I made it down to the Bassathon in Anaheim by 7:00 this morning. There were not as many vendors with lures as I was hoping for, I was told over 350 on the phone but it did not seem like that many at all. It seemed like a good event and there were a lot of cool people there. I was mostly looking for swimbaits and hoping the 1-up from 3:16 would be available but never saw them. Their was a sample of the True tungsten trout swimbait and they were taking orders. I was also hoping to see the Rock Hard Castaic swimbait but never found it. I Bought 2 Lucky Craft 8" swimbaits in trout for about 50.00 a piece and was kind of suprised to see how wide the joints were when I took it out of the box. The packaging holds the joints close together but when you take them out they become a little wide for my taste. I also picked up some Mattlures shad which seem pretty cool. I had heard rumors about a Huddleston Bass and 6" swimbait but never saw them either but their were plety of Hudds hanging just inside the door. I fish swimbaits almost exclusively and was really just looking for those. I also made it to the Fred Hall show this year and did not find a single swimbait that I did not already have in fact not many swimbaits at all. I wonder If I could go to ICAST next year being that I am not a vendor. It seemed from the Tackletour site their was a lot of cool new swimbaits there. Bassathon was not what I was hoping for but I have to give kudos to those who put it on and helped make it happen. I have been getting bit consistently on swimbaits from johnscrankbait. He makes them custom for me and I think they have better action than anything I have seen so far. He utilizes 5 to 6 joints and keeps the spaces between them small and I feel they have a much more fluid action than other lures I have seen. He makes them in whatever size and colors I want and I am very impressed with them. I nailed a 6 and 4 1/2 yesterday and was out for about 2 1/2 hrs, guess I will stick to Johns lures, The Hudd and hopefully a 1-up when I can get one.
Peace Rich

i was there also and i had no business being there!!....after placing that order with TW earlier this week.

i am now having buyers remorse:-( ...really i am and i dont like it!
anyway, i managed to get 2 of the 6 inch huds, those went real fast!!! you were only allowed 2 of them.

i got 2 three packs of matts minnows, 2 little anthonys along with weighted hooks....i grabbed a tylure injured shad that had a cool little prop but after awhile put it back, started to get that feeling like what the hell am i doing!
also grabbed 3 5packs of basstrix paddle tails tube baits, you were limited to 3 packs only....
also grabbed a 7 inch triple trout and had no idea what it cost till i got to the register ;( ...
grabbed a tube of mega strike....a tube of mend-it but put it back after telling myself what the hell are you doing!!! i just ordered some other glue from TW!!
i also got a castaic rock hard series you know that new one, but after walking around, i heard that voice again! so i put it back...damn it!!! by the way the floaters were the first to go...did you know they are made in mexico?
the punkers...oh my! i only picked it up and quickly put it back but i went back 3 times and almost put it in my basket,,,yeah, the voice!!
right down from the punkers was the guide select rods, so i grabbed one and blocked out the voice...hehe

you see i was only going to go to that event if work was slow, im on the graveyard shift right now, and it was, doh! so i left work at 4am and got to the event at 530am and there was about 15 guys there.

as you know i am just getting into the freshwater bass swimbait fishing.
i am familiar with the saltwater swimbait fishing. so it was really wierd being around all the different swimbaits, it was cool tho as i have only scene them on the web.

i saw the rouge swimbait rods for 169.00, that was a sale says the guy pushing the rod, but the voice told me no!

so i went with that guide select.

i think those bait boxes are crazy over priced 20 to 25 bucks!
ill make my own.

anyway as bad as feel i had a good time. saw skeet reese with his wierd yellow shoes, good lord!..haha

you know how much they charged me for the 6 inch huds? 25 bucks, didnt know that till i got to the register, where was my fn voice then!! they sure do look awesome tho..



i cant believe what i did this past week all these baits i bought today plus a slammer, matt trout, matt red ear, wag tail, and baitsmith still in the mail....im feeling queasy, i dont like it...

i didnt have a good time as said eralier....i had a great time!!
maybe ill feel better if i can go catch something on these baits!!

