Rigging the Huddleston trout swimbait.

[Fish Chris]

I've been meaning to do this for a long time. So today, I finally got around to it.....

Of course their are lots of ways to rig a Huddleston trout, but this is the "only" way I do it.

If your interested, please read it closely, and save the link to this page of my site in your favorites, for reference later. If their is anything which is unclear, please let me know, so I can fix this.

http://www.trophybassonly.com/id224.htm

(note; Their are lots of photos on this page, which might take until sometime next year to load, with a dial-up connection)

PS, I really believe this rigging will help guys to stick (and land) more big bass on the Hud...... and maybe this will bring me some more good fishing Karma. Leastwise, this mind set has always worked in the past
But more importantly, this rigging method (as opposed to belly hook rigging) will greatly decrease the number of gill hooked, and killed trophy bass.... which will definately be good for anybody who likes to stick big bass !

Hope this helps,
Peace,
Fish

[BigJeff]

Nice info to have. I bookmarked your page.

Thanks

[StockOption]

Well done and very useful, thanks for putting this together.

The only part I found a tad bit unclear was the mono-knot step (step 3). I've never used a ROF 12 or 16 so if I did I'm sure this step would make more sense to me....

[Fish Chris]

Hey Stock option, basically the line tie eyelet on the Hud #12 and #16 is a jig hook type of eye..... so this means that the the eye is just crimped closed on the back side, which is all fine when your tied to the "front side" of it with heavy mono, but with my rigging, you have the braided line dropper, which can sometimes flatten out, and pull through the crimped part of the jig hook eye.

Tying a couple granny knots of mono through the eye, cutting them off close, then pushing these knots down around towards the crimp, keeps the braided line from ever reaching this point, and therefore, not pulling out.

Actually, when tying braided line directly to any kind of crimped eye hooks, it can pull through....... But nowadays, I always use a mono leader with my braided mainline. So that potential problem is solved.

Peace,
Fish

[Mikey]

Thanks for that info, I hope to fish this bait in my local lakes this year!

[StockOption]

...perfectly clear now Chris, thanks

[350V RGR]

Hey Chris,

Thats cool!! I now have it in my "Swimbait" Folder.

Thanks, Will Mathers

[Phil]

MY QUESTION IS WHY BRAID AT ALL. WHY NOT 20LB TRILENE XT OR SOMETHING OF THE SORT ??
CURIOUS, NOT BEING A SWIMBAIT FISHERMAN MYSELF ??

JIGS

[Fish Chris]

Hello jigs. Good question. The reason for using braid as the dropper loop, is mostly because it has "zero" memory, so the short, doubled over section of it, does not try to push or pull on the hook into any direction, other than the direction you want it to ride. Plus, the tag ends are clean, and can be layed right down (with a drop of superglue) to where they basically disapeer. All of this, plus the fact that you can easily use 130 lb test, and it's still not too thick or bulky, plus you can stick a fish or nine on it, to the point where it gets somewhat frayed, and "still" not have to worry about it breaking. With mono, good luck using anything much heavier than 30 lb test (even so it would be stiff and kinky, and tougher to tie) then after a fish or two, it would likely have to be retied.

Anyway jigs, it's funny you said > NOT BEING A SWIMBAIT FISHERMAN MYSELF < ....because actually, I don't think this would make so much difference anyway.
What would make a big difference, would be if you were a monofilament guy, or braided guy.
I'm thinking you are probably a mono guy ? While I'm a braided guy, all the way.... in fact, I've used nearly nothing but braid (with the exception of my leaders) for all of my fishing, for about the last 14 years......

Peace,
Fish

PS, BTW Jigs, you said, "why not 20 lb mono or something close"....... and to be honest, my mainline is 50 lb braid, so I can't imagine using anything on the business end, as weak as 20 lb....

[Phil]

THANKS FISH;
YOU ARE CORRECT, I AM A MONO GUY HAVE BEEN SINCE 1964 AND TRILENE XL AND XT ARE MY CHOICE. RAISED IN THE WORLD OF SALMON AND STEELHEAD IS WHERE I GOT MY TRUST IN IT AND HAVE TRIED ALL OTHER LINES TO NO SATISFACTION (TO ME).

THANK YOU FOR YOUR ANSWER, I CAN PASS THIS INFORMATION AND PICTURES ALONG TO MY CUSTOMERS HERE AT DON PEDRO..

JIGS

[Phil]

THANKS FISH;
YOU ARE CORRECT, I AM A MONO GUY HAVE BEEN SINCE 1964 AND TRILENE XL AND XT ARE MY CHOICE. RAISED IN THE WORLD OF SALMON AND STEELHEAD IS WHERE I GOT MY TRUST IN IT AND HAVE TRIED ALL OTHER LINES TO NO SATISFACTION (TO ME).

THANK YOU FOR YOUR ANSWER, I CAN PASS THIS INFORMATION AND PICTURES ALONG TO MY CUSTOMERS HERE AT DON PEDRO..

JIGS

[lionkiller]

F.C., this is an awesome 'how-to'. Thanks for posting.

