Adding a belly hook to swimbaits

[Ken L]

I was shown this in India by a French guy and it's the best method I've see so far.

All he did was cut a length of 60lb 7 strand wire and pass it through the lure's towing eye.

He then pushes the two ends of the wire down and around the body of the lure and slips both ends through a crimp.

A treble is then attached and the tag end of wire pushed back into the crimp and pinched down.

The wire can then be trimed and the hook either left to hang well below the lure or knicked into the soft plastic so that it stays in the same place during casting.

[Newt]

Free hook or is it partly buried in the lure body?

[Ken L]

Either way but as we were casting we tended to hook one point back into the body of the lure. This kept everything in one place and put the hook as far back as possible.

[Andy Macfarlane]

Funnily enough, the first thing I do with a swimbait, is take the belly hook off, so I can bounce it along the bottom slowly.