Oh The Huddleston

[dhami013]

I'm curious to try the huddleston swim bait. I've never been too hot on swimbaits and was curious on who uses them and how do you like them?

Also how do you rig the weedless one?

The bait monkey has a little bit of a tight grip on me. But I wanna be sure before I give in.

[deep]

Dude, swimbaits do NOT work outside of the west coast. Keep throwing those little cranks and plastics.

LOL, just kidding.

I throw a lot of 6" and 7" swimbaits (not paddletails), including the 6" regular hudds and the weedless hudds. I tend to use the weedless ones more and more these days, primarily because I was sick of losing 15$ baits to snags; one of the lakes I like to fish is full of rocks. The weedless hudd is truly weedless, in fact it's weedless, rock-less, laydown-less, way more so than the mission fish.

Weedless Hudd Rigging: well, it comes with a stock jig hook. I fish it like that. Not sure what you mean by "rigging". I fish it on 15 lb yo-zuri hybrid. That's probably not very ideal though; hooksets are a big headache for me sometimes. I'm buying a second swimbait set-up exclusively for the soft swimbaits sometime soon, and I'll put braid on it. That'd help. One useful tip I got, probably from the SBNation forums, is to make a tiny slit behind the hook, near the dorsal fin. Another one is to wait for a second or two before setting the hook, like frog-fishing.

Fishing regular and weedless hudds: if you're think you're retrieving slow enough, reel a bit slower still. Hudds are made for bottom-bouncing; crawl it along the bottom slower than you can endure. I haven't got any 8 inchers though; the 8" ROF 0 is a floater of course. I tend to think that they are better during the colder months of the year, due to the tail design. But that's only the accepted viewpoint, and I won't know better until I go out and challenge it.

Go out and throw that big bait. The results will surprise you. Hudds have accounted for more "teen" fishes than any other baits.

P.S. Get a copy of the "Southern Trout Eaters" DVD if you can.

EDIT: If you're looking for info on the 8" hudd rigging, check out the Fish Chris rigging article on BR, and hunt down the Butch Brown method of rigging too. Basically they discard the jig hook, and put on a treble. The jig hook is sufficient for the 6" hudd IMO.

[1234567]

I fish both the 8 and 6 tophook and weedless. The weedless has the hook embedded inside the bait, the plastic is hollow and collapses hear the hook. Like mentioned above, it really is good at getting it through the nasty stuff. Some guys do much better with swimbaits. I have caught fish on both the 8 and 6 but never did make a killing with them. I usually only use them now when I'm in an area I know holds big bass. I'll throw these first, and like Deep mentioned, I will work them very slow. Bites can be bone jarring and also very light. Huddleston's are the ticket with the soft swimbaits! Good Luck!

[Primus]

I have not used the 8" Hudd so I won't comment on that , though I plan on throwing it next year. I have used the regular 6" Hudd & the Hudd 68. I have not had success so far with these baits but there are reports from guys all over the country who have done well with them. I have personally done much better with the 7" Rago BVD in cooler water and the River to Sea Live Eye Bottom Walker in warmer water slow rolling it in deeper depths. There are also guys out there sticking fish on the Matt Lures Tournament series/ Osprey and 316 Mission fish. I think the Hudd will be a good starting point and if you do well keep fishing it but if not try a couple of other brands as the each seem to throw out a different vibration pattern and let the fish tell you which one they prefer.

[J Francho]

6" Hudds work well for me. I work them on the bottom, like a jig.

[dhami013]

I want to buy some but I'm not sure what color variation to buy. In the lakes I fish there are no trout. But I have had luck on trout colored jointed rapalas.

I live in Virginia. The southern part to be specific.

Should I try trout colored and maybe one of the phantom colors?

[webertime]

I use the 6" Weedless Hudd (ROF 5 and 12). Deep pretty much nailed it with the retrieve, etc. The waters I use mine in don't have trout either and I have had the most success with the Golden Shiner and Perch colored baits.

HOLD ON!!! Short of some big Northerns, the Largemouths that I have caught on the Hudds have been the hardest hits I've ever felt.

I've had the best luck with a Sweep (albeit strong) hookset. I've also rigged stingers on the Weedless Hudds (treble in the butt) and it's had no effect on the action of the bait.

The Phantom ones tend to not have the most durable paint/markings, my Phantom Perch turned into a fish shaped Heineken bottle after a couple weeks. I was able to fix it with some Spike It markers and a black sharpie. Get a bottle of mend-it to repair the inevitable holes/tears that can happen with this bait.

Mattlure Perch is also a GREAT soft swimbait.

[Raul]

I want to buy some but I'm not sure what color variation to buy. In the lakes I fish there are no trout. But I have had luck on trout colored jointed rapalas.

I live in Virginia. The southern part to be specific.

Should I try trout colored and maybe one of the phantom colors?

If "matching the hatch" is your thing and there is no trout, well, bass create their own forage every year, cannibalism is one of the most common ocurrences in fish, so wanna "match the hatch" ? ---> baby bass pattern. On the other hand, where I´m at ( unless I go fishing high in the sierra ) there is no trout, bass have never seen one and they will never see one, trout patterns work as well as "matching the hatch" patterns do. BTW, the weedless Huddie needs no rigging, you only tie the line to the hook eye.

[dhami013]

Yep, I'm gonna order some. Ah the bait monkey.

[deep]

Re: colors/ weedless hudds

I never tried the phantom colors. The trout schemes, the perch, and the baby bass ones work pretty well out here. But then, like I said, I never experimented.

I like the ROF 12 way more than the ROF 5; maybe because I almost always use them for bottom bouncing.

I mostly slow roll them, but I have caught a couple of nice bass ripping them (like a jerkbait) as well. As Bill Siemantel says, your bait is but a tool. How you use that tool is up to you.

Only one of the lakes I fish have stocked trout. But bass in other lakes don't seem to mind eating the hudds either. Go ahead and throw that big bait. It might take a while, but you'll stick a big one on it.

Good luck!

[Raul]

I like the ROF 12 way more than the ROF 5; maybe because I almost always use them for bottom bouncing.

Besides with a ROF 5 you can take a nap before it reaches the bottom , man they sink at arthritic snail pace.