tied on as well - spinnerbait rod won't really do for either of those tasks, and his has mono on it. I might start looking into some of the other hooks you mentioned, and once my next rod gets bought, it will have fluoro too. 

On some fish, I managed to keep enough tension on the line to feel the bite fairly early one, and even when giving them less than 3 seconds to take it, they were gut hooked. On others, I gave them close to 6 to make sure they had it, and it was lip hooked. And some were the opposite - quick hooksets also yielded in lip hooks, and long waits yielded in gut hooks. Out of 6 fish, I left 3 for a while to take it, and set 3 right off. 1 of the 3 immediate hooksets yielded in gut hooks, and 2 of the 3 long waits yielded in gut hooks. Then, of the ones that weren't gut hooked, one was in the top of one mouth, one was in the bottom, and one was in the side. How is that for irregularity. Also, a problem many faced, and i had a bit was that if they didn't leave it long enough, they would come back with half a senko. Some guys there mentioned loosing a whole bag of senkos just to ones broken in half on a bite. They tried short hooksets, medium ones, and long ones. I didn't loose but 3 bites that way. How do y'all know when they have stopped messing with it, and actually have it in the mouth? 

For those that keep a more positive feel on the line, does that affect the baits fall? I tried to keep a slack line so as not to disrupt the natural fall of the bait (wacky rigging doesn't work around the shoreline cover we have).


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## FishinsMyLife (Apr 29, 2009)

As soon as I quit feeling "taps" on the bait, I set the hook. If I'm still feeling the taps, the fish is working on getting the bait in its mouth (and it's probably not big if there's more than 1-2 taps). Circle hooks might be the way to go for wacky rigging, but I don't have any positive results with them in regards to hook up percentage. 

Use braid and you can see every hit on slack line.

I'm going to buy a pair of cutters to keep in my tackle box to cut hooks in the event of another bad gut hook.


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## russ010 (Apr 29, 2009)

You're talking about slack... I don't keep any tension on my line when I throw it out.. I just cast it and give it more slack so that it falls right there. I'll pull a little slack in, but not much... I start feeling for bites. Maybe it's just my setups, but the little pops feel like monster hits. I will tighten down the line, by then it's usually time to set the hook because the fish is swimming


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## mr.fish (Apr 29, 2009)

Quackrstackr said:


> If you don't want to kill them, just cut your line and leave the hook in them. It will rust out.


 
Those hooks will never rust out, especially a good hook like a gammy. I had the same problem last year when the water is very warm. I actually carry a pair of wire cutters or dikes on me now. This way you can cut the barb of and slide the hook back through. Or to avoid gut hooks all together, move your baits faster with no pauses for better hooksets.


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## bassboy1 (Apr 29, 2009)

mr.fish said:


> Or to avoid gut hooks all together, move your baits faster with no pauses for better hooksets.


There goes all reason for throwing a senko...... :lol: :lol: 

I had thought about cutting the hook out, but had no way to do it. I have no problem loosing a hook to every gut hooked fish. Just need to find a good set of snips that will both cut a hook, and fit in the fish's mouth....


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## Brine (Apr 29, 2009)

If you take anything away from this discussion, hear this.......If you feel a tap, set the hook. Not 3 seconds later, not 3 taps later....IMMEDIATELY. Because the rig is weightless, there is no reason to think that the bass needs to struggle to put a 4 or 5" bait completely in it's mouth. Remember, they inhale things like frogs and baby ducks whole. A weightless senko goes in VERY EASY. 

And like I said before, the majority of your hooksets need to be prior to feeling any taps in the first place unless you want to keep hooking them in the stomach. 

BTW, I have seen two fish this year that were in the process of passing shakey heads. Both had the heads dangling from their anus. Neither hook showed any signs of rusting. And Russ, these are not the ones that were inside the stomachs of the Lathem fish, which looked practically brand new. In fact, I will be using them someday. 

As far as reeling in 1/2 a senko, I would imagine those fish are not actively feeding. Instead, maybe they are protecting beds/fry etc.... If that's not the case, you are playing with small fish.


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## russ010 (Apr 30, 2009)

mr.fish said:


> Those hooks will never rust out, especially a good hook like a gammy.



I have to disagree with you here... I caught a LM a couple weeks ago that had a half rusted out skip gap hook in him... now I don't know how long it had been there, but whoever gut hooked him had cut the majority of the hook and that fish was doing just fine... especially to be 11 inches long.


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## bAcKpAiN (Apr 30, 2009)

On the same token, if the internal wound ins't too bad for the fish they can actually pass the hook. I have cought bass with line stinking out their pooper hole and pulled a whole hook out. IMHO leaving a hook in a fish's mouth isn't a death sentance. But destroying their gills to get it out usually is.


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## mr.fish (Apr 30, 2009)

russ010 said:


> [


As long as the hook has a ding, scrape or cut in it, it may have a weak spot for rust. I gut hooked a fish in my brothers pond early in the year of last year. I caught that same fish 6 more times, and didn't notice any deteration of the hook. I luckily had a pair of cutters on me that day, and finally removed it. I think a lot of hooks will rust eventualy, but meanwhile can cause a fish to have trouble eating, etc, which will def. Have an effect on the lifespan of that bass.


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## Jim (Apr 30, 2009)

Hooks take a long time to rust out. 

I say crush the barb on the hook.


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## slim357 (Apr 30, 2009)

Captain Ahab said:


> Use braided line!


Is that your answer for everything.
I try to flatten the barb and try to get them out when i can, but for the most part I let them have the hook and hope they'll be ok. So far this year ive only gut hooked one fishing a drop shot, he took the hook, hope hes doing alright.


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## Popeye (May 2, 2009)

Use barbless hooks


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