Salt (Sticks)

Though there are many different schools of thought as to what exactly the advantages and disadvantages are for adding salt to stick baits. We believe that many commonly held beliefs are fallacies. What we can all agree upon is that salt adds weight to the stick bait, which in turn causes the bait to sink faster.

  • Cons:
    • Salt 'clouds' the bait. The colors are not vibrant and clear.
    • Salt weakens the bait. A stick containing salt will tear much easier than one that does not.
    • The bait is stiffer (less action) when salt is used.
  • Pros
    • Adds weight to the bait which causes the bait to sink faster.
  • Questionable (What people believe):
    • 'Salt causes the fish to hold on to the bait longer'. The believe is that the fish tastes the salt.

The weight of the stick bait is important as is dictates the fall rate (how fast the bait sinks in the water). The speed of the fall of course dictates how long the stick will be in the strike zone. How fast the bait will sink will also affect how much shimmy and wiggle is imparted on the bait to some degree. Conversely, when fishing in deeper water, say 10-12 feet, we prefer a heavier stick, so we do not need to wait forever for the bait to reach the strike zone.

We create sticks of varied weights in order to create different sink rates. For example, when we are fishing in 3 feet or less of water, we want the stick to sink slower therefore keeping it in the strike zone longer (we tend to fish unsalted sticks at shallow depths).

We include an average weight of a single stick bait within a package is noted in the bait's description along with on the product sticker of the packaging. Note that the '~' character means roughly.

When Gary Yamamoto first started making the Senko we found through empirical study Senko's weighed:

  • 5": 10.4 to 11.5 grams.
  • 4": 8.32 to 9.2 grams.

Since then, Yamamoto baits has been sold several times. We have found that the weight of a Senko changed with each sale. We do not know if the change in weight was on purpose or if it is just due to tighter manufacturing processes. Our most recent weighing (04/12/2024) of a Senko has yielded:

  • 5". 9.65 to 10.35 grams.
  • 4". 7.10 to 7.15 grams.

It seems as if darker colored Senko's weight slightly more than lighter colored Senko's. This makes sense as darker colorants tend to be thicker (and therefore heavier) than lighter colorants.

We tend to like our 5" sticks to weigh somewhere between a YUM Dinger© (8.5 Grams) and the Senko©.