3:16 floating freestyle Shad

[Triadbasser]

I have seen people take the pins out with small drill bits, then drill and weight the bait themselves and seal with epoxy but you need to be careful and confident in your ability to do it well.

[waynem]

 Switch the hooks & split rings out to  whatever you think would be the largest/heaviest that make sense.  Then grab a bucket of water and a bunch of smallish sinkers.  If it still floats with the larger hooks, start hanging the sinkers on the hooks until you get the bait to start to sink.  That will give you some idea as to how much weight you will need.  If its only about 1/16 oz then you can start adding suspenders or strips, but if its much more than that you are going to have a tough time going that route.  Its much easier to make adjustments at home rather than on the lake.  Keep the water in the bucket close to the temperature of the lake since the water density changes with temperature.

[swole_t]

I've switched out hook guage, hook size, split ring size. Added suspend strips, added lead golfers tape. Wrapped the lead wire that people use to make flys with around the shank of the hooks. Clamped the rubber core lead weights onto the hooks. Drilled holes in the bottom of baits and epoxied lead and tungsen weights in there. All of it can work alright, but I've never been happy with any of it. The best thing to do is just wait for an opportunity to buy a slow sink.