southernswimbait.com proudly presents: Southern Trout Eaters

We've been working for 1.5 years on this project, and are finally ready to go public with our work. This is a project that we put a ton of thought and meditation into. This is the first swimbait/bigbait film ever done outside of the West, and we like to think it will educate and entertain both new and old swimbait chuckers alike on both the West and East Coasts.

Please visit: www.southerntrouteaters.com

Thank you all for your support, and thanking calfishing.com for being a model website and friend for 15 years now.

We just 'launched' the film, however, there is still a lot of work to be done to both southernswimbait.com and southerntrouteaters.com in the coming weeks to fully roll out everything we intend to, so just be patient, we will get there, but the film is available, and shipping from Tacklewarehouse, today.

Matt

I'm really looking forward to watching this. The bits and pieces I've seen so far have been epic. South/east swimbait fishing is ridiculous.

Congrats on getting your first vid done. I expet it to be one if not the best ever swimbait vid. I look forward to watching it a couple hundred times

The last few days I've had a chance to watch the finished product. I say few days because this little fishing movie is not just a little fishing movie - it's 2 hours and 40 minutes in depth trophy bass swimbait juice.

There really is no precedent for this film in terms of content and footage. The Big Bass Posse vid was a great movie but it was a high speed 40 minute clip.

This is a film with so much rich content, info, thought process, and passion. As I watched it I just kept thinking how this is such a representation of Matt's life on film. A lifestyle of complete fishing obsession. This is a film you have to watch a couple times to let it all soak in.

If you fish swimbaits, even passingly, you should get this and watch it. You'll learn something like I did. And people in the South ... are going to be shocked when they see this. This is what California was in the 90's.

Great work Matt, I hope you sell 10,000 copies :)

I got the video yesterday and spent the afternoon watching it. Great stuff! I can't believe how much information is packed into it! Everytime you think the video must be nearing the end, another segment comes up about a different bait...or a different song showing catches straight up. I had no idea you were such a bluegrass fan, Matt. Nice touch :). And yet, the approach and baits used are kept very simple. Everyone who throws swimbaits needs to watch this. Just the catches alone are enough to pump anyone up.

I especially like the M.S. Slammer coverage. The double hookup was insane. I'd love to try my hand at some Slammer fish out that way.

The best thing about this video is the passion that everyone in the video has for fishing. Too often in the swimbait world, there are big egos thrown around with a lot of drama mixed in. This has none of that. Just a bunch of guys with one goal in mind...catching big swimbait fish.

This is going to open a lot of eyes and spark a new era in swimbait fishing. Great job Matt!

about half way through this and its insane. I am so going to get fired

Don't forget TW has a 15% off 4th of July sale. Hint hint.
http://www.tacklewarehouse.com/catpage-TWNEWS05.html

I'm looking forward to receiving my copy of the DVD next week!

Congrats Matt and I hope it is a hit.

Tim

Bummed -- doesn't look like TW will let me order (or take advantage of the 15%-off 4th-of-July price) since they're stocked out for the weekend. Where else might I be able to pick up a copy?

No message

I think you can just order it and get the discount. When they get more copies then it will ship. Probably won't be long.

Got it -- I forgot to add the 'qty,' so that's why it wouldn't go to my cart (DOH!). We're all set now; just gotta wait til they get more in!

Huddleston Baits has a special "Southern Love" offer related to the release of Matt's new video. The offer is only for 8-inch Hudds in Golden Shiner or Hitch finishes.

I was notified of the offer via e-mail. The e-mail message included a link to the following web address in case you were unable to read the e-mail message.

http://campaign.r20.constantcontact.com/render?llr=b48hnpcab&v=001gitP1NKQiAInjsESUtgbZL7o_le6uJrItbHXIliC-ADb2wxTQMzY8chOaUKPAjYzKGlETfq8f4QAZnjI-sYF1fab3fUY3f54NWRzKaNkZoCLDH9lacUM_lxJ34IxMuCkaYvxgSHREJtOqdrVwYTIs2kBRrCTVLFRYBV6ecWiqB4RhtcD4IudZZ8BS7fAaDyz

We sent more films to Tacklewarehouse on Friday morning, so hopefully, they arrive and can be turned around on Tuesday after the holiday.

