Does anybody use the Huddleston hand painted huddle bugs? They look great, I'm just wondering what the best way to rig them is.

Shaky head 'em on a standup or t-rig em tail-first and work 'em slow. They get smashed.

Shakyhead. As realistic a craw bait as you'll find, but I just wasn't a fan. 

Shakyhead. As realistic a craw bait as you'll find, but I just wasn't a fan. 

 

 

I prefer pit bosses or rage craws in most (t-rig) cases, but I've found luck with them when the bite was slow and I knew I was on to a fish.  They do require a lot more patience though, they move and sink slow and require a careful texposing.  I like keeping a few in the box.  I want to apply them to drop shotting a few spots this season and see how they do, I feel like they would be good for a compliment to the bentos I usually use for that.    

I've always wondered about the most detailed baits and their effectiveness over the more mundane run of the mill representations. Take a tube for example. Certainly it's a crawfish imitation or some other type of bottom dwelling critter. Not much in the way of detail there, yet they certainly account for a lot of fish.

 

The Yum Crawbug is another tube example that is much more detailed and yet is still related to the tube family. Yet, after fishing both on many occasions, the plain tube seems to be no less effective. I'm wondering if all this detail and extra cost is really value-added....or just something to sell to anglers.

I like to bite the tail off and use them as a trailer on small finesse jigs. Deadly little package.

Shakyhead. As realistic a craw bait as you'll find, but I just wasn't a fan. 

Why?

Why?

I had an extremely difficult time hooking fish with them, even with the special shakyhead that's built just for them. I have some sitting on my workbench at home that didn't make the cut when I packed everything into my new boat. 

I had an extremely difficult time hooking fish with them, even with the special shakyhead that's built just for them. I have some sitting on my workbench at home that didn't make the cut when I packed everything into my new boat.

Ya I saw some pictures online and it looked like there would be a bad hook up ratio even on the special jig head. Probably because of the different shape.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

                 

• There's an article by Mike long that has some good info . I use his set up and haven't had any problems with hook ups ....

  This is the set up

Huddle Bug.jpg  This is the set up

That looks good I saw that too. I can't find any tackle shops that have the rigged ones though...

I found a few packages that had the weights now I just re-use the weight when the bug is worn out .....

Huddleston is not producing the pre-rigged huddle bug at this time.  Not sure when they will start back doing them again.

I have had good luck using the Savage Gear Stealth Spike in both the Huddle Bug and the Savage Craw.  Same basic

principle as the pre-rig from Huddleston.  I have been amazed at how hard a fish will hit these.

 my set up

I got three packs sitting around that I have never tried. guess I'm gonna have to now.