Northwest Fishing Reports

I received the following announcement via e-mail today.
Tim

We at Huddleston Deluxe are proud to announce the 1st Huddleston Deluxe Giveaway to our loyal news letter subscribers ONLY. The date of the drawing will be 02/04/2009 at 12pm Pacific standard time. This will be a computer generated random drawing. As always all your information is safe and secure with Huddleston Deluxe winner will be posted on our website and be contacted by e-mail.
This is just a small way saying thank you from Huddleston Deluxe for all your support thru out the years. Please tell all your friends to sign up.

Winner of the 1st Giveaway will receive,

1 8in trout swimbait ROF 12 Color Rainbow
1 6in trout swimbait ROF 12 Color Rainbow
1 6in weedless swimbait ROF 12 Color Rainbow
1 Pk/2 shad swimbait ROF 12 Color Smoke On The Water
1 PK/5 Huddlebug Color Wattermelon
1 Tube Huddlebond
1 Tshirt size up to 3x

Good Luck and Thank You..
HD Staff.

http://www.huddlestondeluxe.com/huddlestongiveaway.html

Thanks ICSpots,..while browsing the Huddy website I cam across this which I thought was very interesting:

Big Bait Theory


SLOW MOVING BIG BAITS
(WHY THEY WORK)

It is my contention that a mature Largemouth will consume the most calories per calorie expended. In other words,, the wiser, heavier Largemouth, consumes the largest, fattest, high-calorie meal while burning the least amount of calories.



Three factors:

1. Fatty (high-calorie) meal
2. Average large portion
3. Expending little energy to feed


So we have three questions.


1. What fatty meal is readily available?
2. What is the largest size of that readily available meal?
3. How do Bass expend the minimum energy catching that meal?

For the west we know the answer to the first question. The evidence is undeniable. Stocked Rainbow Trout is the answer. It is questions two and three that need some thought.


How big is big to a Largemouth?


Some studies show that a Largemouth can safely eat 1/3 of its body weight in one gulp. I witnessed this one year at The Fred Hall Show. A regular feature of the show is "The Bass Bin". A giant aquarium stocked with local Bass by The Department of Fish and Game. Another attraction at the show is the Trout pond for kids. (A dough-boy pool full of hatchery Trout.) It was during the Ventura Show, that a colorful guy that goes by the name of "Crazy Rick", decided that since it was the last day of the show that the Bass, being from Lake Casitas and used to a fatty meal, were probably hungry. Since the Trout that were left were a little peaked why not put them to good use.

I was standing near the Bass Bin, when I heard the comotion. I turned just in time to see "Crazy Rick" breaking through the crowd like an N.F.L. fullback busting through the line. He was running for open field, only the football he was carrying was a scoop-net full of Trout. As soon as "Crazy Legs Rick" hit the end-zone and spiked the Trout in the bin, the feeding frenzy began.


There were a handful of Bass over 10 lbs. another half-dozen 4-9 pounders and another dozen weighing 2-3 lbs. We expected to see the bigger Bass eat Trout, but what was amazing was to watch the 2 and 3 lb. Bass eat 9 - 10" Trout. They would swim along side the Trout and suddenly grab the Trout by the back of the head or throat, with the tail hanging to either side. For several minutes they swam around the bin holding the Trout in this manner. In time, somehow without letting go, they turned the Trout headfirst and started creeping it down their throat a little at a time. The bigger fish inhaled a few Trout right away and were kicking back while the little guys swam for hours with a Trout tail hanging out of their mouth. As time went on the Trout tail slowly disappeared.

I had caught 2 and 3 lb. Bass before on the big baits but, thought that in the act of being mean they accidentally hooked themselves. After the "Crazy Rick" episode I really gave the "eating 1/3 of its body weight" study a serious thought. I'm not sure if I believe that a three pound Bass can eat a 1 pound Blue Gill but, I know it will eat a 1 pound Trout.


