In 2010, Big Hammer released the "Sledge Hammer™", designed to fish shallow inshore structure where big, mean "boiler bass" call home. The long, skinny design of the 9-inch Sledge Hammer™ swimbait imitates the large bait fish, such as smelt and mackerel, that are frequently found in these "skinny water" areas. Basically just an elongated version of Big Hammer's 5˝ inch swimbait, the new Sledge Hammer has proven to be much more versatile than originally planned. It swims very well on the sink or drop, making it a good deeper water bait as well. In addition to that, it can be rigged weedless with a wide gap hook and used like a ripbait or "slashbait" (with the tail intact) or as a slug (with the tail removed).
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Rigging Tip
After continuous use swimbaits begin to slip off the shank of the jig head. Once they start doing this they soon become unusable. To prevent this, glue the plastic to the jig head shank with ZAP-A-GAP when you first rig up. The swimbait will stay glued to the head permanently until you decide to separate the two.