Hudds? Recommendations

[MikeOGNR]

Came up on some extra money. Looking into buying a hudd setup to throw big baits also possibly use for heavy jig fishing and strip ers. My question is I live in NH fish a lot of small ponds under 200 acres. Natural ponds lots of weeds some timber rocks, but no major clear reservoirs or anything. I really wanna put some time into these things and I've seen and read articles of people in New England catching fish on them. So what size range do you think I should go and what ROF should.i choose I was thinking about getting 2-3 hudds. Any help is appreciated also what's he best method of fishing them? Do you cast let it sink and just feel or consistently twitch it once it falls? Little new to this so I'm just looking for any info. 

[Gilgamesh]

Not a hudd, but this is on super sale right now in case you wanted to try out something cheaper before you made the committment http://www.overstockbait.com/Reaction-Strike-8-Bass-Harasser-p/8-bh.htm

[WRB]

Hudd 68 weedless ROF 5 in black shad and ROF 12 trout for the lakes you described.

Simply cast, let sink about 5' and retrieve at a slow steady pace, pop the lure out of stuff by raising the rod high, continue the retrieve.

Rod, take a look at Irod gen 2, Jr Swimbait 7'8" for 68 Hudds.

Tom

 

 

[Fish4bigfish]

Kinda depends on your water. If you are fishing less that 10 feet deep use the rof5. Deeper than 10 ft use the rof12. I usually fish them slow and on the bottom just a super slow steady retrieve is what gets bit. If you are seriously going to throw hudds buy name brand! 

[MassYak85]

Check out KeepinItReelFishing on YouTube, he is from the northeast like you and me and has a great video series about his experience with swimbaits in the area. If I were you I would get one 68 special, ROF depends on how you want to fish it and the depth of the lakes/ponds you fish, and one 8" trout. 

[MikeOGNR]

7 hours ago, Fish4bigfish said:

Kinda depends on your water. If you are fishing less that 10 feet deep use the rof5. Deeper than 10 ft use the rof12. I usually fish them slow and on the bottom just a super slow steady retrieve is what gets bit. If you are seriously going to throw hudds buy name brand! 

How fast are you cranking the reel per turn? I usually when. Swimming a bait crank them consistently but I think too fast. Now the setup of but would be a 5:1 but right now I have a 7:1 and when I swim my big basstrix I had recturommendations of swimming it 40 seconds per turn in colder water periods. Just looking for some input to this of how slow so you go at any time during the year 

[Fish4bigfish]

Again it depends. Test all swimbaits in a pool or clear water to make sure they swim true and look natural at rest. Wow 40 seconds per turn is super slow. I have a few basic retrieves I use. I slow crank them on a 5:1 like maybe 4 or 5 seconds per turn nice and steady. I also like to do 2 or 3 turns at about double that speed then kill it for a few seconds. 

Play with the retrieve the fish will teach you what you are looking for this is not a science. You have to throw that bait in front of a big fish and ultimately she will decide lol

[WRB]

There isn't a ideal retreive speed or cadence because it changes with the activity level of the bass.

Slow to me means just fast enough so the tail swims, if it isn't moving at all it's too slow.

What rod & reel are you using?

[hawgenvy]

Hey, Mike,

Did you see the BR Savage Gear vid of these crazy California bass baits?  Some of them look pretty amazing, and the fish-shaped ones look awfully good just swimming slowly and twitched:

http://www.bassresource.com/bass-fishing-videos/savage-gear-duck-rat.html

Good luck, man. You're gonna have fun with them -- at least till you lose one!

 

[Dogmatic]

WRB makes excellent suggestions. I would add, match the hatch, in that, if you have perch in your waters, pick up a perch 68. I've gone with weedless versions since they were introduced. 

[MikeOGNR]

5 hours ago, WRB said:

There isn't a ideal retreive speed or cadence because it changes with the activity level of the bass.

Slow to me means just fast enough so the tail swims, if it isn't moving at all it's too slow.

What rod & reel are you using?

I haven't bought one yet. I'm looking into that aswell I was thinking of splitting up my limit to. 150 on the reel 150 on the rod 100 on the hudds 

[timcauliffe]

Your best bet for an affordable rod and reel is the Daiwa Lexa 300 and a Daiwa DX H or XH or Okuma Guide Select H or XH. Both the older version and "a" series are great rods. 

I would not recommend using the same setup for saltwater and freshwater. Saltwater will cause you to clean your reel more when wanting to use it for freshwater.

Hudds are great, but you may also want to look at Real Prey Swimbaits. They are made from high-grade silicone and give a better tail kick at both slower and fast retrieves AND will last longer. Made in MA, too

[William Rossi]

68 special. perch is a great northern state color

[webertime]

6" weedless

68 weedless

68 special

Perch and Shad colors.

These are my standards for similar lakes here in VT.  Okuma Guide select, Daiwa DX, irods, and Phenix Recon 796 are great hudd rods.  Lexa 300 in 6.2 ratio with 20 Maxima line for reel and line.  Cheaper and just as effective would be a Abu 5500 or Shimano Cardiff 300 on a Cabelas Tourney Trail.  A used 5500 and sale tourney trail can be had for ~$85

[MikeOGNR]

1 hour ago, webertime said:

6" weedless

68 weedless

68 special

Perch and Shad colors.

These are my standards for similar lakes here in VT.  Okuma Guide select, Daiwa DX, irods, and Phenix Recon 796 are great hudd rods.  Lexa 300 in 6.2 ratio with 20 Maxima line for reel and line.  Cheaper and just as effective would be a Abu 5500 or Shimano Cardiff 300 on a Cabelas Tourney Trail.  A used 5500 and sale tourney trail can be had for ~$85

Sounds good hows your hook up ratio? My plan is im giving myself 2 weeks throwing a basstrix 7in perch and rainbow trout pattern I have soley too get the feel with the lure nothing else and then im gonna invest in the hudd rod. I really wanna get into it and fish it for a whole season cause they interest the hell out of me and I know theres a lot of time needed into these things but they do pay off big time.

[WRB]

Shimano Cardiff 300 series is around $110, a good swimbait reel.

Rods a difficult targeting both 6" & 8" Hudds at 2 oz and 4 1/2 oz. Most heavy swimbaits rods are over powered for 6" Hudds and under powered for 8" Hudds. Error on over powered going with the heavy if you plan to use 8" Hudds occasionally. Xheavy is ideall for the 8" Hudds.

Line, I am not a fan of braid for swimbaits, however I don't fish heavy vegetation lakes! I use 25# Sunine Defier Armillo Nylon, 165 yds fills the 300 size reels. If you plan on braid with a leader be aware of rods with micro guides, the should either by standard guides or up sized micro guides to accommodate knots.

Tom

[everythingthatswims]

You need to get a MS slammer. Seems as though it's like crack for those northeast fish

[j bab]

On July 26, 2016 at 0:52 PM, Gilgamesh said:

Not a hudd, but this is on super sale right now in case you wanted to try out something cheaper before you made the committment http://www.overstockbait.com/Reaction-Strike-8-Bass-Harasser-p/8-bh.htm

Don't buy those. They sink too fast, spiral on the fall, and have poor balance. Just bite the bullet and get the good ones, no sense in shooting yourself in the foot with cheap lures.