plastic swim baits

[bassdawg]

What are the swimbaits an weighted hooks everyone likes to use ? Sometime i have trouble reeling it in it rolls over
so what should i do ?
\Thanks

[ecu daniel 14]

My experience with plastic hollow belly swimbaits is: they are hit or miss..

I have tried quite a few different brands and I have to say the one I have gained the best results from would be the roboworm ez-shad...I use them on a 5/0 gammy EWG weighted hook....they are also pretty decent for larger swim jig trailers... Also, the little mattminnows that mattlures makes are decent if you get the correct hook for them. (1/4 oz. falcon weighted hook)..the prepackaged powerbait hollowbelly swimbaits swim pretty well with their own hooks as well..

If you want the pre-rigged, weighted swimbaits, I find it extremely hard to beat the Storm Wild Eye shad series...they are extremely cheap and produce SO many fish for me...stripers absolutely kill the 5" chartreuse color around here.

[bassdawg]

Hey thanks i will try some storm an roboworm with a weighted hooks .

[bob75]

Second on the Storm Wildeye Shad. I use them in the 1/4 and 3/8 oz. Note though that the lures are much heavier than advertised. The 1/4 oz weighs 0.37 oz and the 3/8-- 0.9 oz.

[ecu daniel 14]

exactly, forgot to mention that...the 5" is well over 1 oz. in weight so be sure you have a beefier rod

[NJ Jigman]

HOLLOW bellies are hit and miss i feel the solid belly baits are more consistant. i like the keitech swimbaits best on a falcon weighted hook and for swim jig trailers. the RI dippers are also good, for hollow belly baits i like the ez shads and berkley's hollow belly shad

[blues basser]

I primarily use solid body swimbaits, Optimum Double Diamonds amd LFT Majic Shads. On both, I use either the Owner Beast or Gamakatsu (can't remember what they call their springlock swimbait hook). 4/0 for baits up to 5" and 6/0 for baits up to 6".
Because of the shape of their weights, the Owner has a slightly slower sink rate than the Gammy (of the same weight), so it gets the nod when fishing over cover.
When a faster, reaction type strike is needed, or for deeper presentations, don't overlook jigheads for your rigging. The Blade Runner weedless swimbait head http://www.tacklewarehouse.com/Blade-Ru ... BRWSH.html is top notch.
Also for more flash I like the Blade Runner Spintrix head http://www.tacklewarehouse.com/Blade-Ru ... -BRST.html. I use the heavier heads (1/2 - 3/4) for deeper presentations and the smaller (1/4 - 3/8) anytime I'm following a spinnerbait barrage from fellow anglers. The hook-up percentage is better with the exposed hook set-ups. This is especially true with the LFT Magic Shads, as they are a solid body with a firm (compared to the double diamond) plastic construction.
For the hollow body swimbaits I use the Blade Runner insert swimbait weighted hookhttp://www.tacklewarehouse.com/Blade-Runner_Sw ... RHSBI.html. These REALLY help with the hook-up percentage, but at the cost of snag avoidance. I love that they come with different hook size options for each of the weights offered.
An excellent rigging video is available for them is available here http://tacticalbassin.com/rigging-basst ... structure/.
Hope this helps.

[smalljaw]

I really like the Storm wild eye swim shad, these just plain produce and another favorite that is getting hard to find is the Berkley Manic Shad, these come with a head similar to a scounger but more detailed, and 3 or 4 extra bodies depending on the size but they are a smallie killer, especially the rainbow smelt and the glow chartreuse but it looks as if they've been discontinued, I don't know why because they bait was deadly.

[GARRIGA]

I use Gambler Big EZ, LFT Live Magic Shad and Bass Magic hollow body paddletails. When fishing thick cover I will often switch to Skinny Dippers. I use Gami Monster EWG for Texas rigging and the Owner Beast both weighted and unweighted. I've used these baits swimming in open water, crawling on the bottom, as a buzz bait, going through vegetation and pitching the edges of matted grass. I sometimes use them exclusively. Oh, I've even fished Texas rigged unweighted Big EZ and LFT Live Magic Shad like a Senko dead sticking on the bottom. Very versatile and very effective. If I had one lure to carry around, it would be the LFT Live Magic Shad 6" on an unweighted Owner Beast 6/0. Rip it on the surface, go through most vegetation, crawl it on the bottom or swim it traditional style. Don't forget the pitching and dead sticking.

[primus]

A few thoughts on this discussion...

Like others have mentioned the Skinny Dipper is an excellent bait with the Owner Beast hook.

I prefer the River to Sea Live Eye Bottom Walker over the Storm though they both will get bit. I think the RTS has a better swimming action. If your willing to spend the extra money the Matt Lures Tournament series & Real Prey Alewife are great baits.

I 've done well in the summer months fishing a 1/2 oz sworming hornet underspin with the Lake Fork Magic Shad as a trailer. I like to jig it or swim & pause, great combo that the fish are not used to seeing.

My favorite hollow belly type is made by Pro Swimbaits, this bait is preslitted for a better hook-up with a falcon style weighted hook. Very soft, swims well at slow speeds, great colors and no chemical smell. If fishing on a jighead then I prefer the tube style Basstrix.