We appreciate the support fellas. Thank you.

Matt

I heard Nico Raffo does a cameo in the film. Is it true?

Odd. Does that guy still catch fish?

I've watched most of the video by now. It's as legit as you're going to get. Seriously, if anyone wants to know how to catch swimbait fish day in and day out they should pay real close attention to how Matt fishes and his bait selection.

Maybe he should have called it Southern Rat Eaters instead, though :-)

Matt rat

The film just sorta 'came together' at times. I found myself struggling to catch the trout eaters in the summer swelter heat, so I decided to grab a nezumaa rat, and immediately, the fish responded and the film changed, for the 100th time:



http://www.calfishing.com/dc/user_files/8656-matt-peters-soutern-swimbait-nezumaa.jpg

Is that Shasta? Looks like right around the bend from Bridge Bay.

Matt isn't kidding when he used the word "southern". No California fish, or anything remotely close to California :)

That is a lake in the mountains of Appalachia. The Blue Ridge Section of Appalachia to be more precise.

Thank you fellas for the continued support and chatter around the film. Please post whatever you thought about the film, good or bad. I'm thrilled with these comments that are popping up on the internet from these brave souls who took the leap and bought the film and posted online about it.

I've been called old, an incessant blabberer, a granola (my personal favorite) and a little silly for the music I choose, but even those responses included super flattering comments about the film, so, that is just awesome. Thank you. I've been getting virtual 'high fives' for a week, and it just feels great.

I want everyone to watch the film because, yes, I want to sell films, but also I want a baseline to have further conversation from. There are themes and topics we breach in the film that require further discussion. Film allows you to do that. YouTube and 3-5 minutes of hard fast and loud miss the mark on discussions that are more than surface deep.

MP

I like Jerry Garcia and David Grisman, got to see them together at the Warfield a few times, GOOD times.............so keep doing what you're doing.........it sounds good to me.;-)

Here's one for the shade,
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ayk_qQw0XZg&feature=related

I hope to adequately contribute to the next film lets just put it that way!! :)

And I will.

So, what are your favorite clips? :)

My favorites:

- Jeremy breaking the line under the dock, the rod flying half overboard and diving on it, then handlining.

- Rob McComas with the epic double hookup on the 9in Slammer. That one fish looked like it was pushing 10.

- All the Slammer hits on the bluff walls.

- Matt kissing the rat lure. Matt, you gotta spend a little more time with the real world and not out in the boat all day 300 days a year :) :) :)

- The guy with the huddleston tatto asking for more free lures. How great is that guy?

- The fact that even though Matt shows the best sight fishing lure and rig ever made for giant bass, people still won't use it because it looks dumb ;)

With all the positive chat/talk about this DVD, I decided to order it!... I should be getting it on Mon/Tue... Can't wait to see it, it's sounds sweet!...

The most impressive fish in the film, in my opinion, is Ryan Thoni, in his "Huddleston Expression Sesssion". In fact, that was the last fish added to the film. In typical Team 85 fashion, Ryan emails me and asks if that fish made the film. This was months after all the footage was supposed to be in for editing. I am like, what are you talking about, I've never seen that footage. So, Ryan re-sends me the footage, and I'm like, wow, that is pretty incredible. To leave the boat, make a cast and use your forward momentum and angle to get the bait way up under the stretch of bluey docks, hook the fish from the crouched position, and get thing under control enough to jump back into the boat and land it, is pretty impressive execution. Ups (check me out, learned a new word in OC) to Jeremy on his camera work.

My favorite and most memorable fish, is without a doubt the brown trout on the Huddleston. That fish was caught in June. It was during the same Arkansas Ozark session where I caught the 8" Triple Trout fish. I wasn't in town long and my boat was under repair, so I had only a few days of real fishing. I literally was swimbait fishing for bass and swimbait fishing for trout in the same day. Morning session/late evening session. I recently caught another good brown on the 8" Huddleston. I don't even want to talk about what I've seen in that river. Talk about river monsters. The brown trout eating a 6" Huddleston, choking the thing, behind a big boulder, just where you'd expect her to be. That was my second attempt at throwing a swimbait out the back of a driftboat. My first attempt I moved a few giant fish, on the 8 & 6" Huddleston, so there was immediate interest from the fish.

