Nate,
I've played around with placing the diving bill towards the tail of the bait.It does change how the bait swims....it's the tail moving,and pushing the head,instead of the head moving pulling the tail.The farther back you put the bill.the shallower the bait will dive.I even tried putting a bill on the very back of the bait at a 90 degree,and ran my rear eye screw through it.It made a interesting waking bait with all the action in the back.
The problem you run into is the hooks catching on the bill,or the bill reducing your hook up ratio....some day I'll play around with this again..I really think there are some good options..Nathan