For those that haven’t seen or used the NEW 3” Berkley hollow bellies you are missing out! These things work and work well.
They are not all that dissimilar to the original 3” bass minnows, except they look even more lifelike! While the Berkley GULP Formula certainly catches more than its fair share of fish, it sometimes seems like the original power bait formula is overlooked. Be this the old school train or thought I don’t know…. I do know power bait still catch a lot of fish for me and will continue to for many years to come.
I love details in my lures, which is why I’m a big fan of the hollow bellies. Not only do they look like the real deal but the swim like it too. I personally hate lures that insist on twisting and turning as they please. Hollow bellies 
have a tendency to swim straight and true when you want but you can certainly make them swim erratically if you so wish. Their lifelike eyes and colours will make them irresistable to just about any predatory fishing in our waterways.
You can rig these lures on a standard jig head as you would most minnow style soft plastics, however I prefer to fish them on a worm hook (Owner 5101-091 are good). If you prefer your hook point showing use the same hook but push the hook up through the opening of the belly you can then place the hook point through the back of the lure. By rigging the hook internally and adding some solder wire to the shank of the hook you will create a silhouette in the lures body that looks very similar to a baitfish’s stomach!
If your not happy with those rigging styles you can always opt for a floating hollow belly! Adding some foam to the body cavity will make the lure sit in the surface film making it very hard for a hungry bream to resist. This foam can be sauced from any fly-fishing shops. Rigged on a weed less hook, you can skip casts deep into structure while keeping the lure near the surface to better your chance of extracting the fish once hooked.
They are available in a number of colours from AYU to a pearl white and available at all good tackle shops.'
Pat Sullivan - Sportsfish Tasmania.
