[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lOb03lrPJD8]

I’m not a great trout fisherman, and I haven’t spent as much time with the Huddle-Bug as I’d like to speak with any super authority on the bait, but let me tell you, I’m learning in hurry.  Brown trout are notoriously tough fish to catch.   They are very smart and very spooky and very well in tuned with their natural environment.  They are easily spooked and require an excellent presentation to catch.   It’s been said, catching a 10 pound brown trout is much more difficult than catching a 10 pound bass.  All I know is, I really like crossing over, cross over fishing intrigues me.  Taking swimbait and freshwater applications and applying them to other species and salty waters.

The Huddle Bug by Ken Huddleston
You know what they say: "Huddle-Bugs of a feather..." Ken Huddleston's Huddle-Bug, realism in the crustacean kind

So, here is the Huddle-Bug in a nut-shell.  Very very real.  Very real movement and look in the water.   The Huddle Bug Jig Head fits the bait perfectly and is a combo ‘pea’ and skakey head with a screw lock to make sure your bait rigs and fishes true.  If a man knew where a bunch of big smallmouth and spotted bass lived (not to excluded largemouth at all!) I think he could get well in a hurry with these baits.  Deep fish that eat small jigs, or shallow water, river fish that you have to use finesse jigs and craw presentations.   Not the ‘stroking a jig’ style of fish, but the slowly creep, and pop/hop  style of fish.  The fish that are eating by sight, by realism and by instinct.

White River Ozarks Brown Trout on the Huddle-bug
Brown Trout are a litmus test of sorts, because browns are often said to be one of the most difficult fish to fool. Just ask a fly fisherman. Catching a brown and the other looks I had in 2 separate "stalking sessions" is all I needed to see to say, "yep, this bait is legit".

This brown trout is NOT a bedding brown or a ‘red’ as they call them.    This is a pre-spawn brown trout, and if you really want to try some really cool fishing, you walk softly along the banks of the White River near Cotter, Arkansas and you look for browns hunkered down, just sitting and occassionally feeding, but sitting really calmly, hardly moving or giving themselves away. If you can spot them, and you make a good presentation, you can catch these fish.  The Huddle-Bug catches them.  The browns showed immediate interest and well, this is just the beginning of this game too.   You’ll notice in the above photo montage/animation the “stalk up on them” cast, throw upstream, and drift of the bait into the fish’s feeding lane and getting the fish to eat with a natural presentation/hop/slide.

My setup:

Bait:  The Huddle Bug  (match whatever color of crawfish you believe the fish are eating, where ever you happen to be fishing)

Jig Head:  The Huddleston Jig Head

Rod:  Shimano Cumara 7’2″ M Action Spinning Rod  (CUS72M)

Reel:   Shimano Stradic C14 Spinning Reel (STC142500F)

Main Line:   Power Pro, 15#

Leader:   Yamamoto Sugoi Florocarbon 10#  (double uni knot to Main Line/braid)

The rigged Huddle-bug
The rigged Huddle-Bug on the Huddle-bug Jig Head, built to fit perfectly and compliment the bait. Screw lock holds the bait secure and make sure your bait fishes and trackes true. I like to 'texpose' and come out like the picture above, then tuck the hook point back under a little skin and cover it, but make it really easy to expose. In some cases, just leave it exposed even.
White River Brown Trout Sight Fishing with a Huddle-Bug
18 inches of Joy. The White River, near Cotter, Arkansas, the "new" new proving grounds. Truth in fishing. Cross over fishing proves truths that transcend species and fresh and salt boundaries.
Undeside of the Huddle-bug
Underside Huddle-Bug Etouffee