Hot Rods, anyone?

A few weeks ago, I was browsing around Cabela's and I picked up a pack
of lures I never heard of before. They are called Venom Hot Rogs.
They are hollow and open at one end like a tube, but they are more
"senko" shaped and have salt in the plastic. I thought "what the heck,
worth a try."
So far I have used them twice, once in a lake for largemouths and
nothing. Yesterday, however, I ran out of green pumpkin senkos while
fishing the river for smallmouths. The closest thing I had with me
were the Hot Rods. I rigged them Texas style with a 1/16 oz bullet
sinker and let them bounce along the bottom in the current, just like I
had been doing with the senkos. Well the smallmouths didn't mind them,
caught 3 more ( and my biggest of the day) in the next half hour.
Anyway, I guess they're not totally worthless. Anyone else use
them? What do you guys think of them and how would you fish them?

-Zimmy