My second hottest lure this summer/autumn has been a 3 inch DOA swimbait on a 1/4 oz Matzou jighead.     Been using it to cover shallow water ,   deeper   flats and mouths of coves.  Its been producing "every" outing . My biggest problem with it is I set the hook to fast. Reflexes , cant help it.    Been fishing a 200 acre  lake that gets pretty crowded . A lot of spinnerbaits and chatterbaits are being tossed  by other anglers , so I needed to make some adjustments and show the fish something not so belligerent. Its been a good one two punch along with a Texas rigged worm.  I know,   late to the party again . Who else relies on them to catch stubborn bass?

I know you know this one. Mr.Twister Sassy Shad. I've still got a big sack in shad color.I fish them on a 1/8 oz Eagle Claw jig head. Old School

5 minutes ago, Mobasser said:

I know you know this one. Mr.Twister Sassy Shad. I've still got a big sack in shad color.I fish them on a 1/8 oz Eagle Claw jig head. Old School

I have some of those too and will probably use them once my supply of DOA's deplete.

A 3” to 3.5” paddletail on a ball head jig is probably my #1 confidence bait. On the river I fish this catches smallmouth in warmer water and walleyes in colder water. I throw one every time I fish Spring/Summer/Fall/Winter.

A 3" swimbait with a ballhead is always on - usually rotating between a Spark Shad, Largo Shad, and a 3.25" Jenko Booty Shaker. Sometimes I'll use the Okashira Screwhead to switch it up vs the normal ball head. They smash fish!

I’m a fan also.  Have used both 2.75” Yum Pulse and 3.75” Rage Swimmers. 
 

I have never rigged them with a ball head jig though.  

 

For those of you that do, are you bottom bouncing or swimming them?  Maybe both?

2 minutes ago, bp_fowler said:

For those of you that do, are you bottom bouncing or swimming them?  Maybe both?

both

49 minutes ago, you said:

Small swimbaits are my bread and butter. And I mean small.

 

I've had tiny swimbaits and grubs both save the day for me.

26 minutes ago, bp_fowler said:

 

I have never rigged them with a ball head jig though.  

 

 

It may come as a surprise that Worm King in San Diego was making a swimmer that looks exactly like the one posted....in the 70’s they called Anchovy. Fish head jigs with small swimmers have been around nearly 50 years now.

Tom

5 minutes ago, WRB said:

It may come as a surprise that Worm King in San Diego

I had a French one called a Vivif. It was a harder plastic with downward facing double hooks. It snagged on everything. Those are the first ones I saw.

Try a Zoom Super Fluke. 

Yamamoto makes a smaller swimbait in a couple of sizes and in both paddle tail and straight fork tail.  The Zako.  I use it alone and as a trailer on various baits.  Jigs, chatterbaits, scrounger heads, underspins, etc.  If you want to stay small and throw them something different that works very well, try the 2.5 inch Yamatanuki.  

I fish a lot of brackish water & the bass love DOA's Shrimp.

 

Keitech fat impact in 2.8 or 3” for the smaller ones white or Tennessee shad.

@TnRiver46 I’ve used them with either weighted belly hooks or Texas rigged them with a light weight (1/16 or 1/8) pegged tight up to the nose of the bait. I did it that way because I was trying to keep them weedless.  
 

I recently figured out that was redundant because I could just fish a swim jig if I’m that concerned about weeds.

 

I was thinking I would buy swim bait jig heads and start using them more in open water, but after reading this thread I like the idea of using ball heads better because 1) I already have some and 2) they seem a bit more versatile.

Honestly, a ballhead jig'll get you 90% of the way to what you're trying to do in any situation that you'd want to use a jighead in. That other 10% represents edge cases that a specific shape head is designed to excel in, and you'll know those when you see them.

They make weedless ball heads too 

X2 on the Sassy Shad 

The 2" Sassy Shad will catch anything that swims.  It works great in winter for sunfish and crappie.

Winter in Missouri I struggled getting bites on a small lake I frequented. Downsizing and going to keitechs on ball head jigs and light line on a spinning outfit allowed me to continue getting some fish, but they were all small unfortunately. 
 

I discovered spinnerbaits and lipless crankbaits produced less fish but better quality

 

Just one scenario

9 hours ago, Mobasser said:

I know you know this one. Mr.Twister Sassy Shad. I've still got a big sack in shad color.I fish them on a 1/8 oz Eagle Claw jig head. Old School

I was down on the Susquehanna River today for about 4 hours of shore fishing. The ONLY thing I could buy a bite on was a 1/4 oz ball head jig with a 3 inch Mr. Twister Sassy Shade in Orange/Black color. I did not catch anything to write home about, but I did get 5 smallmouth in the 1 lb. range, and a bonus 2 walleye...one was 12 inches and the other was 14 inches. Sometimes you just cannot beat a sassy shad on a ball head jig. As was said, it will catch anything that swims.

Small 2.75" ~ 3" swim bait with Seibert Outdoors Morel Jig Head 1/8th oz. size .

I'm always game to explore new 2.8" ~ 3.5" swim baits ... Currently only tried the SK Rage Swimmer ,  ,Keitech Fat Swing Impact and Easy Shiner .