So that brings us back to the question, how big is a big meal? In the world of "The Dapartment of Fish and Game Trout Stocking Program", 8-13" is about as big as readily available gets. A Bass 12 lbs. or more will be looking for several of these in one feeding session

The final factor, expending as little energy as possible catching it's meal.



I've spoke to as many fisherman that I know of that have caught fish over 17 lbs. and there is one common thread that runs through most accounts. They were fishing slow. Keep in mind that relatively speaking, these Bass are morbidly obese.* The last thing they want to do is get in a swimming match with a one pound Trout. I assume they would prefer to ambush an unsuspecting slow-swimming, or feeding Trout. This would get the most calories for the least calories expended.



The 8" was made to be fished as slow as possible and designed with this theory in mind.

1. Rainbow Trout (fatty, high-calorie)
2. 8" (large portion)
3. Slow moving (little energy expended)



**I am referring to the morbidly obese, not the healthy, athletic, 8 - 10 lb Bass that we commonly see chasing Trout on the surface.. Very good read,..IMHO!


BB

The more that know, the less our chance to win.

Oh sure, NOW you tell me!


Maybe this will help ...

Don't waste your time on those swimbaits. You will never catch anything. Especially with those Huddleston products.

Better?

ChrisB wrote: The more that know, the less our chance to win.

No doubt!
Thanks a lot ICSpots, now we have no chance. J/K bro, good lookn out for everyone. Great giveaway and someone is going to get one hell of a goody bag.


And ya, Huddlestons suck for catching largemouth around here. Eagles on the otherhand....look out.


fishnislife

Thanks for the smarts CB.. FIL.. I surley wont wast my income tax return the on those POS.Thanx for saving your fellow anglers the embarrasment of pulling those out of tackle bags..

OKAY... thanks . . I signed up for the newsletter ICSpots . . . they can mail me one of those anyday!

I honestly dont like soft swimbaits to begin with. They dont swim natural compared to the more expensive hardbodied swimbaits...they work though,

Basstradamus wrote:They dont swim natural compared to the more expensive hardbodied swimbaits...they work though,

It all comes down to your definition of what "swim natural" means. After fishing a few different swimbaits you see a variety of actions - wide vs tight, head/body/tail movement vs body/tail movement vs only tail movement, body roll vs no body roll, etc. Some would argue that the subtle tail only movement of a soft plastic bait more closely matches the actual swimming motion of a fish.

I think the following from Rob Belloni (calfishing.com) provides a good descritpion of the subtle movement on some soft plastic swimbaits baits:

"The action of the Baitsmith is about what you would expect, however it does have a nice vibration to it that is worth dissecting. I have always believed that bass are tricked by the Huddleston in part because the anal fin "swims" as the tail kicks. This is what I refer to as secondary action. Secondary action makes lures look alive. The Baitsmith gets secondary action in the pelvic fins, anal fin, and dorsal fin. The composition of the plastic is stiff enough that the lure looks twitchy in the water as you speed it up. This additional quiver gives the lure a fleeting, harried look as it moves. It's something like the vibration thrown by a chatterbait; not as dramatic as that, but enough to draw fish from a distance."

Great reply, Tim. I agree, one could argue that soft bodied swimbaits do in fact have the most "natural" swimming action of the two styles.

I have experienced many days where the fish have shown a distinct preference for one style over the other. When trying to dial in a swimbait bite, I wouldn't be caught without a good selection of both hard and soft bodied swimbaits in the boat.

As far as effectiveness goes, this varies from day to day, hour to hour and fishery to fishery. However, I would be willing to wager that in the last several years, more largemouth bass over 10 lbs. have been caught on the 8" Huddleston Deluxe than any other swimbait.

I agree with the 2 last posts. I too think soft bodied baits like the huddleston are more natural than a hard swimbait. Reason being, whens the last time you have seen a trout swim acting like it was a 4 piece jointed bait. Thats a little too much action unless it was twitching and dying. Tag is right, you better have a good selection of baits if you want to be versatile.