IMHO, the Chatter Bait is one of the most versitile baits out there. I have caught them shallow, deep, on docks, in weeds. What is your take and what size, colors do you prefer? Where/when do you like to throw one?
I make my own and like throwing them the most in water with some color and lots of shallow cover.
My favorite is during the fall when the shad feed is on, a big white thumpin' chatterbait with a big white trailer brings the big ones to it.
Had great luck last summer and fall with a white skirt and white Rage Structure Bug trailer.
I still need to get into them.... Really want to try them more though!
I have treid them a number of times with no success. I must be doing something wrong. How do you find as the best way to fish them?
On 2/13/2015 at 8:13 PM, Catch and Grease said:I still need to get into them.... Really want to try them more though!
Same here.
The Chatterbait and other variations are simply alternatives to spinnerbaits.
Perhaps the biggest difference, at least for me, is the trailer. I generally do not
use a trailer on a spinnerbait, but always on a Chatterbait.
All brands can be fished at different depths and speeds, but I find the Rage Blade to be
best for a slow, bottom ticking presentation. I really like the Wobble Head that Bluebasser86
makes, too. As a HUGE fan of Siebert Outdoors I'm embarassed to say I have overlooked
his Fogy, but will be fishing it this spring. http://www.siebertoutdoors.com/Fogy_c20.htm
I have caught a fish here and there on them- many more saltwater than bass- but I really want to throw them more this year. Truthfully, the problem for me used to be I couldn't stand the quality of the original chatterbait, wouldn't pay the price for a booyah one, and the SK pure poison just disappeared from the shelves.
Now there are lots of high quality options and I want to throw them alot more!
Brett Hite has a lot of good interviews about his chatter bait setups after he won on O last year.
FLW podcast - http://www.flwoutdoors.com/fishing-articles/155627/flw-podcast-episode-15/#.VN4G5GjF8s8
Mark Zona -
Ike Live -
Do you attach it to your line on top or underneath the blade? I can never remember
I just started fishing chatterbaits this Fall. I'm throwing a 3/8 oz ZMan Original (sharpening the hook) on a medium/fast Avid. A ton of fun to fish with different retrieves and trailers, and it seems to me more versatile than a spinnerbait.
3/8 oz Zman original in green pumpkin black with a Lake Fork boot tail live magic shad in baby bass as the trailer
On 2/13/2015 at 11:33 PM, Preytorien said:Do you attach it to your line on top or underneath the blade? I can never remember
On top so that the blade is pushed down in the water.
On 2/13/2015 at 8:19 PM, Chief 2 said:I have treid them a number of times with no success. I must be doing something wrong. How do you find as the best way to fish them?
On 2/13/2015 at 8:19 PM, Chief 2 said:I have treid them a number of times with no success. I must be doing something wrong. How do you find as the best way to fish them?
I always treat a chatter-bait almost like the jig of spinner-baits. I do not get a ton of bites but when I do, they are good ones. Honestly there aren't too many ways to throw it wrong, just keep fishing it like you would any other moving bait, crash into//out of things and with time you'll get those key confidence fish.
On 2/14/2015 at 12:53 AM, corn-on-the-rob said:I always treat a chatter-bait almost like the jig of spinner-baits. I do not get a ton of bites but when I do, they are good ones. Honestly there aren't too many ways to throw it wrong, just keep fishing it like you would any other moving bait, crash into//out of things and with time you'll get those key confidence fish.
Thanks!
On 2/14/2015 at 12:29 AM, roadwarrior said:On top so that the blade is pushed down in the water.
You might want to try it the other way, just for the fun of it.
Oh man I love chatterbaits.I got back into bass fishing,in 2013,and found out about chatterbaits,and started throwing them.One night in Sept.,I was fishing with a guy I just met.He was throwing a spinnerbait,I was using a chatterbait.I was tearing them bass up,he was catching nothing.Back in the 80's when I fished tournaments,a spinnerbait was my go to lure.In the last two years,I threw a spinnerbait 2x.That's how much I love a chatterbait.
The bladed jig has changed the way I fish for sure! I catch so many fish on them in the dirty waters of the Mississippi river its incredible. I can go out almost any day and catch a few fish on them. If nothing else it gives me confidence to fish slower in areas once I start catching a few. I've caught my biggest fish to date on it and usually my biggest fish each year comes on one. My favorite way to fish is to just parallel grass lines and shallow rock. Usually I reel just barely fast enough to make the blade work. Its also really deadly around stumps in current. I've caught a ton of fish throwing them in clear lakes around lily pads, just not something I fish very often. I prefer black and red colors for dirty water and more natural looking for cleaner water. A 4" big bite baits disco worm is my favorite trailer to use most of the time, but in the spring, I really like a rage craw.
