Rigging Ultra Small Swim Baits ?

[ChrisD46]

Spots where I live are currently gorging themselves on 2" ~ 3" thread-fin shad ... I would like to try a 2.8" Keltech Fat Swing Impact Shad but have no idea how to rig a swim bait that small ... Your thoughts and suggestions ?

[J Francho]

These will work great for that.

https://www.siebertoutdoors.com/Roundball-Jighead-1036.htm

[Dwight Hottle]

Besides John's idea you could try nose hooking them on wacky hook.  

[SPEEDBEAD.]

No comprendo "small swimbaits"

 

Me gusta grandes...

[Glenn]

He's baaaack! 

[ChrisD46]

8 hours ago, J Francho said:

These will work great for that.

https://www.siebertoutdoors.com/Roundball-Jighead-1036.htm

*Thanks John - I think of most swim baits as the size used for swim jigs (4" ~ 5") ... The Seibert round ball jig heads look ideal in the lighter weights but I may have to stop at the Keltech 3.3" Fat Swing Impact and hope a spot is willing to "upsize" a bit - that  2.8" Keltech Fat Swing Impact is really small !

[NorthE97]

Keitech sells a "super round tungsten jig head." They recommend the 1/0 hook option for the 2.8". Comes in 1/16, 1/8, 3/16, 1/4oz sizes. 

[Bluebasser86]

I fish the 2.8s on a head from the Midwest Finesse mold with a larger hook, usually an 1/8-1/4oz with a 1/0 hook. Really good head for a grub too. 

[ChrisD46]

Thanks for the updated replies - previous concerns are most ball heads are 2/0 hook size - great for most things but not for a 2.8" Keltech (1/0).

[J Francho]

13 hours ago, NorthE97 said:

Keitech sells a "super round tungsten jig head." They recommend the 1/0 hook option for the 2.8". Comes in 1/16, 1/8, 3/16, 1/4oz sizes. 

I've used these, and they are SUPER SHARP.  They are a little pricey, but they do work well.

[Brad in Texas]

I prefer the Keitech 3" in the Easy Shiner, but anyway, what works best for me is a 1/0 Roboworm Rebarb hook Texas Rigged.

 

Odd, but let me say that sometimes on a cast, that thin wire hook is so light, the plastic, too, that it'll sit on top of the water. Surface Tension. One nudge and it begins to fall . . . slowly.

 

I greatly prefer the look of an injured or dying shad and I let it fall through the water column. If not bites, once it hits bottom, I tend to make tiny lifts and jerks with my rod tip to bring it back with that same injured look.

 

Posted elsewhere, just last week, I cast this presentation out toward small schools of bass harassing shad up in my cove. I caught several, then another, but noticed as I reeled in a 12" or so LMB that there was some commotion around it. A rather large bass followed it all the way back in and I looked straight down at it below my feet on the dock. Not certain whether it was trying to eat the little 12" bass I had on the hook or was just "activated" by what was going on. Yes, I have had bass follow a hooked bass, so very cool.

 

About 3 casts later, I hooked a really large bass, brought it in slowly. It was just short of 22" as I recall, looked to be well over 5 lbs. and likely closer to 6 lbs. I caught it on 2 lbs. braid, and the 1.0 hook with the 3" Keitech. That is the biggest LMB, so far, that I have caught on the 2 lbs. test.  It is THAT strong.  Other details: 1000 series Nasci Spinning reel, a ridiculously expensive Shimano Soare XTune S706UL-T rod that I bought in a moment of weakness . . . but oh Lord! is it ever a great rod!

 

Brad