The other side to that catch was where I hooked the fish. The Cotter stretch of the river. Here the memorable fish, and notice the building behind me.


http://www.calfishing.com/dc/user_files/8687-peters-matt-swimbait-fishing.JPG



That is my Dad's place, Round House Shoals. It was his office and fly fishing man cave. I hooked the fish infront of my parent house, which is only a few hundred yards upriver. So we hooked it infront of my parents house, and landed it and took pictures where the Big Spring meets the White, at Round House Shoals. There is a ramp at my dad's place where we were taking out, so I hooked that fish at the last possible moment before we needed to slide across the river and take out. Just phenomenal amount of good juju with that fish. Understand that the White River is some of my earliest memory of fishing. I fished there with my mother's folks every summer when I was a boy, and they've both passed sometime ago, so it was really cool to have the river stoke me out like that for the film.

Now, just as the river giveth, the river taketh. Another irony of tide and time. My Dad's place, Round House Shoals, was completely devastated by the floods in N. Arkansas&Missouri this year. The same floods that caused the FLW Tour on Table Rock to be canceled..which changed the course of my tournament season. My Dad's shop is quite simply, gone. There is no building, nothing there anymore. The river took it all. My Dad was able to get some things out before the flood waters took the building, but he lost of ton of stuff he is just sick about. Historical fly fishing pictures, books, flies, rods, reels, and gear that is not replaceable. My dad is a 'historian' of fly fishing, and felt like the curator of this material, and of course feels really awful about losing it. My parents are struggling right now, my mother has MS and that is really depressing and insidious ailment, and its just a tough situation for them both, but especially my mother.

Here are some "before" pictures of Round House Shoals, notice the boat slip/dock in the water too.







http://www.calfishing.com/dc/user_files/8688-DSC_0044_2.JPG


http://www.calfishing.com/dc/user_files/8689-DSC_0054_2.JPG


http://www.calfishing.com/dc/user_files/8690-DSC_0062_2.JPG


http://www.calfishing.com/dc/user_files/8691-DSC_0067_2.JPG

And here are the 'after' shots.



http://www.calfishing.com/dc/user_files/8692-DSC_0083.JPG


http://www.calfishing.com/dc/user_files/8693-DSC_0104.JPG


Here's a good before and after breakdown too. Notice the flagpole, and the building's orientation. I'm standing on the breakwater upriver from the docks. Now, the honest truth of the situation, it might have been a blessing in disguise. Since the building is now gone, my Dad has had some real estate wisdom and a motivated rental opportunity that might work out for the best in the long term for everyone anyway. The river giveth and river taketh.

Before:

http://www.calfishing.com/dc/user_files/8694-DSCN2167.JPG


After:

http://www.calfishing.com/dc/user_files/8695-DSC_0099.JPG

Sorry to hear about your parent's current situation, Matt. That looked like a sweet little set up he had going. I like how he had his desk looking right out the window and you can see people fishing on the docks. Amazing what the river can do. Hope everything works out for them.

Ps. I've watched southern trout eaters probably over five times already. I work from home so it's cool to just have it playing in the background while I work.

Some of my favorite moments so far have been Jeremey breaking his rod, the double hookup and Ryan jumping on the dock was sweet too. One of my favorite lines in the movie was when Jeremey's girlfriend was telling him to let the fish breathe before she'd hold it and he says "it's fine, I do this all the time". Great stuff.

I can't wait to see what other videos you come out with.

"So, what are your favorite clips? :)"

One of my favorite clips is when this dude named Rob Bologna shows off this huge bait that "Mark" made and later when I ask Mark about it, he replies "I don't know what they're talking about" :7 ! LMAO hahahaha

And the 12" Slammer fish off the wall was awesome!

There are a lot of great things about this DVD. The smaller fish on the 12" Slammer shows that BIG baits will catch most sizes of fish; not just big fish. And the DVD shows that you don't need to fish swimbaits in Cali to catch fish on them. Hillbilly bass will eat 12" baits and big rats too:-) !

It will be a eye opener for a lot of people.


Arden

I enjoyed the video and learned a lot.

In the next one I would like to see some structure fishing since we don't have many or any docks on some reservoirs due to state regs. i'm in the midwest and somtimes make trips to south Texas.

