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Hey guys got another one and upgraded quite a bit! This one came on the line thru rising son in bluegill and the fish hit at my feet as I left it in the water an extra second or two and then came up out of nowhere to take a swipe. Ended up in the freaking nose of the bass. Ole girl was also blind in one eye. Fun catch 4.41 pounds and 20.5” long. Not gonna beat that tank lurejerk got but I’m out here trying! ps I hope you enjoy my long arm shot hahaha

I've tried, over the years, to get my children interested in swimbait fishing and, in particular, swimbait fishing at night but until recently they tend to give me the "are you nuts Dad?" look when I suggested that they forego sleep to join me on the shores of some lake during the vampire shift. On Thursday night, however, something changed - I suggested to my son that we go out and throw swimbaits in the dark, expecting the usual "no thanks Dad" response but instead he said "sure!". Big smiles from me at that moment. We went to a local lake that has a decent population of willing bass (albeit smaller ones) and that could be fished from the dam, so that we wouldn't stir up clouds of mosquitos by wandering through the long grass and bushes. I explained the approach to him - we'd leapfrog each other throwing our 7" Slammers and perhaps Whopper Ploppers as parallel to the dam as possible, because the fish typically hold right on the rocks. He was using his swimbait spinning rod (a St. Croix Mojo Inshore rod running 50# Power Pro, and I was using my usual Okuma/Curado setup. Things started off excitingly, when, on my third cast I reeled the Slammer almost to the rod tip before something blew up on it in a splashy explosion, showering me with water and making lots of noise. The fish, naturally, missed the hooks and didn't come back. Still, the sound of the strike and my reaction got everyone's heart pumping a little faster. A little ways down the dam and about 45 minutes later, my son started to tire (he'd had preseason practice that afternoon and they'd run him hard) and he sat down for a bit to rest. He also switched from his Slammer to the Whopper Plopper. I told him that we'd fish for 15 more minutes and if that didn't pan out we'd call it a night. He got up, and started throwing the Whopper Plopper again. He wasn't quite getting it as tight to the rocks as I would have liked but then he also wasn't hitting the rocks. I did put my Slammer on the rocks at one point - you know you've missed the water when you see sparks coming off the rocks as the hooks on the lure scrape them. My sone had a small fish blow up behind the slammer - it sounded like a classic bass strike, but the fish missed. I moved ahead, made a few casts, and then he leapfrogged me by about 90 feet and prepared to cast out along the dam. Then it happened — I watched him fire a cast off at about a 25-degree angle from the dam and then looked down to make sure I didn't face plant on the rocks as I walked. I think I heard his lure touch down but I'm not sure, because there was a horrendous explosion off in the vicinity of his lure that seemed instantaneous, followed by the sound of the drag on his reel starting to scream! I asked him if he was hooked up and his reply was a grunted and yelled "Yes!". Forgetting about the risk of face planting, I proceeded to run along the rocks, in the dark (his headlamp had died just after we started so I'd given him mine) while fumbling in my bag for my backup flashlight. He worked the fish and sometimes the fish worked him - the sound of the strike clearly indicated this was more than the typical 12 - 15" bass and the intermittent wailing of the reel backed that up. I got to where he was, mostly intact, and flipped on the flashlight - he flipped on his headlamp, and there was a moment of panic when he thought the fish was gone - but it was just running towards him and my frantic suggestion to "reel, reel, reeeeel!" got him back in contact. Then we saw the fish - I thought, given the size/sound of the strike it might be a really big bass for this lake, or perhaps a walleye (I've caught DD 'eyes here before) but when we saw it in the lights the eyes didn't light up, walleye-style but it clearly wasn't a bass. Maybe a northern or even a tiger muskie, because those are in the lake? Didn't look quite right, but it was long and it was not happy. Eventually he worked it close enough that we could see what it was - a chunky Colorado channel catfish! How to land it - I didn't have a net (strike one against Dad), I didn't have my lip grippers (strike 2 against Dad) and there was no way I was going to lose this fish! So I did what any self-respecting Dad would do — I waited until it was right by shore, grabbed the heavy fluoro leader, and lipped it, dangling hooks be damned! After sorting out the hooks and narrowly avoiding getting hooked while the channel cat was still hooked, we exchanged high fives and measured the fish - it was a touch over 2 feet long and, naturally, Dad had forgotten to bring the scale (strike 3) so we didn't get a weight - I'm guessing 5 or 6 pounds - it had a solid gut on it. I tried taking a picture with my son and the fish but it didn't come out, but did get a picture of it on the shore ('cause Dad forgot the WCZ measuring board - strike 4). We released the fish, which promptly swam back to the dam, stuck it's head in a hole between to rocks, and sat there, sulking! My teenaged son wasn't sulking, he was grinning from ear-to-ear and so was I! His first decent fish at night and it was a species I'd not ever caught at this lake before. I knew they were in there but on my many trips I'd never landed one at night. We exchanged high fives again, fished for about 15 more minutes and then walked back to the truck, serenaded by the local coyote packs. Not a bad way to finally start getting one of the children exposed to the fun of night swimbait fishing!

Was finally able to get out for a couple hours this morning and toss the bomber. Fish didn't really wanna chase down the wake morning so I finally made the adjustment to just twitching near cover and managed a few fish and missed a few more on short strikes. I'm Loving the action on this bait so far hopefully I can stick a good one with the time I have left.