These are and my favorite colors: black/cherry, black/blue, Mississippi river magic and Blue shimmer cotton candy!
Has anyone tried the molix lover? Rattles one? In comparison to average chatterbaits?
On 2/13/2015 at 10:50 AM, jtmavs said:IMHO, the Chatter Bait is one of the most versitile baits out there. I have caught them shallow, deep, on docks, in weeds. What is your take and what size, colors do you prefer? Where/when do you like to throw one?
I agree that they're a pretty versatile bait. I catch fish on them in all water colors, around all different kinds of cover/structure, water depths, and in a wider range of water temps than I think most people probably fish them. I also use a few different retrieves but for the most part a slow, steady retrieve is my most successful. I fish them just fast enough that I get the blade vibrating, a lot of times it will even be bumping along the bottom. Another good retrieve is stroking it or pumping it off the bottom. I fish with 3/8oz 90% of the time. I make my own so I really get to play with colors a lot, especially since I started painting the blades also. Some of my favorites are;
Green pumpkin/black blade
Baby gill
Black and blue
This color I call spicy shad, kind of a firetiger, with a black blade.
and this one I call Sexy Momma
Some of the biggest fish that have been caught on my baits have been caught on my crappie color.
Black on black is a really good color.
Pink and chartreuse (funky chicken) seems to do well during the summer months after fish have been seeing different variations of white/chartreuse for months.
I just started making a chartreuse shad color that got fished for the first time Friday, I think it's going to be a hit
Also excited to try out my new T-rock color.
I have dozens of other colors in a Plano box of nothing but bladed jigs, but one of those colors will catch a fish anywhere if they're at all interested in bladed jigs.
I throw them in tidal rivers or on points and in shallow areas of lakes.
Tidal rivers produce more positive results than lakes.
As for colors, white and white/chartreuse are my favorites/.
I always use a trailer hook on my Chatterbait presentations along with a trailer.
I also like black blades.
Oh man chatterbaits are amazing! I caught my biggest bass of 7lb 15oz off of a zman chatterbait in the white/chartruese colorway. Put some keitech trailers on them and they are killer! All white and white chartruese are my favorite colors.
Bluebasser - Those are some good looking color combos!
Has anyone tried the molix lover chatterbaits?
Man I like that elec/chicken color. .... I'd love to throw one of those at some speckled trout!
On 2/16/2015 at 4:13 AM, jtmavs said:Bluebasser - Those are some good looking color combos!
Thanks! I'm a little obsessive with them so a lot of tinkering goes into getting the colors just like I want them. The end results have been great though.
On 2/16/2015 at 1:25 PM, kikstand454 said:Man I like that elec/chicken color. .... I'd love to throw one of those at some speckled trout!
Funny because there's another member that uses it for snook and does really well. I'd think they'd be great for redfish. I've never fished for them but just the way they seem to like shallow, stained water and respond to baits with flash and thump seems like it would be a great option for them.
On 2/14/2015 at 12:29 AM, roadwarrior said:On top so that the blade is pushed down in the water.
Huh appears I've been fishing it the opposite way.......Still catching fish but now I have something else to work on this year.
Preytorien, on 13 Feb 2015 - 09:33 AM, said:
On 2/13/2015 at 11:33 PM, Preytorien said:Do you attach it to your line on top or underneath the blade? I can never remember
On 2/14/2015 at 12:29 AM, roadwarrior said:On top so that the blade is pushed down in the water.
Oops!
This is totally INCORRECT. The Chatterbait is attached UNDER the blade, not on top.
My appologies.
-Kent
That great feed back guys!! I needed to know some stuff too since I just bought a few!
Good info guys. My question, is the trailer, (heard LFT paddletail) any others, (Keitech?) and what size do you use, that is size of bait(heard 3/8) and trailer? Thx.
My best last year was a Rage Tail Structure Bug rigged horizontal (white on white).
I am trying some DOA swimbaits. There cheap and look great. In s pinch I always reach for keitech but there spendy and not very durable.
Yamamoto swimbaits.
Havoc Grass Pig Jr or Beat Shads are good trailers without breaking the bank.
Looks like TW has asked Zman for some custom chatter baits which look to be of good quality. Seems they finally made a well built chatterbait. I'll wait for the reviews before they get any of my $$.