Chatterbait

[TheLefthander]

I spent the winter in East Texas and the Chatterbait is one of the hottest baits they use down there. Especially white, 3/8, trimmed with white Twin Tails or something like that. Are lots of folks around Michigan using them also?

[djkimmel]

Largemouth AND smallmouth bass like the various blade jigs. I like them too because the bass like them. I've used them in muddy water in Michigan and in real clear water. Caught some big smallies up north on them.

[FishermanJohn]

I also use the 3/8 as an alternative to a spinnerbait both slow roll and subsurface and had success across water clarity and temperatures.  I've not really tried it as a bottom-oriented jig presentation tough.

[fiker]

They are also a great Pike bait.

[customfishn]

I dont think I have given them enough time but all I catch on them is pike. 

[TheLefthander]

Was kind of afraid they would be too enticing to pike, but going to try them anyway. Caught some serious hogs in East Texas on them, and they are so easy to use.

[djkimmel]

If you're fishing around weeds in Michigan and the other Great Lakes states, you're going to catch some pike. But you'll catch some big bass too! I've caught some big smallies on the blade jigs too! Can't complain about a lure that catches lots of bass even if it does catch some other critters.

[Frank]

pike don't bite certain lures more than others do to the same reasons other fish do.  Very few people know the exact reasons they attack some lures more than others.  I will try to explain why pike react the way they do.  Take two identical crank baits bought for $2 at your local store.  Send one lure to get a custom paint job in Japan.  Have it painted to look exactly the way it already does.  Now you have $25 invested in the paint job and another $25 in shipping charges.  When you get it back you will have a $52 crank bait.  Troll both lures in exactly the same way at exactly the same time.  The $52 crank bait WILL out fish the $2 crank bait by exactly 26 to 1.  Pike have a very acute sense of value in the food they eat.  I have studied this for many years and have never found it to be false.

Frank

[Got Fish??]

I like the chatter bait early in the spring, I like to throw them up on shallows, on the edge of a deep brakes. Working the bait out and over the edge for suspended fish. 

[djkimmel]

pike don't bite certain lures more than others do to the same reasons other fish do.  Very few people know the exact reasons they attack some lures more than others.  I will try to explain why pike react the way they do.  Take two identical crank baits bought for $2 at your local store.  Send one lure to get a custom paint job in Japan.  Have it painted to look exactly the way it already does.  Now you have $25 invested in the paint job and another $25 in shipping charges.  When you get it back you will have a $52 crank bait.  Troll both lures in exactly the same way at exactly the same time.  The $52 crank bait WILL out fish the $2 crank bait by exactly 26 to 1.  Pike have a very acute sense of value in the food they eat.  I have studied this for many years and have never found it to be false.

Frank

I'm completely agree with your theory, hypotheses or whatever we want to call it. Every time I throw a valuable bass lure on Lake Ovid, I get bit off by a muskie!

[Skulley]

The chatterbait is a versatile bait.  I catch fish on them year round.  I don't think there is a bad time to throw that bait.  It's a spinnerbait, crankbait, jig and pig all in one.  You can fish them that way too.........like a spinnerbait, crankbait, or a jig and pig. The chatterbait is a lure you should always have in your box. No matter how you dress it, you can catch fish with it.


BD                        

[blakstr1]

I always have a chatterbait tied on, been fortunate to catch a lot of fish on them, both LM & SM

[dashaver63]

Watermelon color has worked really well for me in the past on weedlines down here in Ohio. I don't throw spinnerbaits any more.

[Skulley]

Watermelon color has worked really well for me in the past on weedlines down here in Ohio. I don't throw spinnerbaits any more.

I don't know if not ever throwing a Spinnerbait is a good idea. I've seen where bass wouldn't even look at a Chatterbait and clobber a Spinnerbait and vice versa.



BD.                           

[dashaver63]

Watermelon color has worked really well for me in the past on weedlines down here in Ohio. I don't throw spinnerbaits any more.

I don't know if not ever throwing a Spinnerbait is a good idea. I've seen where bass wouldn't even look at a Chatterbait and clobber a Spinnerbait and vice versa.




BD.                          

Its just because I can work the chatterbait alot more effectively around the weedy cover, plus these fish where I go seem to want a much more compact presentation than a spinner bait would give. I'm sure a spinnerbait in more open water would be better at times, I just haven't found that in the places I fish.

[detroit1]

Frank, your ideas are appealling to me and i would like to subscribe to your newsletter.....