Huddleston Deluxe Trout 8"

[Jfish]

For starters, I'm somewhat amazed noones reviewed this bait?!?!? Tons of guys have more experience with this bait than I do but its recently had an amazing impact on my fishing so I felt compelled to get the ball rolling. From what I gather the Hudd was introduced late 03-early 04. Ken Huddleston was the first guy (along with Chomp Josephite) to release an anatomically correct trout bait with the early Castaic wood baits. For their time they were by far the most realistic profile bait on the market. In following with his tradition of ultra realism the Huddleston deluxe does not dissapoint. None of this is news to anyone but just wanted to provide the background. It has been said that more fish over 15lbs. have been landed on the Huddleston bait than any bait in history, whether this is fact may be arguable but its certainly plausible when you see the results of guys like Butch Brown who reports having somewhere in the neighborhood of 1,000 fish over 10lbs fishing the lower lagoon at Castaic. One thing that can't be debated is that Butch has more cast to catch video of 10lb plus fish on youtube than anyone else. The bait in every one I've seen is indeed the Huddleston. From coast to coast the bait has caught 1,000's of big fish in the past decade. Videos like Southern Trout Eaters further touts the bait as the "king of kings" for big fish.

 

Despite its overwhelming success and the almost universal credibility Ken Huddleston has attained I personally had a lukewarm relationship with the bait over the last couple of years. My first impressions of the bait in the water were much like Rob Bellonis' in that I felt although it certainly looked fishy it appeared very subtle to my eye. I've always had a bias for hardbaits with lots of action such as loud wake baits and wide swimming s-swimmers. The Hudd looked so much less compelling next to them. I've heard accounts of baits swimming sideways or "off track" and I can say that every one I've purchased has run true...new stock and old. Now on to the results on the water.

 

After a great summer fishing wakebaits, the late fall of 2011 started pretty dismal for me fishing hard baits like s-swimmers. Beginning of 2012 I decided to finally learn and commit to the Hudd as it seems to really shine in cold water when few other baits seem to produce. The City Park Lakes in OC, Ca are some pretty tough highly pressured waters but they are regularly stocked with rainbow trout so it was certainly a good time to give it a go. Our lakes are relatively shallow and they are all shore access situations so I went with an ROF 5. By far the most popular rigging is the Butch Brown rig. I proceeded to rig up a few baits and start my quest to learn this bait and have some success. My first trip out on a bright windy afternoon was compelling. Within five casts I had a hard tap...but no fish. My confidence was starting....that same afternoon I had another 1/2 dozen grabs in a 45 minute period but no fish to show. I wasn't too worried, figured the fish were just slapping at it. Nonetheless, I was impressed that it was getting lots of interest on some pretty tough water that I hadn't had a grab on a hard bait in weeks.

 

Fast forward, 4 weeks later and 30 or so strikes later and what did I have to show for it on the Hudd? Nada, not a single fish. I finally took a hard look at my baits and noticed the bite marks were in the head area mostly near the fins and gill area. Equally frustrated in the lack of fish yet inspired by the number of strikes I decided to make an adjustment. I decided to run a treble hook on the bait just like a hard bait and opted for an owner 36 #1 hook and #7 hyperwire split ring. One other adjustment was to convert my ROF 5's to and ROF 1 or 2 so that I could fish the bait slow across shallow flats and points that are common place and keep the bait high in the water column to align with the hook placement.

 

I was hopeful I could start converting my strikes into fish so I set out on more trips. First trip out with the new rigging and I get a hard strike right of the bank in about a foot of water and to my amazement fish stuck and landed. 4.5 lber hooked solid. Finally, perhaps it was going to work for my style and conditions. Long story short over the past few weeks I've managed to connvert about a dozen bites into about 10 fish. Two biggest for 10 and 11.5lbs. A few 4-5lbers and some small fish at 2lbs. Striked to landing ratio has been about 80 percent with only one very large fish lost. One fish was hooked outside the mouth. Regardless of rigging-I have to say my view of this bait went from lukewarm to full confidence in short order.

 

My best results have come under low light conditions in shallow ambush zones typically in areas where trout get stocked or nearby. The strikes on the Hudd varied from super hard thumbs to just slight ticks. To say I'm impressed with the results would be an understatement. Since I've committed to learning this bait I've had fish or at least bites on virtually every outing in a variety of weather conditions. Of course, I had the opportunity to test this bait in the prespawn period which is about as ideal as you can get for this bait. To have this type of consistency in winter has not been the norm for me and I credit it directly to this bait. After watching Huddleston talk about the bait in STEaters my view on big fish behavior and baits has definitely shifted. The truly functional part of this bait is the vortex tail and it seems that the particular tail on this 8" bait produces a "vortex" that makes it very hard for big fish to detect its not a real trout. Of course, my suspicion is that this bait is in its prime during the colder months and won't be able to produce like wake baits such as the MS Slammer and 3:16 wake baits post spawn through summer. Its a rare occurence when a truly revolutionary design comes to bear results like the Huddleston and its a true asset that no trophy hunter can do without. I look forward to testing it against the wake baits during the warm months as well as see how well big stripers respond to it. Its truly one of the finest baits I've ever had the pleasure of fishing.

 

JK

[oprcsr]

Great review! Do you have a pic of your rigging?

[boomah21]

Nice review jfish....enjoyed the read.

 

Keep it up

[Infidel]

Well done sir. I enjoyed this read as well.

[GRIZZ]

One of the best writeups I've seen yet JK....Thank you!

[Jfish]

Great review! Do you have a pic of your rigging?

 

The rigging....its not much of a rigging per say. I just run a size #1 Owner ST-36 with a #7 Hyperwire split ring and attach to the hook hanger on the bottom of the bait. I don't tuck the hook or anything, I just let it hang freely just like a hardbait. Occasionally the hook will stick into the bait but for the most part its fine. Again, I'm running the bait in the upper half of the water columm so the placement makes sense for me. I really like the looks of the BB rig I just couldn't get anything to stick. I would however run it that way if and when I do more of a bottom dragging approach.

 

Thanks for the comments guys.

JK

[Jfish]

Side note, what I really want to setup is a line through and I believe there's a video on you tube. I think it would prevent the bait from getting beat up and perhaps land more fish.

 

JK

[One time]

Very well written sir. I fish the hudd religiously at DVL, BB style. Last two trips, including today ive had several hits that didn't stick. Slow methodical retrieve...then that familiar hard thump of a strike, no fish. Very frustrating when you see the toads following it. I'll take your tip and let a ST36 dangle, and see if that helps. Thank you.

[Fat-G]

Great review Jfish, I'll add to it my review:

 

[deep]

Great review Jfish.

I got more than a few ideas when I first read it back then. Tried them out, and worked out great! Thanks.

[chefjayson]

great review haven't caught a fish yet on my Hudds but no I'm going to commit more time to learning it because of your review!

[huddslinger]

Great review simple is better sometime . I love hudds.