"Flippin' the Bird"

        With so many new realistic Hollow Body Frog Baits coming out lately, you might have forgotten about this frog bait with an attitude. No frog collection is complete without "Flippin' the Bird". It's really in a class of its own. 

In spring/summer wherever there's tules, you will see the easily identifiable Red Winged Black Birds. And Flippin' the Bird is a perfect rendition of these flying Mc Nuggets. I've had real RWBB's swooping down at me thinking I had one of there own on my line, more than once.

Casting into the tules, making a big commotion, and the baits tendency to right itself in the water is usually all that is needed to elicit a strike. 

It can be used at night to represent a downed bat. 

I like to trim the rubber strands to the shape of wings and a split tail to further its bird like appeal. 

This bait will stand out when the frog bite is in full swing at your local waters. It's definitely a classic!

Hudds don't just mimic trout

                When it comes to big swimbaits like the Huddleston, I notice people will say, "we don't have trout in our waters, so they won't work".

Just because there are no trout in your waters, don't let that stop you from throwing a Hudd. Whatever types of fish you have that grow to the 8" size can be mimicked or suggested. 

Bass are opportunistic feeders and if they scrutinized food by demographics, etc. before eating, they wouldn't be productive hunters. The "reaction strike" is what makes them productive and having a large mouth doesn't hurt. 

"Don't think too much". Whenever we start eliminating possibility, we do just that. 

Where I live in Ca. many of the tackle shops do not carry the perch color or version of lures because they don't nessesarily inhabit waters this far west, and through experience, they know lures of this type do not sell well. Common knowledge of local fish species has led to this belief. For this reason, I look for perch colored baits online and fish them knowing they're the least chosen out of all the color/paterns offered in particular baits. We do have carp, suckers, chubs, and Sac pike. And the perch color/pattern can pass for these other types of fish. 

In bass fishing, "match the hatch" is important when the bass are keying in on an abundant food source. A trout stocking, a Shad spawn, Crayfish mating ritual, or chasing a school of baitfish. The rest of the time it's a matter of opportunity and doesn't nessesarily apply.

I had noticed the suckers were spawning at a particular lake, so I thought about mimicking them. The males will sport a dark horizontal strip down their sides at this time. They flock to current, so I figured big bass would be ambushing them on their way to the creek inlets and outlets. After adding a stripe to match look, I set up near the outlet. Second cast, I swam it past a little rock wall and it got hammered. I don't even think the stripe was all that important. More so to me than the bass anyway. The key was finding an ambush spot where a big predator could lie in wait.

So what I'm getting at is, just because there are no trout in your waters, you can still throw a Hudd. Now if there are no 8" fish, then that's another thing. And if that's the case, I would look for better water to fish. 

The Long Nose Sucker bares a distinctive stripe during the spawn.

A black sharpie was used to add stripes on the top and sides.