[Nozmo King]

Wow! Great post! A tip of the cap to you for your willingness to share this kind of info with your fellow anglers. I've bookmarked it & printed it out for future reference.

I'm still a Hud rookie & have a couple of questions. Do you ever hang a split ring & treble off the bottom eye of the lure? Did you ever try leaving the top, single hook where it is, & run a treble stinger farther back - say, closer to the rear dorsal fin of the bait? And, would you ever consider using a steel leader v. braid to connect to the stinger?

Thanks again, man. Good karma is headed your way.

[Fish Chris]

No belly hooks Ever ! Never ! None ! I promise you will hook a lot more fish in the bottom lip like this, which not only shake off easier, but are also impossible to lip at the side of the boat.
And to reiterate, the "worst" thing about the bottom hook, is that you will have a much higher chance of gill hooking, and killing your trophy bass !

I did try the single factory jig hook, running a stinger back behind it a few times, but I never got bit to see how it would work. Not getting bit might have been directly because of the additional hardware (red flag for a big bass) and again it might not have been. I'll never know.

I was once told by the king of big bass > "You really want to get bit ? Take all the dang hooks off of it ! Oh sure, you won't put any in the boat, but you will learn a REALLY valuable lesson about how absolutely finicky (conditioned against additional hardware.... most especially, steel hooks) big bass often are !

Also, I'm the first to admit that the large, single jig hook {by ityself} might get bit 5% more of the time, than my rig which has a little more hook showing, and a few inches of braided dropper..... However, I believe that because my rig allows the hook to pop free of the lure after hooking the fish, plus, the fact that my rig allows the hook to be frequently changed, so its always surgical sharp, will put 5% more big bass in the boat. Just MPO of course

No steel braid ! Honestly, I have contemplated this for a long time, and I am really starting to believe that fish can detect "steel" as something which is not natural {a red flag} as opposed to natural elements, like wood, plants, animal flesh and bone, and even rocks. Personally speaking, if somebody were to make hooks with something other that steel (carbon fiber ?) I'd be the first to try them.

Peace,
Fish

[Rod Martin]

Thanks Chris, I've been using the Hud with only the single big hook so far. Do not like hangups and trying to release with the bottom hook. I've already rigged up several with your setup. It looks & feels right.



Thanks

[Rod Martin]

Thanks Chris, I've been using the Hud with only the single big hook so far. Do not like hangups and trying to release with the bottom hook. I've already rigged up several with your setup. It looks & feels right.



Thanks

[Fish Chris]

and it will "really feel right" when you stick a pig on one rigged this way, and that big momma slings that lure all over hell and back, but that hook doesn't even start to come out of the roof of her mouth, until you reach in their to remove it

BTW, if anybody is still reading this thread, here's yet another cool little trick with this rigging.....

If one of the two hooks sticking up should become dulled on a rock (or hopefully, after sticking a couple fatties ) you can pull the hook out, which is buried in the soft plastic, and spin it up to the top, while spinning the jacked up one down into the back of the Hud. Boom ! Like new again, without having to completely re-rigg it !

Peace,
Fish

[RogerB]

Thanks, Chris. That's a super rigging, and your pictures and text explaining it are extraordinarily clear. I really appreciate your sharing this inside info.
...RogerB

[Nozmo King]

Thanks again for that post. I tried rigging my Hud #5 the way you showed, & it worked well - pretty easy to tie once I tried it a couple of times. At the risk of belaboring the point, a few more questions for you:

1. I had to superglue one of the hook bends to the dorsal fin to get it to stand up correctly. Assuming I finally get bit on this bait & that the dorsal fin gets torn up, is that lure then shot? Or, will it work OK with a torn-up dorsal?

2. I read in Bass West that some swimbait guys say you should use one of those frog hooks on the bottom of the bait, attached with a paper clip. I take it you're not sold on that idea, either?

3. I'm sure a bunch of people reading this have to be wondering the same thing - am I going to get more hookups with a bottom treble, &, if so, will it work better in tournaments when I'm trying for those 4 - 7 lb'ers v. trophies?

4. I've used crankbaits with multiple trebles on the bottom for years & seldom have fish completely engulfed them to the point that they're gill hooked. In fact, I'd guesstimate that I guthook a lot fewer than when I'm fishing plastics (like Senkos). Do big fish have a tendency to engulf swimbaits more so than other lures?

Thanks again. I really appreciate you sharing this kind of detailed, insider information. Your photos were terrific.

[supermat]

Nozmo,
Big bass treat a swimbait unlike any other bait. They INHALE them when they really want to eat. Fish Chris is telling you the truth, there is NO reason to use belly hooks of any kind! I used to use them, I swore up and down that they were important until a friend showed me the light. Not only do you get more bites, they eat them harder because the bait looks so much more natural. As an example: I caught a 3.8 lber the other day on a huddleston... you couldn't even see the bait in its mouth as I reeled it in! She sucked it ALL the way in and had the jig hook squarely in the roof. If that bait had trebles or worse yet, a frog hook on the belly that fish never would have survived.

