Hi All, I am thinking of picking up some paddle tail swim baits. Yum money minnow or strike king shadalicious, 3.5 or 4.5 lengths. I also need to pick up some hooks. Looking at BPS they sell / lake fork tackle swim bait hooks/ eagle claw swim bait hooks/ davis x-swim lock/ luck"E" strike bass magic head hook and magic belly weight hook. They all seem similar except the weights are on different areas of the hooks. Does this make a difference? Any one better than the others? And sizes? I'm guessing 3/0 or 4/0 for these size baits.

Your thoughts or recommendations please.

Thanks JB

This might help,

Yum Money Minnow Basics

Video part 1

Later,

I like the Luck E Strike hooks.  They're MUCH cheaper than the others, yet the quality seems fine to me.

4/0 may be OK for the 3.5 inch baits, but I don't use those.  However, I like the 6/0 for 4.5 - 5 inch paddletail swimbaits

Just do NOT use the hooks with the single barbed pin. These will slip off quickly. Instead, use the ones with the screw-lock type retainer. Much more effective. Plain Texas rigging - as shown - is less effective as well. The darn things just slide back too easily - IMO!  

If this will help you, I use a 6/0 Eagle Claw 1/4 oz swimbait hook in my 4.5" Shadalicious.  I like the Eagle Caw hook because it has such a wide bend it does not get in the way of the swimbait on a bite.  You don't want anything smaller than that in a 4.5" swimbait.  It comes with a cork screw for the nose.

6/0 Owner Beast for 4".

8/0 Owner Beast for 6".

Thanks everyone, this helps alot.

                             JB