swim baits and hooks

[kygorski]

Got hooked on these things, went over board on some.The best ones so far have been money monnows, but they are hard to rig for me, using weightedwide gap hooks, and they are not working well. Pre rigged ones, the best so far has been storm, for price and action. Am disappointed with the berkley power swim baits, they are stiff and dont have the tail action of the yum minnows. Am thinking of sliting a small gap near the end of the body and hoping it increase the tail vibration. Finding a long straight shank wide gap hook is nearly impossible. Am considering using large jig heads and fishing the unrigged ones that way.Sassy shads used to work well, but its hard to find some colors.Anyone have any rigging tips that can help me, The best solution for me so far has been using the UWG hooks and super glue.

[joey heller]

do away with any srcewlock. run eye of hook in head then stick toothpic through bait and eye of hook. won`t have to fix all day

[DJD]

New Zoom Swimming Flukes works great with 5/0 Gammy EWG. Used it this weekend and it works well. I'm sure pinching a splitshot on the hook would help to toss it further.

[jigman73]

The berkleys have good action. You just have to use enough weight to be able to reel it fast enough to get that action and keep it from rising up on you at the same time. You can use a jighead on just about all of the unrigged swimbaits. I have used several different jigheads on several different swimbaits. With the strike king heads and the buckeye lure heads you have to use super glue to hold the swimbait up against the head for more than a half dozen casts. Jewel has come out with a swimbait head that has a wire that locks onto the hook shank to hold the swimbait in place, it works pretty well. I like the jewel head for the larger swimbaits and the buckeye lures heads for most of the other swimbats. Keep in mind that when using the jigheads that it's not weedless. If I need to fish weedless I use various hooks made for swimbaits but I always replace the screwlocks that come on the hooks with the large owner center pin screw locks (if the head of the bait is big enough to take it) or the medium ones. Just my experience.
Lee

[Jbyrd]

Ok guys I have tried every one and this is the best i have found so far . The new jewel swim bait head is awesome. any of the swim baits work .You thread the bait up on it and then there is a wire that sticks thru the back of the bait and latches on the hook shank. You can't pull the bait off, no glue no mess. And the head is weighted heavy on the bottom so you can get the max wobble out of it. Another trick after 7-10 fish IF they tear the bait just rig it upside down and it works like a new bait. unbeatable !!!!!

[kygorski]

Thanks for the input. I like EWG hooks some what, but they are suffering from over kill. You could use some of those 5/0 to tow a chevy with.The hook I liked the most is probably not in production any more, why? Cause they dont pay the pros to use them.It was an eagle claw lazer sharp thin wire hook, didn't tear up baits, didn't need a derrick to drive it into the fishes jaws, and they held! As some of you know, those tiny size 6 wire hooks catch a heck of a lot of large small mouth bass, because of the tackle they are used with.So the tackle companies turn us into pro wanna bees. Big fast expensive boats, 300 buck 10 bearing reels, 400 buck rods, that we just got to have or we'll hold our breathes and turn blue. Its called tackle envy, and big bucks is the viagra that makes it work. Makes me stop and think about a walleye fishermen I met, he used night crawlers, leeches, and minnows, caught tons of fish all kinds, and what he said was thisIf bass pro shops only sold live bait, they would be a mom and pop bait shop.

[walkeraviator]

I decided recently to give swimbaits a shot. I didnt like teh money minnow. I had to burn it in order to get any action. Maybe i got a bad batch, i dunno. I do like the Strike King Shadalicious. I am using the Yum swim bait hooks for both Money Minnows and the Shadalicious. I have yet to catch anything on them, but i havent used em much as i havent had good enough water conditions to try...

[bassman_ky]

I try to stay away from this type of swimbait. I have them but don't like the hookup ratios. I like swimbaits that you thread the line thru the bait and attach a treble hook. These swimbaits are a little more pricey but a lot more durable in my opinion.

[kygorski]

going to give it another half hearted try this late morning, after that, back to lizards worms, tubes and what ever, more heavy rains headed to us this week, and the week end ought to be a zoo on dale,

[slobslayer]

I never could get into swimbaits much. An inexpensive alternative is to texas rig 4 or 5 inch twister grubs, depending on hook size and the amount of weight used you can tight line, flip or swim them and bass (especially smallies) love them.

[kygorski]

To begin with swim baitshave been around for a very long time.They were marketed as the sassy shad. wwe used them to catch trout and salmon early in the year from the warm watwer discharges on the lakes. I used them in the gulf for weak fish and red fish, except they were a little slimmer.The small ones will still catch trout from the cumberland.Yesterday I cut a small vee shaped noch in the power bait ones and the action of the tail improved quite a bit.Also got my laundry markers out and sort of doctored a fwew up, but it didn't matter, nothing was hiting anything for me.Only two strikes I had were on a fire tiger frenzy, and those might have been gar.Was going to go this morning, but listened to the weather man instead, what a mistake. The bass may be bedding, and some of the weeds have not really came up very much because of the added water depth, and the dingy conditions. even the gill fishermen I talked to were disappointed with the conditions.That idea of putting your line through the bait needs some looking into, got to find my wifes long needles she used for crochetring.