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  1. #1
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    I don't get chatterbaits

    One of the things I committed to this year was to learn how to fish chatterbaits. I have heard that it should be fished when you would fish spinnerbait. What I don't get is that a spinnerbait is about as weedless as a moving bait gets. It slides through grass pretty easily. Chatterbaits, on the other hand seem to be designed to pick up weeds. The blade and the head form a v shaped shovel that seem to be designed to trap grass. In some grass, I can rip it through but most grass, I am constantly fighting the weeds. I find that I am fishing much higher in the water column to stay above the weeds. With a spinnerbait, I fell like I can be partly in the grass and still have a good retrieve most of the time.

    What do I need to do here? I know that others and the pros are killing them on the bladed jigs.

  2. Dogfish_Jones
    Guest
    #2
    I fish chatterbaits many different ways. I may slow roll it, I might use it like a jig, I may use it in a stop and go fashion. I will burn it near the top of the water.
    i usually will add a split tail trailer to it. I had to commit to using it until I got some confidence in it, once I did that I found myself some days never putting it down. My favorite color is the white / chartreuse with a white trailer. I might go full chartreuse or blue/black if the water is muddy.
    Once you catch a few on it you will begin to gain that confidence that it can be what the fish will want instead of a spinner bait.

  3. Member
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    Sep 2007
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    #3
    I throw chatterbaits though weeds all the time. I pick up maybe a few more weeds on them than a spinnerbait but nothing to make me switch baits. I use Yum Wooly bullee's as a trailer. I now have more confidence throwing a chatterbait than a spinnerbaits. I just reel slowly when I want to get it deeper. I also find a chatterbait effective in dropping it when I get to an open area of the weeds.

    I get many good fish on them. On Chautauqua, the biggest downside of throwing both spinnerbaits and chatterbaits are the darn musky. I lose more baits to musky biteoffs. But I did land a 47" musky a couple weeks back on a bluegill chatterbait with a green pumpkin Wooly bullee trailer in 3-4'of water no less. Because of the musky, I tend to throw CB later in the season when the musky has moved to deeper water.

    So get some confidence in chatterbaits, adjust your speed accordingly, shake off the weeds when needed and catch some fish. Good luck.
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  4. Member
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    Apr 2012
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    #4
    make sure your rod is stout enough to rip the chatterbait through the grass. One of the lake i fish has hydrilla matted almost to the surface of the lake and i like to drop my chatterbait into the hydrillas and pop my rod hard to clear off all the grass, works 95 percent of the time.
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  5. Member
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    Jul 2006
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    #5
    7' mh rod with 40lb braid and RIP it out. I dont usually have any problem with submerged grass unless there is current and the grass is played over horizontal. Standing grass hasn't really been an issue for me and I've fished it in a ton of grass! If there is current it's best to make sure you're bringing it with the current. Start crossing it and you'll foul up more often.

  6. Member
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    #6
    You say you want to learn to fish a chatterbait. You haven't yet. I concur, they aren't as weedless as a spinnerbait. It's not a spinnerbait. It can be fish through moderate vegetation, and you need a sensitive rod to feel the bait. They will get fouled by weeds. It happens.

  7. Member
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    Jul 2017
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    #7
    Quote Originally Posted by buzzzzbait88 View Post
    7' mh rod with 40lb braid and RIP it out.

    That is how I do mine with Dobyns DC 736CB Glass pair it up with Zillion 100PA (4.9.1) as I love throwing those 1/2oz all day.

    This is how I do it, just go straight braid (40/50Lbs) with Duo-Lock Snaps.

    Replace those existing chatterbait with mustad fastach clips (size 2) which will make it z-man chatterbait customs. For me, it just makes my life easier.

  8. Member
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    #8
    Quote Originally Posted by RFeyoMN View Post
    I concur, they aren't as weedless as a spinnerbait. It's not a spinnerbait. It can be fish through moderate vegetation, and you need a sensitive rod to feel the bait. They will get fouled by weeds. It happens.
    Your comment on sensitivity of the rod is interesting in that I see many fishing glass/composite rods. I personally fish graphite with all moving baits so I can try to tick the tops of the grass better. Thanks to everyone for the tips. I think I am fishing a heavy enough rod but I need to try moving up to 50 plus braid from the 30 braid or 17 fluoro that I have been using.

