TomC
Senior Member
Don’t fret…….I’m sitting in rural western Kentucky right now and as much as I love lake Oconee, I’m not that sad. I don’t know this for a scientific fact but another tidbit I was told years ago was that the water on the docks on the south side of Cuscowilla warms faster in the spring than any other area of the lake. Remember this come March! Sure seemed to be the case. Not cheap but I’m a believer in better equipment when it comes to bass fishing (particularly high pressure lakes like Oconee) because technique is what will separate you from the other 8 boats that already fished that dock before you arrived. For starters Dobyns Champion series rods (703C for Senkos, Jigs 733C for Spinnerbaits, Chatterbaits, 704 fiberglass rod for smaller crankbaits and topwater) and I use older Diawa Zillions tuned up to HOT ROD SPEED which allows the underhanded technique which I use probably 80% of the time. Good technique only goes so far without the right tools. Being able to pitch underhanded even with your spinnerbaits, chatterbaits and crankbaits allows you to place them and run them within inches all the way up the sides and fronts of docks and that's where you need to be. I talk to a lot of people that have messed around with senkos with little success. It took me MONTHS to figure out senkos but once it clicked I am a firm believer that senkos were sent to earth by the good Lord himself because it's all I can do to put my senko rod down I do so well with them. Just got to remember, got to remember DO ABSOLUTELY NOTHING. This is what took me longer than I would have liked to figure out. It's the key to cracking the senko puzzle. Pitch or skip to your target and then don’t move a muscle, your rod tip or anything until it hits bottom. I love fishing them on 12lb flouro because they skip so well on this line but be aware that around docks you got to be careful, keep your drag set tight and snatch his rear end out QUICK or they will break you off on a dock post. I’ve shed a tear or two because of this. I’d often keep another rod set up with some nasty 20lb big game mono for senkos and particularly for big jigs when fishing areas that had older docks with lots of frayed wood. Night fishing Oconee is AWESOME also. Just find docks with lights. Will end up catching a lot of hybrids also. I’d often put in around 4am and then fish until mid morning. Don’t forget to fish PopR’s (medium size silver/blue) late spring, summer and early fall early and late in the day. Pretty much guaranteed success there as well. Technique is key with PopR’, lots of youtube videos. It was about a 6 month process of frustration and little succees for me on Oconee before it all clicked but ever since it's an easy lake to catch numbers on.
Last edited: