I will be giving swimbaits a wherl this year. I will be fishing in a tidal river. Depths anywhere from 2-4' and 4-6'. I will be using the hollow belly type. Is the weight of the hook dependent water depth? What is the rule of thumb for what weight to use?

They run shallow regardless. Weight doesnt affect running depth much really. I would think more about retrieve speed you need more weight to keep it running straight at faster speeds.

Think of it like a spinnerbait,sort of. If you want deep and fast use a heavy weight such as 3/8-1/2 oz. You can still run deep with a light weight but you would have to retrieve very slow.Those baits have thump and lift and will roll on faster retrieves if the weight is too small.

 That said 1/4 oz is about standard.1/8 works well too if fishing shallow around vegetation. If you can only get one size to start I'd say get 1/4 and expand from there depending on the depth,cover,and how well your particular bait runs in general.

Get a few good hooks and get yourself some of these in different weights and you should be ready to go or change on the fly if necessary.

http://www.basspro.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/Product_10151_-1_10001_10201093____SearchResults

Weight and retrieve speed or a combination of both will determine running depth.

Listen to bassin_F.  You're throwing a 3-6" paddletail bait with a 1/4-1ozish weighted hook.  You're not throwing a 4oz hudd or something - treat it like a spinnerbait and don't add the "swimbait" mystique to a bait that doesn't even really qualify.

Also look at the KSH Custom weights for hollow, paddle tail baits.  They slip inside the bait and have a small ring to tie your line to and another to put a split ring and treble hook on.  The weights go up to 3/4 oz. I believe.

Brad