I got a Huddleston ROF5 off of Ebay. The thing looks like a trout with rigamortis. comes in straighter than a stick, no tail kick what so ever. What do you suppose I could do about it. I checked the return policy on the sale and it said all sales final. Can I send it back to Ken Huddleston himself.....frustrated please let me know. I expected perfection with all I've heard about the Hudd....Thanks BassMan

Was it the first time you've actually seen a Hudd in the water? Not trying to be a smartass or anything, but there isn't a whole lot to the action of this bait other than that nice little tail kick. It's definitely not like one of the boot tail baits that you can feel kicking and thumping. Alot more subtle. Hope this might help.

No, I havn't seen a Hudd in the water before. I did see a very small tail movement. But I thought it should be alot more than what it was. So the bait comes in very straight you cant notice a tail movement unless you look very closely and see a very small wiggle. Is that correct......BassMan

Thats funny. the first time I seen a Hudd swim, I said DAMN! I wish I thought of that! it looked so natural. And then a lot of people critisized its action even Rob wrote a review saying bass only eat it because it looks soo much like a trout not because of how it swims. I couldnt believe people actualy thought that the action was poor. REAL trout dont go around swiming like snakes. Actualy real trout probably have less movement than just about all other prey species. That tail on a hudd is great for a trout bait. It makes a poor tail on other species but for a trout its STRONG. thats why it catches fish. I am sure your Hudd is fine.

Matt has a point... I had a hudd ROF16 in my box for 8 months and caught one sight fish on it. I thought the action was no good. Talk about blowing it. Don't lose confidence in the bait based on action...

Good, I'm so glad I have this site to learn so much about the sport I love......Thanks everyone.......BassMan

I too have an ROF 5 that doesn't kick that hard either (especially compared to my other 12's and 5's). It still gets bit...but on a real slow retrieve it doesn't even kick sometimes. I noticed the tail isn't perfectly straight and that could be part of the problem.

My next question was gonna be about retrieve speed. Did you get bit with the faster retrieve? Do people burn the Hudds back or mostly slow and steady?

> My next question was gonna be about retrieve speed. Did you
>get bit with the faster retrieve? Do people burn the Hudds
>back or mostly slow and steady?


I'm pretty sure in most cases everyone is using a slow and steady retrieve, you don't get much more action from speeding up, usually the bait starts to roll to it's side.


Slow and steady, wait for the thump....

I received a new hudd from huddleston thanks to Crystal over there. I can't say enough about how well they treat there customers. She didn't have to exchange my bait because I bought it off E-bay from someone who wasn't a hudd dealer, but she did.
The new hudd I got swam like I thought one should. Nice easy tail kick with a little movement from the head as well. Every time I brought the bait back I thought damn that looks good. The first one was not doing any of that. It was rigamortice. I rigged this bait from Fish Chris' web site and now I'm waiting for a big bass to inhale it......BassMan

BassMan,
I'm glad you got your first hudd and it's what you expected! I am still amazed when I'm reeling my huddlestons through shallow water and can see them tracking from 20 feet out... They're just incredible to me. Thanks so much to Ken Huddleston for making such an awesome bait, and for being a great owner and person!

DT