New iPhone takes some dope pics, no filters/edits chocolate brown over bone, custom request natural with burned eye accents over bone, custom request Loving the solid bone and as always the naturals are just awesome to play with

Oh those are the best lol

Little workction this week, got to stay lake side and launch my boat everyday after the grind at work in Napa valley. No luck taking the boat out searching for monsters, first evening set up camp and slipped a rod out with a freshy 3:16 Kokanee glide. 3rd cast out into a muddy heavy vegetation, shad boiling, off a shallow point and boom little guy hit like a freight train.

Star spangled burritos

The hudd uv works as good as the hudd topwaters

Hope to get this OG 250 back!!

I recently just got into the swimbait game and was looking around for some baits. I work crazy hours so I do a lot of night fishing. While searching, I came accross the Huddleston Nightstalker UV 68s. I like the whole idea of an all black bait at night just dunno about the whole UV idea. Has anyone tried these at all?

The last few months have been a rollercoaster for me between work and health issues, but these are finally ready to show off; "Suicide Mice." These baits are my take on the classic Jitterbug bait, modified to imitate a small field mouse. They are roughly 4" of wood body, have a single Owner ST-46 belly hook, and use a pin/brad system to lock a soft plastic tail. With the floating worm tails, the total length is about 8-9" tip to tail. They weigh roughly 1.5oz. Each body is made of Red Cedar that is epoxy heat sealed before paint to prevent water intrusion. They have a durable 2-part epoxy topcoat finish to protect the paintjob and the bait. The swim video attempts to show the difference between a slow retrieve, and a moderate-fast retrieve. When fished slow, these have a nice crawling action that makes a great v-wake. When you speed up the retrieve, the jitterbug lip starts to throw water like a popper style bait. I am having some issues with my phone/laptop, so you can see a swim video here: Swim Video. Thanks everyone for looking! As always, looking forward to feedback!

This season has been good to me. Just recently got a Toxic wake n crank and yesterday (sunday) was the first day I fished it..about the 4th cast in it starts downpouring and I was ready to head back in only after those 4 casts so I'm like okay I see a downed tree I'm gonna send it. Cast out and start crankin' and I feel like I snagged a submerged branch...then it moves to the right! The pond has very clear water so to see a fish like this fighting back with a wnc in its mouth is like a dream come true! 6.1lbs in Mass is a good one for me!

Took 20 days to get enough feeling back in my thumb to cast a reel after catching myself with the TK. Changed out the hooks and found a willing eater. Busted my ass on the release.

Make it count! Love it when they blow up on ultra calm water! Pompadour tricks this 3lber!

Hell yeah, quick missions are always fun!! Good work.

I picked up the 8' kuz it looked sweet. But i want the 10 in trout and carp. I cant wait to throw it. Just picked up the kastking kapstan 300 for my acid rod i built just for hudds and the pulse tail. Its a 5:4:1. It seems really strong and light. It was smooth out of the box but i already tore it apart and added my super juice i made up and its like butter. I wanna throw it asap. Might have to hit it this sunday.

Finally picked this up again and started messing with them. Took them for a last swim before I let them go. I'm keeping two. One is going to be turn into a wake bait and another is a slow sink but on a retrieve it float up to the top and throws a wake. At first I didnt like it but while test swimming it, it got crushed. Haha not big but for its size, he has some fight in him. The other three are slow sink.

I got a few of the 6 and 8” trout versions. They fish awesome, taken a few fish on the Carp colored one. You can fish it from a crawl to a pretty good burn (I’m using a 5.1:1) ratio reel. But you can wake it on top. Definitely a good pick up and worth the $

A few shad I just finished up. Slow sink,Glides . All kinds of colors pop on this guy

Murdered it broo. Badass little lure!! Definitely getting chomped

Oh ok, no worries man I was just wondering if there was a reason you did it. Thanks for the reply. Cheers brotha

Nice, thanks--I got one over the winter, only thrown it twice yet. This helps a bunch.

Dobyns Champion XP 867 is my dream production rod for hard baits in that range

Nice fish and be careful

What color braid are you all using or do you think it doesn't matter? I was using a spool of light green Power Pro for awhile with all my baits in clear water and am 80% sure it was spooking the fish. A long mono leader seemed to help a bit but maybe it's just a mental thing? Thanks in advance!

Haha. Good stuff man.

Ish was like those old school phone chargers for inside your car. Super stretchy and curls from hell

25# BIG Game everything!

Killer looking paint!

Wow! Outstanding bait! Do you make a sinking 3 piece?

I'm in!

Me on a waker

My PB from a few weeks ago

Got out for an afternoon session but the fishing was tough. Got a couple dinks and dropped a better fish at the boat. That’s my time with the bomber. Don’t see myself getting out this week so off to Vagas I believe. Some pics.

Took the kayak out for some night fishing. Fished from 9-2 and had steady action. Caught 6 dinks and lost another couple. Moon was bright with clouds rolling through. All fish were real tight to shore and all fish hit it just after touchdown. Bomber is a cool little bait. Great for twitching and walking. Bait is not a cranker. It swims well at speed but will only get down inches. True waker. Gonna try to get out a couple more times. Here some dinks

Is that a chupaCARPra?

Pics don't show it but the gray and yellow have some glitter highlights too folks. Brought a tear to my eye when I got em, because I had similar plans. Can't wait to fish em.