hollow body swimbaits

[Eskimoman]

How do people work theses? What situations should a guy throw them in? Spring summer fall? Weeds, deep shallow etc

[Muddog]

For Bass. Use it where you would use a shallow crankbait. With the weedless hook set up tic the weed tops or throw it at the shoreline and slow roll it like a spinnerbait. I find this kind of bait and sassy shad type baits work well when Bass are in the shadows of trees or along the shaded side of weed lines that end sharply in deep (12 foot or so) water.

[Eskimoman]

anyone else have any input

[Central Bassman]

They are great at covering a lot of water, I used them almost all summer long!! They work great in really weedy area and they do catch big fish. I like to swim them right above the cover at a fast past. I will let it fall into some of the weed pockets then pop it up and keep it swimming. You really cant't fish these wrong

[delmuts]

Central! Do you fish these with/on a jig head or use the belly weighted hook most of the time?

I just got some Z man swim baits. Can't wait to try them!

[Deitz Dittrich]

I used them some last year, plan to do it more this year. I used the Castiac JerkyJ swimbait. I used them in weedy area, swimming it around cover, casting parallel to lilly pads and similar areas. Either a jig head or belly weighted hook worked well, just depended on the action you wanted, because its quite different.

[bemidjibasser]

I use them a lot over flats and along weedlines both inside edge and deepedge. I really like to fish them on the Owner saltwater bullet jigs like Stange preaches. They fish a lot like a spinnerbait when fished on these jigs. Stop and go, slow rollin', and burning over the tops are all effective presentations for me. I also will use them on the belly weighted hooks. This technique is more effective for me in heavy cover like reeds, pads, and docks. I like to cast them out and bang them into the cover on the retrieve with the belly hooks. By far one of my favorite new baits.

[RK]

Hiya -

I messed around with them some last year, and will fish them more this year. I T-rig them when I'm around cover, and like them when fish won't chase a spinnerbait. Use a belly weighted hook so they don't roll, and use a big enough hook that the bait won't jam up the hook gap when you set the hook, or you'll miss a lot of fish. I figured I needed to go up at least one hooks size, sometimes two sizes, larger than what I'd normally use for a bait that size, depending on the brand of bait. Slimmer, softer baits you can use a hook one size bigger. Stiffer plastic or a deeper belly and you need to go up 2 sizes. Never thought I'd need a 7/0 hook to fish LMB in Minnesota, but I use them now.

For more open water I fish them with an exposed treble, and use a tube through the nose so the swimbait slides up the line. Run the line through the tube, slide on a bullet sinker, then tie on a split ring with a treble. Put the nose of the sinker into the belly at an angle and leave some of it hanging out. Works pretty well. Of course, a plain 'ol jighead works just fine too...

Cheers,

Rob Kimm

[Central Bassman]

Central! Do you fish these with/on a jig head or use the belly weighted hook most of the time?

I have fished it on a jig head a few times, That works great when there isn't a lot of weeds in the area, but most of the time is on the weedless weighted hook. What i do is cut the bottom of the bait open, that way it doesn't rip the hole bait when a fish grabs it. You will also have better hook sets because your hook doesn’t have to go threw the whole bait.

[metrojoe]

I bought one 3 pack a few weeks ago just to give them a try. It appears everyone suggests rigging them with some sort of weight.

Has anyone tried them rigged weightless?

I was thinking they would have a great wounded minnow action when rigged weightless.

[bemidjibasser]

To me, it depends on how heavy the bait is, and how you want to use them. I have used some weightless, but they don't run as well as when weighted. You could use them like a jerkbait and they might work like that, but there are better options for plastic jerkabits than hollow swimbaits. There are a couple brands out there that are not hollow that run decent weightless. I think one is made by Mega Bite or something like that.

[Cecil]

These baits float so the action is not nearly the same weightless. If you want to run it just below the surface, just pinch on a very small rubber core weight.