Also, other than a mission fish, what other big bait can you fish in heavy cover (brush & standing trees)?

Thanks!
jbone522

All the baits in Matt's film work well in most types of structure and cover. The huddleston works great in shallow grass, brush, trees, whatever. If you can find some lakes with trout, you should be throwing the huddleston. End of discussion. The triple trout and ms slammer work well imitating just about anything and also work well in most shallow cover. Not sure about the rat. I think it mostly imitates... rat :-)

If you aren't around trout at all you *may* want to replace the huddleston with another soft plastic bait which is a little more specific to your local forage. But I'd stick to something in the same genre. In other words soft plastic, mid water column baits that you'd fish exactly like a huddleston. Those Rago lures that won a couple Elite series tournaments last year would be another good option.

Slow sinking soft plastic swimmer + floating wake bait + fast moving hard bait are three main food groups (in that order). I'd stick to them instead of straying to oddball baits such as the mission fish unless there's a really unique situation that calls for it.

Quote of the Decade, Nico Raffo wins the award: "If you can find some lakes with trout, you should be throwing the huddleston. End of discussion."

I recommend the 6" Weedless Trout for heavy cover/structure fishing if deflection and contact make sense, or skip casting makes sense to get way up in there where they are really living. Ken is releasing an 8" Weedless Trout 'soon', I can tell you that.

I'm heading to Okeechobee soon, and my goals there are to expand on grass fishing with bigbaits. The Mission Fish v2.0, the 6&8" weedless Huddies, and floating and neutral hardbaits and boot-tailed softbaits.

I meant to ask, what 'structure' did you have in mind ? What does texas and your midwest lakes have in them? Wood?

MP

Nico also wins the runner up prize for Quote of the Decade: "Slow sinking soft plastic swimmer + floating wake bait + fast moving hard bait are three main food groups (in that order)"

Nico Raffo M.D.
Chairman of the Board
BigBait Nutritionist Society of America (BNSA)

Feeding fish a not-so-balanced diet from the 3 main food groups is recommend by the BNSA.

Yeah stop giving all the secrets away already :P

I guess I should have said heavy cover (brush, standing timber mixed with laydowns).

I'm more of a jig guy so I'm used to getting in the middle of things. I have had some success fishing the mission fish like a jig in this type of stuff.

Should I not worry about getting down in to the cover and try to focus on pulling the fish from the cover? Just slow roll a hudd just above or to the side? My biggest concern is will it be weedless enough since you can't always know that you have a clear path. Is the larger profile enough to get them to come out after the bait?

Thanks for the responses!

Bass over 13lbs in CA are mostly fish eaters.

The forage fish a 13lb bass eats seldom lives right in heavy cover.

13lb+ fish may live in and around heavy cover but it's not
important to cast your fish imitating lure in to that cover to get the bass to bite because they're not anticipating seeing food living down in that cover.

I'm generalizing, but the point is in most cases it's not real important to put a 8inch plus bait in to heavy cover to get bit. Just put it near it and if momma bass wants to eat, she will eat.

Also, most weedless swimbaits suck when it comes to hookup/landing ratio. Basstrix is the only one I throw with any regularity. And I don't use it to catch big bass. Mission fish does get bit by big bass but you lose most bites. I'm sure an 8inch weedless hudd would get bit like crazy but you'd lose most of those bites too.

If you like to get a lot of bites and don't care about losing most of them, knock yourself out.

Got it. Time to change my way of thinking...

The mission fish is a fantastic bait, that produces very large bites. But it's really just a glorified texas rigged worm. It doesn't exercise many new muscles in the fishes brains, and it won't give you access to many fish you couldn't have caught on what you're already throwing.

Throwing the large baits Matt showed in his video... The huddleston, 9" slammer, and 10" triple trout are definitely a whole new program that most fish haven't seen before.

Also, everything Rob said above is dead on.

Just watched the clip of Jeremy trainwrecking, snapping line, losing big fish and throwing his rod int he boat, and getting line caught in the prop.

That was fun to film.

im glad my misery and tragedy was fun for you to film. I still wonder how big that fish was.

four pounds. haha.

for my sake, I hope it was only 4.