The Storm swimbaits are a fairly new introduction on the market. I'm not sure of the exact time frame but 2001 sounds about right for when I first saw them. The one pictured above is the 9" trout model. It's a very heavily weighted swimbait with two big hooks on top and a very narrow top to bottom profile.
Probably the best thing about the Storm is the price. They typically go for about $7. For 7 bucks, you can afford to take these baits and throw them where you might not want to throw a $25 bait.
Because the baits are so heavy, they cast like a bomb and they tend to run true. From what I hear, striper guys really like these baits for making long casts to boiling fish and covering open water in a hurry.
These baits sink EXTREMELY fast. They literally suck the line off your reel on the way down. If you want a bait to get down 40 feet in 15 seconds, this bait will do that. It also trolls deep and stays deep because of the thin profile, slight resistance in the water, and heavily weighted body.
Hm, well now that you know what the bait does, you can list any other application as a con because this bait won't do it. It won't fish on top, and won't fish mid-depth on anything except a fast retrieve.
You need a heavy action rod for this bait. Don't kid yourself with even an Extra Heavy rod. This is double XL style here.
The hook setup is not bad from the standpoint of getting hung up or bouncing along the bottom in general (which is where this bait wants to go immediately). Smaller bass are going to have a hard time getting their mouth around this guy, but bigger bass and stripers should be able to munch it OK. If you do hook a big largemouth on this bait, I would do everything possible to get it in to the boat immediately. These super heavy baits are the type of baits that fish can throw easily if they get airborne.
Overall, I view this bait a striper bait or a trolling bait. Not much on general usage.