so, 3 hundy later i am home and feeling really bad!!!
i need to go take a nap ( :-(

Maybe I should have spent more time there I missed the 6" Hudds and the Triple Trouts and the Castaic Rock hards. I only spent about 30 minutes there I thought I hit every isle, oh well it was pretty crowded and I dont have nearly as much pack drive as i do prey drive so I was anxious to boogie. I fished the Lucky Craft 8" swimbait today for about 6 casts. I thought the action was lame it had a decent side to side swim but a left to right roll that did not look at all natural to me. I would not reccomend the lure. Oh well I spent about 150.00 and still made the lake by 12:30.
Rich

The Rock Hards were around 3 tables down the aisle from the lucky crafts. I picked up the 10 inch Rock Hard Slow Sink and 2 bottles of Mend-it. Looking back I probably should have bought some of the x-treme reel lubricant to help maintain my reels.

The custom painted Lunker Punkers were INSANE!!! Black Dog baits also had their go-2 minnow there along with their weedless soft plastic baits and a 3 piece lipless trout. They all looked good but resisted the urge to drop any money on them.

I overheard Ken Huddleston saying the 6 inch Hudds were basically gone at opening. I didn't even see one for display which would have been nice.

I was looking for larger swimbaits so the mattlures booth didn't have as much appeal to me but those shads he had there looked real good. Definately check them out if you are in the market for the smaller shad baits.

22nd century baits was there too selling the triple trouts and they had a bluegill bait that was running $69.99 which was a little expensive for my tastes. The bait looked interesting though

There was definately an abundance of lures to look at. Most of the booths were swimbait related. Or maybe since I was there mainly to look at swimbaits that is what I remember seeing. They had a nice selection of the dobyns rods there including the 795ML swimbait rod, the 806 ML swimbait rod and the 807 swimbait rod. If they would have had some kind of special on them I would have picked up the 795 but will wait to get it from my local shop.

For my first bass-a-thon I WAS NOT disappointed. I hope to be back next year... with more money...

Erik

________________________________

Pretending to be a swimbait fisherman since 2001.

anyone wanna tell me where the hudd booth is at so i can run in extremely fast? :D

thanks

Shane

>anyone wanna tell me where the hudd booth is at so i can run
>in extremely fast? :D
>
>thanks

I will....as soon as you walk in, go straight ahead to the wall then hang a left, you can only go left. Then go straight down about 30 feet and he is on the left. Daiwa is right across from him and booyaa clothing is right next to him.

ty so much :)

Shane

170 6" Hudds were gone in less than 15 minutes. That was all they had for the entire show... The line went from the booth out the door of the shop and who knows how much further. Glad I got mine when the door opened :)

Threw both the 6" ROF5 and ROF12 in the pool when I got home. I can't wait to go fish with it. Its going to get wrecked :)

Matt this thing has your name written all over it! Spot killer!

I liked the show. I dont like sitting all day so I got up and walked around a lot. I also checked out the Luckycraft. I was actualy thinking of buying one but after seeing how bad the little one swam I just could dump $50 on one. I dont know how anybody couuld miss the Castaic booth. First row right in the middle. Must have been crowded when you came through.
Nicco you should not have put back the Mend-it. EVERYBODY who throws swimbaits should have this stuff, its that good. There were a lot of cool things to look at. I bought a cool Japanese buzzbait and the extreme reel lube. When my reel sponsor(OKUMA) recomends a lube to me I listen. I am always amazed at the paintjobs on the Vagabonds. Have you guys seen those things? DAMN! I mean the Black Dog baits are beatiful and Jeremy is an artist but those Vagabonds are in a class all by themselvs.
Next year I will release some of my secret stuff. Big baits and hard baits, and big hardbaits. I will not be playing for second place }(

www.mattlures.com

your right Matt I have come across the popularity of Mend-it as I read through more forums and archives across the web. I'm trying to gain as much knowledge as I can. Man, there's plenty out there too.
So many opinions and views, I just need to get out and give it a try.
I'm going out to throw some of your baits tomorrow for the first time...ever!
:)