Thanks to you guys, i have been on a pretty good swimbait bite here in Austin. I've been throwing dark Rainbow and Strong Red Slammers in the evening and at night over the grass. The largest fish so far is 6lbs, but it's amazing to see a 14 inch fish hit a 7 inch bait. I got on a good Huddleston bite and followers last wednesday evening. I learned to wait until the fish loaded up on the bait before i set the hook. Here's the question, I have had a number of big followers probably 8 to 12 lbs. They come all the way to the boat swimming either under the bait or shoulder to shoulder. Have any of you guys used the figure 8 patterns that muskie fishermen use to attract a strike at the boat? I had a guy in Austin tell me to try that......thought i'd go to the sources.

That's very promising your getting followers that big that are tailing it, or shoulder to shoulder. The general rule for followers, and how close they are to biting, is simple, the closer they are, the more aggressive they are. Usually when I get one thats tailing it shoulder to shoulder, she ends up striking. Your SO close to having one of those fish engulf it. As far as figure 8's, it might be worth a short although, everytime I mess with the retrieve when they are following they seem to loose interest, although I haven't had that many times where I've seen a fish shoulder to shoulder to my bait. My only other thought on figure 8's, is how would you do that without spooking her? Overall, I think your best bet is to just keep making long casts. Eventually she's gonna engulf it. The only time varying the retrieve has worked for me is just speeding it up right when they get real close, everytime they seem to speed up and nip at it, thats only if they are real close. If they are following 6 feet away, those fish seem impossible. That would be interesting to see some big bass being caught on huddlestons in non-trout waters. Unless this texas place has trout? Either way, pretty sweet. And take my advice with a grain of salt, I'm no Rob Belloni :-)

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Ive never tried it, nor have I heard of anybody trying it. If it works around here, nobody is talking about it. Which is grounds enough to at least try it.

Personally, Ive never been able to get followers to commit. The only thing Ive done is kept tossing the bait, remember the spot, then returned later to see if the fish were in the mood to feed. And keep returning, even another day. Ive had good success leaving a spot then coming back multiple times.

What color Hudd have you been using?

Keep us posted of your adventures.

I have caught some smaller fish using the figure 8 but rarely do it any more. I just don't have the confidence that I'm not going to spook the fish. The technique that I use the most if I'm throwing a sinking bait is once I see the fish, I stop wonding and throw slack in the line to make as hard of an angle change as possibel to imitate the trout trying to escape. I've had a lot of heavyweights eat the bait just feet from the boat when I kill the bait. Experiment and see what works for you.