Hollow Bellies and Swim Shads

[squeedunk]

I've been watching my share of fishing shows lately to pass the time until open water and have seen a ton of hollow bellied baits and swim shads being used. I feel like I'm getting sucked into the latest craze but it seems to me that they would work really well in some of the places I throw cranks for bass, walleyes, and muskies. I have looked at them in stores and most seem to run $8-10 for a 5-pack. Does anyone have input on these things? Any brands that are preferred? Rigging tips? It seems that they are often paired with larger long shank jigs but I'm thinking they would slide off on the cast and the collar would rip the plastic in a hurry.

I plan on buying a few packs to test out this year, just wondering what everyone else thinks about these things??

[Muddog]

What I have found is it is alot easier to find the hollow bodies then it is to find the hooks to use with them. Most store that sell the swim shads do not sell weighted hooks or jig heads that go with them.

[LMITOUT]

Ditto. I'm going to order some bullet head jigs online this spring as I didn't find any last year when I was looking. Maybe I was looking in the wrong places. Dunno.

[T-water]

Yeah it seems hard to find the hardware for lots of the soft plastics I like. Okay so here's my beef, in the past these lures were 2 or 3 bucks for a pack. Now that a few mags/shows have featured them they cost between 8-15 for a pack. I wonder how this happens. Do the magazines and shows get $ to pump products and then the manufacturers put the price through the roof? I'm not trying to rip on anyone, I realize this is a business but the model seems to really drive the price up.

[zepman]

I agree. Was looking at some of the new Berkley Hollow Belly tubes. 4 tubes in a package and they're selling them for 9.99 a pack. Over two bucks per tube. That's a heck of a tube there. In all honesty, they were really amazing looking baits... almost like a piece of artwork, but for the price they are asking for these...I'll pass.

[bucketmouth64]

I've used the weighted rigged ones you can buy singly at Cabela's. Or you can pick up Northland's pre-rigged package that is less expensive. I saw the in-fisherman show Saturday and they talked about all the different swim baits on the market and how to use/rig them. Hopefully, the cost of these will go down or the store brand generics will be less expensive. My son used some last summer and the ones he used tore up quickly...kinda spendy like you were saying.

[croixflats]

Buy a lot of minners with the cost of those. Never really had that much luck on them. They sure know how to sell them.

[river rat316]

For people complaining about the price think about it for a second, they are time consuming, theres about 4 different steps if they are actually a dipped bait and not shot through a machine, even if they are shot through a machine they still are painted then recoated with plastic to protect the paint and eyes. I know from doing them that if they are made by hand the people selling them for 6-10$ for a 4-5 pack are making little on em. I think the bigger companies are making a killing on em (Berkely) because I believe there process is all automated... or a 6yr old in Guatemala making about a buck a day is doing em.

Anyway you look at it they are selling for what the market will bear, I personally won't pay for em, but lots do. If your throwing for Bass/ Muskies I think there are better soft plastic swimbaits then these, you just have to look around

[marineman]

I purchased a few bags of the swim shads last year. I did not do very well with them. They look like killer baits but not for me. I kept going back to my old reliables - cranks, jig & pig and carolina rigged worms - and caught a lot of fish. Maybe I just didn't use them enough.

[Muddog]

If you are going to order jig heads you should also look into ordering Berkly 5" hand pour shad at $5.49 per 6. it's a deal.

go with the OWNER SALTWATER BULLET jigs.

[Mike Walerak]

I'm not sure but I have done okay using just a plain old jigheads with them. I have mostly been using the Yum Money Minnow. I use them in place of crankbaits. They do have nice action. I mainly catch pike with them but there has been a few walleyes caught with them.

mw

[TurnUpTheFishing]

You will have a much easier time finding hooks for this style of bait this year. Companies are jumping on this craze and making hooks specificaly for these style of baits but most are screw style hooks.

IMO the best style hook for paddle tails are regular wide gap plastic hooks with lead poured onto the shank. Screw lock hooks tear the nose of paddle tails far too quick, often after just one fish...

Ive used several brands but have kind of settled on the money minnow by yum as my favorite. I personaly like the open slit on the money minnow I find it makes it much easier to rig the bait properly. The hollow bellies were good too but more expensive and not as durable. I didnt care much for the strike king/luckEstrike baits.

[delmuts]

A little rigging tip i learned from one of the fishing shows a while back. When using a shank weighted hook on these baits was to take the pt. end of the hook and pierce a hole thru the nose of the plastic, but then push the hook eye up from the bottom thu the hole. This way you won't risk tearing the plastic when trying to slide the hole hook thru.

[TurnUpTheFishing]

That is a very good tip! Thats what I do but forgot to mention that. Good call.

[JimBuck]

I saw Doug Stange talking about the various swimbaits this weekend as well....I must say they do have some great action. I'll probably be picking up a few this spring. I know this is off topic but did anyone else see them using planer boards on the river for stripers? That was impressive!

[Daze Off]

If you are going to order jig heads you should also look into ordering Berkly 5" hand pour shad at $5.49 per 6. it's a deal.

go with the OWNER SALTWATER BULLET jigs.

Could not agree more. Tried them last year and loved them. ALso give the Yamamoto version a shot. Great bait for deep weedlines. What I found strange was every bass I caught on them in deep water (15 fow+)immediately ran for the surface and jumped with this big bait. Expected them to dig with it. They hit it like a ton of bricks too. Last year it was really hard to find the hooks - finally got some at a [PoorWordUsage]'s SG on the East Coast when I was out there. Even the on-line vendors were out.

Only thing I don't like is you need a pretty stout stick to toss them and at least 7 ft. I don't know how they fish them on spinning tackle on the shows I have seen.

[Muddog]

Quote:

Only thing I don't like is you need a pretty stout stick to toss them and at least 7 ft. I don't know how they fish them on spinning tackle on the shows I have seen.

I had a 7' fenwick hmx spinning rod Med with an ex-fast tip that was to stiff for crankbait. I started using it with the 1/2-3/4oz jig heads and it works better then my heavy med action rod for swimbaits. It is still as much a lob as it is a cast. You just have to love the hook up of swim-jigs around weeds.