Wacky Rigging with bands?

[Ingraham]

I''m still learning to fish with the sinko's (Yum Dingers) and have been trying out wacky rigging using small rubber gaskets so that the dinger lasts longer. Today I got a bite, went to set the hook and ended up pulling the gasket right off the bait. I know I didn't break the gasket because it reeled back in with the hook. I probably set the hook a bit hard, its difficult to get used to reeling down for a light hook set, but I didn't think the gasket would slip off. I used 3/16th gaskets picked up from Home Depot (I couldn't find 1/8th inch which has been recommended in the past) with a #4 D/S hook. Any suggestions?

[Crainkbait]

I am not familiar with this setup. I am very curious.

[Ingraham]

yea the idea of it sounds great to me due to the greatly increased use of bait but if they slip off the o ring it's probably not worth it, ha ha. I'm wondering if you hook the bait just a bit and run through the o ring at the same time. I think ExBassGuide fishes this way a lot so he may have some technique thoughts.

[Jon55]

What happened is that the bass only had one half of the senko in his mouth not including the hook, he had a good grip on the senko, and when you set the "hook" that wasn't in his mouth, you pulled the senko right out of the ring.

[Ingraham]

What happened is that the bass only had one half of the senko in his mouth not including the hook, he had a good grip on the senko, and when you set the "hook" that wasn't in his mouth, you pulled the senko right out of the ring.

So when you are fishing with Sinko's is there a delay in the hook set for them to get it all in there mouth or was it probably just a small fish that wasn't ambitious enough?

[pmartin]

wait 2 seconds before the hook set.

[Hunt'nFish]

I use peices of clear heat shrink and just hit it with the lighter to suck it tight. Tough and works.
I just cut off a small chunk as I need it.
Hunt'nFish

[boblag]

Bass don’t bite, they inhale, and even a 10” smallie can just about inhale a whole 4” Senko in one “suck.” What might happen is that they miss part of it, but either way you should set the hook immediately (or after reeling down slack, if you have any). Sometimes you’ll lose your bait (or the fish) because they didn’t have the whole thing, but there’s really no way to know unless you’re sight fishing. I rarely kick myself for setting the hook too early; what is more likely to happen is that I wait too long and the hook is deeper than I would like, or the fish figures out what’s going on and spits the bait.

[Ingraham]

Thanks for the tips. I think it was probably a small fish and a bit of an aggressive hook set. I'm still getting used to fishing with that kind of bait. I'm still curious about some people saying wait a few seconds (i hear that often) and others saying give it an immediate set (i hear that often as well). Whats the verdict, wait or don't wait? Lets assume you have a second of reeling in the slack... do you delay for a bit longer or go ahead and give it a light set?

[boblag]

Watch some videos of bass taking a plastic bait (or try some sight fishing), and you will see that it makes no sense to wait. As fast as you can blink, the whole bait will be in their mouth, and it's time to set the hook (and heavily).