gobig

I have to agree

To cool. 8-) Thanks for taking the time to ask our questions.

I would like to know if someone mentored him or is he self taught? Did he read books or watch videos on concepts and expand from there with trial and error?

Here are a few other techniques.

When punching I use a punch skirt most of the time. I believe that the bead on the punch skirt cams the hook out (with a snell knot) and allows for better hookups. I have had good success with the paycheck baits set up.

Cool deal. Early on many thought the Huddleston had to little action to be effective.

As mentioned a swimbait is one of many tools. I do not believe the jig will be replaced for it to is an effective tool. I do however think that you will see more & more top finishes with swimbaits due to higher usage. Swimbaits are still a fairly new technique to the tour and there were only a hand full of guys throwing them. The idea that swimbaits only work in clear, trout infested waters is slowly finding its way out of mainstream thought.

Mattlures and JSJ are my favorites. I have heard good things about the baitsmith madgill but I have never personally thrown it.

You hit the nail on the head. You get what you pay for. If you fish your baits on the proper gear and have a good bait knocker you shouldn't loose to many (fishing from the bank you will loose more baits). I would bet I lost more money loosing jigs last year than I did on swimbaits. Don't take this the wrong way but I think only throwing soft swimbaits is one dimensional. Both hard and soft swimbaits have there time and place. If you spend the extra money on a quality bait you will get the performance you expect.

They are great jigs and now make up most of my jig collection.

Quickcrete is way to messy I prefer Liquidnails.

If you have some pics of them rigged sideways I would like to see them. You can get shrink tube at any hardware store.

This is better than pictures. I found a video on that shows what I was talking a bout. http://leftcoastbass.com/AddRebarb.asp

In pursuit of giant bass by Bill Murphy and The Big Bass Zone by Bill Siemantle and Mike Jones are my favorites.

Get some mendit and you can repair the baits. I no longer use screwlocks. I use a wide gap swimbait hook and texas rig it. Use a piece of shrink tube and make a barb that holds the head in place. I will try later and see if I can take some picks showing how I rig it.

. I could not agree more. This can happen at anytime of the year.

Nice 8-)

I agree that there is no wrong way to fish this lure. The previous posts have made good suggestions and this bait is very versatile, it can be fished in all parts of the water column. The only things I would add... rely more on the presentation than the color and they do work in clear water. Me and a partner just had a good chatterbait day(well he did). The fish were caught on three different colors... firetiger, watermelon, sexyshad. By the way this was on a reservoir that had a bout 15ft of visibility. The day we fished was post frontal. Most people were having trouble and couldn't buy a bite. We caught 14 fish and 11 of the 14 came on the chatterbait. Our best 5 would have went 15lbs or so. We had a few follows on spinnerbaits but no commitments. Switched up to a chatterbait and it proved to be effective. My partner made the switch based on a past experience from the previous year, at the same lake. All I am saying is don't pigeon hole a bait as to when it is effective. Be open minded. This is an amazing bait loaded with all kinds of possibilities.

My first introduction to a swimbait was about ten years ago and came from a trophy trout hunter. I don't remember exactly what the bait was but it was a wooden bait similar to an A/C Minnow. It may have even been homemade. He trolled them on lead core line. This guy had a photo album that would make your jaw drop from the big browns,bows,Macks and cut throats. Nice fish by the way. A 12lb Bow is just as fun as a DD bass in my opinion. You were catching 8lb+ fish... How is that a bad thing? I don't care if its a carp a big fish is a big fish and you had a day you won't soon forget. To Cool 8-)

To cool.

Very well said BigE.

I tend to agree that the primary use of a fish finder is locating structure and cover. However I fish several deep water lakes and use the fish finder to target suspended fish at various times of the year. You can make a pinpoint presentation with a spoon, ice jig or a dropshot using the fish finder almost like a video game. Its really kind of cool watching fish go to your bait and then having your rod load up.

I don't think color doesn't matter its just a smaller part of the equation. I would put much more emphasis on presentation. I would say dark baits in low light and lighter colored baits on bright days are the higher percentage options but not the rule.

Its rocks piled along the bank. Like what you would see along a levee or a dam.