Removing weight from Red Eye Shad

[Megastink]

Has anyone ever taken some of the weight (Not the rattles) From a red eye Shad? I fish a lot of shallow sweetie lakes and I find the half ounce to be a bit too heavy, but the perfect sized profile. What I really want is a quarter ounce version of a Half ounce bait.Has anyone ever done it? What were the results? Did the action change much and how?

[Jigfishn10]

It looks like the RES uses a unique weight system. 1 lead or steel piece in the front and 1 in the belly and they look like they're fixed:

The only way to do it is to drill out some of the weight and the same amount of weight on each one in order to maintain the sinking/swimming quality of the lure. After drilling out, plug with a dowel. Sharpen a 1/4" dowel with a pencil sharpener, plug the holes, file to shape to the body and cover with either 2 part epoxy or nail polish. Don't use red, fish hate that. The nail polish method would have to be maintained, meaning keep inspecting in after fishing. I've gotten a season with baits I doctored using nail polish.

 

Hope this helps.

[fin]

I just experimented with this the other day. @Jigfishn10 knows what they're talking about.

 

What I did was drill two holes all the way through the middle weight and one hole through the front weight. I removed the BBs from the center section. I didn’t think to weigh it before I put the dowels in. I did weigh it afterward, and it was only about 1/16 oz lighter, but it helped the action a lot - it didn’t sink like a rock. I think they’re way heavier than they need to be. You have to be careful though, because if you remove too much weight, it has no action. Also, if you remove all the middle weight, it will go vertical. I recommend 3/16” drill bit. I tried 1/4” and cut through the side a little. I used hot melt glue. I haven’t fished with it much.