southernswimbait.com proudly presents, an inside look at Mickey Ellis and the 3:16 Lure Company. I was in Southern California the Summer of 2011, and had a chance to reconnect with Mickey Ellis while I was there. I hadn’t seen or talked to Mickey in almost 10 years. I sat down with Mickey and got a lot of his perspectives, insights, and thoughts on a range of topics. The first and most important thing I realized, was an attempt to educate folks on who is Mickey Ellis and the 3:16 Lure Company? How did he start getting into creating swimbaits and why? The Mission Fish is a literal product of this journey as you’ll hear.
You will have to be patient, because there is a lot of footage I’m trying to process and synthesize that I’m going to be including in my future projects. For example, wouldn’t it be interesting to hear Mickey Ellis, Ken Huddleston, and Scott Whitmer respond to the same question(s), to get 3 different points of view from 3 very accomplished bigbaitsmen? Or is that too dramatic and controversial? There are other folks I’d like to engage, but I haven’t gotten there yet. These things take time.
My 2012 tournament season gives me a great opportunity to focus on some things that have been on my mind for some time. Add the 8″ Huddleston Deluxe Weedless Trout (I hope) and Mickey’s Version 2.0 Mission Fish (I hope), and we are on new ground. Whether or not you believe in salvation, or believe in the idea of ‘Providence’ —it doesn’t matter, what matters is the conversation about catching more and bigger fish and taking bigbait fishing to new places, or applying bigbaits in new ways, and contributing to the “conversation”.
How can I have a conversation about bigbait fishing, realism, softbait vs. hardbait, grass swimbait fishing, baby bass, bluegill, frogs, terrestrials, trout baits--- and not include 3:16 Lure Company and Mickey Ellis? "He who does not see the hand of God in this is blind, sir, blind!" Confederate General Stonewall Jackson.
The Cox Family is from Cotton Valley, Louisiana, and their style of singing marries bluegrass, gospel and country. I would have guessed they were from North Carolina, but was surprised to read they are from Louisiana. Even cooler. This is a performance from the Down from the Mountain project, which if your keeping track, is the second song (the other performance is the Gillian Welch/David Rawlings tune called ‘Dear Someone’) that I’m recommending you give a listen to. The Project celebrates the music that ultimately was integrated into “O Brother Where Art Thou“. I am the least educated person in the world when it comes to the church. Out West, the Church is nowhere near the part of the lifestyle and culture that you find in the MidWest and South. The little exposure to the Church that I’ve had, one thing has always resonated with me: the music. I definitely enjoy the styles of music that are played with acoustic instruments and are played on back porches, around campfires and in the Church. Music that doesn’t need a computer to play or master. More like, grab a seat, grab an instrument or just sing along. The vocals are incredible. Harmony in music? Amazing but true! Voice and music from on High.
More of that High Lonesome bluegrass sound, but the Cox Family mixes in a gospel flavor that makes the Heavens sing when they play
The above video clip walks you thru the “Supernova” that hit the Tennessee River Valley while I was on Kentucky Lake, for the 2011 FLW Outdoors Everstart Championship. My practice partner, Troy Anderson, won the tournament on the Co-Angler side. I blew up a lower unit on Day 2 and forfeited a month of practice and preparation. I stayed after the tournament (got the lower unit fixed under warranty, thank you Yamaha) to spend some time throwing and exploring the Alabama Rig. The Supernova continues, and who knows where it will take us and the universe of fishing. Stay tuned for more, and updates around the Big Hammer and Retriever Rig Partnership, as we eluded to in the video clip.
Here is the gear we feature in our video clip, The Alabama Rig Supernova:
I was humbled and flattered to get an invite to the 2011 Ranger Advantage Tour. The event was 2 days, and gave me a chance to see the Ranger Boats ‘family’. Besides getting great insights into Ranger Boats, the 5 Star Advantage Program, and what is new with the products and marine industry products that are installed on Ranger Boats, it was a chance to test drive boats on the lake and also get a tour of the Ranger Boats Factory.
Ranger Boats was more than accommodating, and put on one heck of an event. The tour of the factory, or the ‘plant tour’ as it was called was off the charts. I mean, like getting to walk and get a tour of the Chevy assembly line or something. They welcomed pictures and video, and I did my best to keep up with tour group, because there was a lot to take in and observe. Imagine how few business welcome folks to come on in, video our plant, and just have their clients, business partners, competitors ( you know it happens ), etc just walk thru and take it all in. That speaks to confidence in what you do and how you do it. I really enjoyed the event, and was great to get exposed to what is going on in the industry.
The Ranger Boats Advantage Tour = Dealers, Professional Angers, the Marine Industry getting together as a 'family' and touching bases and looking forward to 2012 and beyond
Watch the above video and see how a 3″ Big Hammer with a 1/4 oz. Hammer Head swims, at both normal speeds and with the aid of slow motion. There is an incredible amount of ‘rocking’ and rolling the body of the bait does, and the tail itself does a lot of twisting and recoiling. The Big Hammer Square Tailed Swimbait is a fish catcher.
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.
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.
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)
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.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.Underside Huddle-Bug Etouffee
