Pickerel-Proof a texas or wacky rigged senko on light line

[thomaskgrosvenor]

Over this summer, fishing from shore, I went after the bass with 10 lb test p line and 4 or 5" senkos that were either weightless wacky or weightless/weedless Texas rigged. Set up worked well when I found the bass, and worked the senko in many different ways so I would have to say that the set up was good for bass. Had some occasional run-ins with pickerel. More times than not they would bite off the hook as soon as I initiated the hook set.

Would anyone like to share ideas as to how to teeth-proof this set up in a way to have minimal effect of the action of the senko?

[briansnat]

I can't think of any way to "teeth proof" a soft plastic. Ya just need to have plenty of them if there are pickerel. As far as the line, I get bite offs with pickerel but not that many. The only realistic way of preventing that is using a wire leader, but it will not only be visible to the fish, it will affect the action of your lures. To me it's not worth the tradeoff for a few lost pickerel and lures. Perhaps heavier line, 15-20 lb floro will be helpful preventing some bite offs.

[Poncho]

Wal Mart, in their arts and crafts section they sell pearl necklace wire. It's a coated thin wire you can tie very sturdy knots with. We ties our worm harnesses for bottom bouncers with this for our fly in Quebec trips. Catch many big pike on them and they hold up to that for a fish or two. Thinking it will hold up better with pickerel.

[gwl2oneida]

I always had luck with chartreuse senkos, rigged wacky or weed less and always weightless. As far as I'm concerned most soft plastics are meant to get destroyed. It's all part of the game, no way to cheap out of that one.

[NorthJerzyG]

12 - 18" of 25# plus flouro leader will stop the bite offs. Will make your senko drop a little faster but shouldn't affect action or amount of strikes.

[thomaskgrosvenor]

Went back to one of the spots along the Whippany River where I had some of the hook bite offs (originally I was looking for bass) and used the same light set-up but added about 5" worth of a AFW knottable black nylon coated steel leader. This time when fishing the senko around the vegetation that looked like underwater evergreen bushes I got some aggressive strikes but I failed to set the hook, then finally I managed to set the hook on one pretty big pickerel.

So as far as presenting the senko to pickerel around the vegetation, the light steel leader did not to seem to deter them from biting and held up well to their attacks. It was interesting to see how their teeth scraped away the nylon coating of the leader just above the hook knot.

Remains to be seen how the bass will react, though. I prefer to fish for bass first but hope to be able to catch both bass and pickerel effectively in areas where both species are congregating simultaneously. Thank you for your advice/suggestions. Perhaps being informed about a new place I am fishing would be a good idea as well.