Smaller Paddletail Swimbaits

[Mobasser]

I've taken to fishing some 3" paddletail swimbaits. Mine are a generic shad shape. I did well years ago with the original Mr. Twister Sassy Shad, rigged on a ball head jig. Now, I've got many more weeds to contend with, and the open hook jig doesn't work as well. My question is what hooks do you like for this style of bait?  EWG or standard round bend?  I'm fishing these with a 1/8 oz tungsten slip sinker, held in place with a Peg It.

[plawren53202]

I would always prefer to go with a jighead style hook for a swimbait but like you I fish too many places that just won't allow. For a weedless rigging I prefer EWG style hooks for swimbaits because (at least to me) the wider gap seems like it causes the hook point to push out the top of the bait sooner on a bite. Maybe if I was fishing somewhere with ultra clear water where a super realistic presentation was preferred I might want more of the hook hidden inside the bait, but I definitely don't fish anywhere like that.

[Steveo-1969]

I use an appropriate-size Owner Twistlock Light hook and a pegged bullet weight. 

[Bluebasser86]

The small offset heads designed to be "Texas rigged Ned heads", are really good for this kind of thing. An Owner Ultrahead Bullet Rig is another good option. The smaller size YUM Pulse swimbait is perfect for imitating smaller baitfish without spending a bunch of money.

[TnRiver46]

Slider head if you can find one with a short enough hook. I also do what @Lobocito  said if it’s too snaggy with the same jighead, just rig that plastic weedless

[Nibbles]

Owner Ultraheads w/ the bullet style are decent.

 

I personally like the Gamakatsu Offset Hook Finesse Jigheads. They're more of a mushroom head, but out of all the finesse EWG jigheads I've come across those are the only ones that have a fully recessed hook eyelet (which can make clipping off old knots tricky at times, but well worth the hassle IMO)

 

Can't get much more weedless than that.

 

Kinda pricey at ~$1.50 per jig considering they're not tungsten but I don't see any other finesse EWG jigheads with a line tie like that.