Going Swimming With Judy Wong
December 15, 2008
Even a champion can keep on learning.
2008 WBT Championship winner Judy Wong of Many, Louisiana is a perfect example of that aphorism. With the biggest title in women’s bass fishing under her belt, she suffered from subpar results during the regular season that followed. Sure, for a lot of her fellow pros, a 15th place finish at Lewisville and a 10th to end the season at Clarks Hill would be marks of a good year, but for Wong, it was the two finishes in between those high marks that weighed upon her. At Neely Henry she was 44th and at Old Hickory she ended up 40th, and those two low points prevented her from defending her crown.
But all was not lost – in addition to being her best regular-season finish of the year, that 10th place finish at Clarks Hill gave her something to build upon, a technique that she expects to help her succeed more often in 2009.
“I knew the fish were staging, using some of the shallow shoreline grass and I threw the Swimming Senko some, but not enough, and I wasn’t fishing it properly. She learned later that Gary (Yamamoto) was parked across the cove in an RV park (while practicing for an FLW Series tournament). He was throwing that Swimming Senko in the same areas and he tore them up. I had a gut feeling that it was the right bait to be throwing and if I had relied on those gut instincts more I would have done better.”
After the season ended she made a trip to Yamamoto’s Texas ranch for some additional camaraderie and, more importantly, schooling about how to get the most out of his baits. The Swimming Senko was a focal point of their lessons. While Yamamoto himself has used it in a variety of conditions, few other pros have made full use of its abilities.
She also worked on it with another living legend, Roland Martin. En route from Venice, Louisiana to Yamamoto’s Ranch, Martin stopped at Toledo Bend to film with Wong.
“Early in the day, we were using the Swimming Senko like a swimbait, almost like a buzzbait, around lily pads,” Wong recalled. “Then, in the middle of the day, we went and punched the thick hydrilla with a one-ounce or even an ounce and a half Tru-Tungsten weight.” In addition to flipping more traditional punch baits like the Yamamoto Kreature and Flappin’ Hog, sometimes they continued to use the Swimming Senko, which enhances the subtlety of the traditional Senko with a little kick generated by its boot-shaped tail.
While she has learned that it’s a deadly bait when flipped, Wong believes that the bait provides the most distinctive action when retrieved slowly and allowing that tail to generate its maximum thump. She typically fishes it on her American Rodsmiths 
Signature Series spinnerbait rod, a 6’8” medium action stick “with enough backbone to get a good hookset.” She pairs that with a Quantum Tour Edition PT casting reel, specifically one with a 7:1 gear ratio (also known as “the burner”). “I don’t always reel it that fast in tournaments, but a lot of times in practice I do burn it,” she said. Her line of choice is usually 15 pound test Triplefish fluorocarbon, which she conceded has a tendency to sink, but the lack of stretch outweighs any detriment that may cause.
In contrast to Wong’s tackle preferences, Yamamoto typically swims the Swimming Senko with spinning gear and light braided line, so she urged each angler to find the best combination for him or herself.
For most applications, Wong prefers the 5-inch version to the 4-inch, but she noted that when bass have trouble getting hold of the larger model she’ll often downsize to the smaller one. Additionally, while she fishes it straight out of the package with no modifications, when the head starts to tear after catching a few fish she’ll occasionally bite off the head and fish just the remaining portion. Her favorite colors include shad imitations like 031, 305 and 306.
Yamamoto prefers to fish the lure on his self-designed Swim Jig Head, often a relatively light 1/16-ounce to 3/16 ounce head (with a 3/0 to 5/0) hook. While Wong has used these hooks successfully, at times she’ll replace the jighead with a 5/0 wide-gap Daiichi hook and no weight.
The hardest part of her off season has been waiting for the 2009 season to start. Armed with her existing arsenal plus a newfound confidence in the Swimming Senko, she’s ready to hit the WBT trail. “You can’t use (the Swimming Senko) in every situation, but it has a lot of versatility,” she said. “you can work it on the surface, like a buzzbait, or sometimes just under the surface. You can reel it to the edge of the hydrilla and let it fall. And when Gary did real well at Kentucky Lake, he was flipping it. It just has a lot of tail action on the fall.”
She has already mapped out her schedule in her head, noting her history on Neely Henry, the Ouachita River, Old Hickory and the Arkansas River – a mixed bag of waterways and past results – with the common denominator that each of them has “some type of vegetation.” While she can’t yet predict how they’ll fish next year, nor will she specify exactly how she plans to practice, she smiles when she notes that the Swimming Senko will be tied on at every event and figures to play a key role in her return to the subsequent championship.