Ahhh, I sense the force is strong in you young Jedi Bob.
Teri, it depends on conditions. But primarily when sight fishing or running a drift pattern, I will put them on either a 3/16 or 1/4 oz stand up jig head. When not fishing tourneys, I like to use the el cheapo Renegades from Wal-Mart for a couple of reasons. The first and most obvious is price. Secondly, the hook metal is cheap, so if a smallie inhales the grub as is often the case you simply use your needle nose to pull the grub off the hook and out (leave it in and it can sometimes swell and choke off the smallie from feeding), but leave the hook and within a week or two the inferior metal will rust away and the smallie can either spit out or pass the lead head. I have seen a few fish I have caught weeks later falling for the same old grub with either the old hook still down there a bit or beginning to pass it.
On occassion I will dip the tail in chartreuse dye. They are great for sight fishing. If the wind is howling and I'm drifting, I have been known to use as heavy as 3/8 oz. If it's too windy for that, then it's usually too windy for a grub and I pick up either my famous jerkbait or a spinner bait.
Other times I will use it (as I did on Bull Shoals) on a 1/4 oz shaky head. This is when I'm fishing deep bluff walls. Cast it to the bank and then pull it a few feet out, not reeling but letting the bait pendulum swing down to the next level or step of the bluff. A lot of times, once you're in the strike zone it won't get there, it will just suspend. Remember, lead doesn't suspend, float, or swim away....without being in a fish's mouth
It's also a good trailer on chatterbaits. The twin tails on football heads are great for deep water smallies or vertical "graph" fishing places like Champlain, Winnipisaukee, Lake George and other clear, deep waters where smallies hug bottom.
