oh sorry, I forgot to read where you said what rod it was. Yeah, sounds like the problem is not that it's too soft :) It could be like Mickey said, it's too stiff and it's jerking the bait out. I don't mean to sound like a broken record, but the Rainshadow SW976 really is the perfect swimbait rod for 7 to 9" type baits like the huddleston IMO. It's strong but at the same time it's not stiff. If the Rainshadow guys would make a production rod out of that blank I think they could sell a ton of them.