  9. Member
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    #9
    Yeah, I don't get the glass rods, I don't like them for anything. But...to each his own.

    I fish chatterbaits on a Dobyns composite 706 crankbait rod. Not the most sensitive rod out theren but I really line it for the purpose. Has power, and I rarely miss strikes.

    Also, not sure what size you're using, but the lighter the better. I mostly use 3/8, but if they're in the heavier weeds, a 1/4 fishes much better for me.

  10. Member DrewFlu33's Avatar
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    #10
    It sounds like too heavy of a bait to me. The only thing I have issues with the chatterbait coming through is eelgrass , particularly right now as it's starting to let loose, and that stuff clings on to everything anyhow. (edit note: and matted stuff or stuff that's *almost* matted very near the surface, but a spinnerbait ain't coming through that either)

    If you're throwing it on 30 lb braid, moving up to heavier braid isn't going to make it come through any easier, it's not like 50 lb braid stretches less than 30 lb braid. I throw mine most commonly on straight 40 lb braid or on that same braid to a 16 lb Sniper leader (sawing on vegetation, dock posts, pike teeth), and I do the composite stick as well.
    Last edited by DrewFlu33; 09-17-2019 at 08:35 AM.
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  11. Member
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    Jan 2017
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    #11
    +1 on what DrewFlu said. I have found that a chatterbait typically comes through grass pretty well, but eelgrass is a different story. I use my chatterbaits on a 7'2" MH composite Shimano Expride rod with 30 or 40lb straight braid.

  12. Member
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    #12
    both are great baits sometimes the fish just want one and wont touch the other. I go back and forth with bladed jig, swim jig, and spinnerbait, squarebill, lipless crank. crazy how the can zero in on one bait some days and totally ignore the others.
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  13. Member
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    Apr 2012
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    #13
    Chatterbaits excel in 5 foot or less in moderate to sparse vegetation. Lots of guys talk about ripping them through grass... that can work well. Don't overlook a steady retrieve through the grass. Let the grass load the rod but just keep reeling until it pulls free. It might foul but most of time it does not. Let the rod do the work. Sometimes I think hard jerking pulls the bait out of the stike zone.

  14. Member
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    #14
    Lots of good advice here. I to change some expectations I have of where I fish them among other things. I am also going to try to let the rod load and pull off the weeds rather than ripping.

  15. Scraps
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    #15
    I wouldn't solely restrict the chatterbait for grass fishing. I used them a lot around docks and they skip phenomenally. My setup is a Lew's BB1 with 15/17lb co-poly or mono, 6.4:1 reel on a 705cb composite or a 754cb glass rod or a 733cef graphite Powell.
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  16. Dogfish_Jones
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    #16
    Chatterbaits are a great lure in and around docks. I have caught fish around docks with a chatterbait when nothing else worked. It always seem to me at least that the bass usually chomp down on the chatterbait at the last pole heading out toward deeper water.
    Lay downs, logs and brush are another hot spot for these baits. If you can find a good long blowdown that the tip is near deeper water you will catch them on a chatterbait. You do not just have to throw them in grass, weeds, to compel bass to bite these lures.

  17. Scraps
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    #17
    One important thing is to try different trailers. Vary the type of trailer for the action they're biting. Right now I've been trying just straight tail trailers like a Hog Farmer spunk shad.
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  18. Member
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    #18
    It happens that the simplest bait is the best bait.

  19. Member Walkabout7781's Avatar
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    #19
    Quote Originally Posted by JimmiLumen View Post
    It happens that the simplest bait is the best bait.
    What are you saying, JimmiLumen? What do you consider to be the simplest/best bait? Oh, and welcome to BBC!
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  20. Member
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    Feb 2013
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    #20
    I don't know if this comment has been made above or not, but my chatterbait fishing improved when I began thinking of it more as a crankbait than a spinnerbait. I now carry them in my crankbait box. A Rage Tail Menace has made a good trailer for me.

    oe

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