HereToServe

Muddy: That's an independent reference other than just mine. The Fishbelly Hawg Shad is my go-to lures because they just simply catch fish. Otherwise, any statement made here can be taken as opinions; even yours.

Here's what Dennis Tubbs wrote in an article for a PA paper: As an aquatics educator, I lead canoe and kayak fishing trips on local streams. On the first trip of the year in 2007, I was using the typical bait of choice, minnows. Halfway through the trip, I ran out of minnows. Being a bit skeptical about new fishing products, I was a bit disappointed to find that the only other lures I had with me were a single pack of Fishbelly Hawgshad I had purchased as an experiment. With no other choice, I decided to try a Fish Belly's Hawgshad and on my very first cast, I hooked a nice smallmouth bass. By the end of that trip, the single experimental pack had completely won me over. Using the Fish Belly Hawgshad, I out fished every other angler using live bait in 19 out of 20 trips in the spring of 2007. By targeting my cast toward downed trees and rock piles, I found myself with a close to 97% hook up rate. On several trips, other participants playfully called me fish-guru because they were amazed at the amount of river bass I landed using only plastic bait and a bare hook with no weight on my line. Every time I heard one of my companions mutter, He's landed another one! I smiled to myself and tried to decide whether or not to share my secretFishbelly. Half way through each trip, I would relent and show them the Hawgshad and soon, they were borrowing a Fishbelly and were happily landing fish. In many years of fishing all over the east coast and in many bass tournaments on various rivers and streams, 2007 was one of the most exciting seasons I have ever had thanks to Fishbelly. I will not fish another season without them. Any anglers smart enough to try a pack of Fishbelly's will most likely be hooked too.

A clip-on ball weight is the best since the cylindrical weight will most likely get caught especially when you need to cast out a little and retrieve back ever so slowly to find the fish instead of dropping vertically down. Drop-shotting should be presented as natural as possible so the predator fish in this case bass cannot tell the difference from an unaware bait fish or your lure. The ideal drop-shot rig would be a light enough line (no more than 10lb test) with small profile clip-on ball weight heavy enough to get to the bottom without spooking the fish with a Gamakatsu bait hook size 6 or 8 nose hooking a 3.5" Fishbelly Hawg Shad with 12 to 18 inches apart from the weight. This allow you to adjust if the fish are closer to the bottom. Of course, the rod and reel system needs to match with this outfit. This means a heavy-medium rod is not recommended. The rod and reel system along with this rig should do the job without having you to do most of the work. You will catch many fish - big and small. Go and enjoy catching more fish...

Can't compare to Fishbelly Hawg Shad... They outfished live bait...