Matt

[mark poulson]

Thanks for the great setup and photos.
As for how fish take a swimbait, I hung a 4lb on a Huddlestone 12, with the jig hook, and it was all the way in the fish's mouth, hooked in the top of the mouth. That fish had come up from behind and inhaled the bait.
Maybe it's the size of the bait. I catch lots of rip bait, crank, and top water fish on the front treble, but maybe that's because the bass hit the smaller baits differently. With a swimbait/trout, maybe they have to eat it the long way, from the back, to get the whole thing down quickly. Of course, a 10+ fish can pretty much get it's mouth around a trout any way it wants to, but every swimbait fish I've seen either hitting my bait, or following it, is coming up from behind.
Can you swing your fish with your treble setup? I swing most of my fish because I fish alone a lot, and I've lost fish trying to net them myself.

[Fish Chris]

Yes, even as many as I have rigged, sometimes they get so torn up (by big bass..... ahhh that's rough ain't it ? ) that I have to glue the downward hook to the dorsal...... But no, even if the dorsal is just a shredded up piece of garbage, which is more super-glue than plastic, they will still inhale it.

Again, NO hooks on the bottom. Too many bottom lip, and gill hookups.

Honestly Nozmo, if you were to put extra hooks on it, yes, you might catch a few more smaller fish on it (under 5 lbs) but at the cost of "greatly reducing your number of big fish bites".
Personally speaking, if I found myself in the middle of numerous smaller fish, and if those fish mattered to me, I'd choose a smaller lure... like maybe a crankbait or something.

Peace,
Fish

[Fish Chris]

Yowsers ! Swing a big bass ?!?! That is a scary thought !

I'm sure "the rigging" would hold a 10 plus fish if you were hooked up solid enough, but I can't say I have ever swung anything over 5 or 6 lbs..... in other words, I'd only swing it "if I were not afraid of losing it" and just trying to speed up the process.

On the other hand, I don't think I have ever lost a bass over 8 lbs, which had fully inhaled my Hud, when rigged this way...... whether I netted it (which is most of the time) or simply reached down and lipped it.

Peace,
Fish

[Nozmo King]

Alright... I'm going with the single treble on top... I guess 1st things 1st. I've got to get bit on one of the damn things before I worry about missing any fish. I've only caught a handful of swimbait fish, & none of them were huge, so I'm looking forward to hooking up with one of the big dawgs one of these days.

Thanks again, Fish Chris & Super Matt, for your thoughts on fishing these lures.

[Shawn]

So far I 've been lucky I guess, I haven't lost any fish with the factory jig hook.Sounds like you may have lost some nice fish?The hookset up you show loooks good but how about weeds and wood?Will that treble stick that tree I bump in deep water
or get more clogged with weeds?

I definatly agree with not using a bottom hook.

[Fish Chris]

I really haven't lost too many on the single factory jig hook.... but admittedly, I haven't fished it very much with just that hook by itself either. Again, I know it will hook and land fish, but I don't like that it can't move independantly from the lure, and also, I'm a hook sharpness fanatic ! Once a hook gets dulled, I hate to sharpen them. I prefer them to be surgical / factory sharp without having to mess with them (sharpening any hook can change the point angle, and / or make the point flat, causing it to fold over instead of penetrate)

Weeds and wood haven't been much of a problem. Put it this way, in the two years I have been rigging them this way, I have not snagged and lost a Hud yet..... although I do have to take the boat opposite of a snag and shake one out every now and again.

What I would suggest for you Shawn, is to take one of your Huds which has been sharpened several times (if you have one with a hook that's just about worn out anyway) and try this rigging, to see for yourself. Then you can decide if you would prefer to rig them this way, straight out of the package.

Peace,
Fish

[mark poulson]

Chris,
I'm a carpenter, so I had a small diamond hone in my bags for touching up cheisels on the job. I put it in the boat, and use it to sharpen hooks. It cuts fast and smooth, and it's big enough, 1 1/2"X3", to let me sharpen the entire hook length, so I don't change the angle too much, and I don't slip off the point like can happen with a file.
They sell them cheap at wood worker's supply stores.
They are fine enough that you can't roll a point with them, or make a burr, like with a file.
Funny, I broke a Hud off Sunday when I wrapped it around a stickup at Casitas in about 4' of water (great cast). I was able to retrieve it with my net. I was hoping it would stay up, but the single hook didn't snag anything. The line broke where it had crossed itself. First time I was hoping to get snagged!

[Shawn]

Thanks for the input.I don't like to sharpen hooks either,rather just put on a crispy perfct one.I'm sure I'll use the treble once the jig hook gets worn out.

Thanks again
Shawn

[Fast 492]

I just want to say thank you for the incredible info Chris. It is people like yourself that make this sport what it is today. That was some great writing/explaining on an incredible bait. Thanks again...

[Ken C.]

Most Excellent write-up!!! I do have a question for you - you said you are using 50lb braid for the main line, but what are you using for the leader and what knot are you using to connect line to leader?

Last Q - are you tying direct to the swimbait or using a split ring?