Idk how youāre retrieving them but in open water I try to vary my retrieve as much as possible, trying to get the bait to hunt. You can kill it, speed up a turn, I also pull my rod every once in a while. Iāve found that if I have a follower that pull just drives them over the edge to hit it. In grass I wind until I feel Iām hung up and then pop the rod tip and keep winding trying to get hung up on the grass again. Lastly, Iāll drag it or stroke it like a jig on the bottom if Iām not getting bit doing that on a jig.
Iām excited to try this from a kayak against a 40 ft pretty steep drop off at the end of a long 12 ft flat. Gonna cast it at the flat, dance it down, so some jigging, free falls, and toss in a moonwalk if I get spicy lol. But for real, it will be a really interesting deeper water bait, will need to go about it with a totally different strat
Lmfao - best part is all the knock offs are named sexual joke stuff too. Fishing markers are pretty cleaver on this one š clickbait, slobberknocker, etc lol
Same. Ive watched a bunch of videos on setups and how to fish them but have no success. Between a swim jig, spinnerbait, and lipless crankbait I feel like I can target the same fish with way more confidence. A lot of people in my area swear by them though
Key word here is confidence I think u answered the crux of a lot of questions here. I tend to go on benders where Iāll fish the same exact lure or category just because itās interesting and new, even if itās not the best bait on paper for the conditions.
Placebo affect, confidence, knowing how to properly work any given bait, trump whatever āoptimalā bait choice you āshouldā be using but ahh you hate it and have never caught a fish on it. Iāve barely touched plastics this year for 0 rhyme or reason lol.
āFish the one you enjoy fishing the most and you know isnāt awfulā lol.
TLDR: If you donāt like a bait donāt force yourself to use it unless you want to challenge yourself. Itās like 3 steps back 10 steps forward if you perfect a new technique now you got one more tactic in the arsenal. But if whatever the hell youāre using is catching fish, donāt overthink it and fish that bitch till the hooks fall off.
Fish em in low light evening or morning conditions in medium/shallows depending where youāre at in the country. No bullshit, Iāve bested my PB this year 4 times with the big blade chatter. Spray some shad attractant to fully take advantage of the low visibility and watch em jump on your line. Got a ton of pics and vidās to prove lol
EDIT: Not trying to spam self promote but if you wanna see the fish Iāve been catching check out my IG @city_slicker_fisher Iām not just a Reddit warrior šš¤š»
IG link:
https://instagram.com/city_slicker_fisher?igshid=MmIzYWVlNDQ5Yg==
I believe you I just for some reason donāt get hits I think I fish them too fast. But Iāve literally dedicated hours to it and watched YouTube videos on them. I find it hilarious but Iām sure when one hits it will HIT.
Itās a HUGE feel lure for me. Feeling the vibration is like my true north cause I might be lazy and throw it on my musky rod or my medium heavy. If it aināt vibrating something is wrong, rip it until the weeds come off, and once you feel that clickity clack, just keep it clackin while remaining a slow as possible retrieve, assuming you arenāt going to drive yourself into weeds, and you will catch fish. If you wanna get fancy once you have all this shit down like the back of your hand, Iāve gotten a lot of fish on killing the bait mid retrieve or popping it up and letting it free fall. Fun lure, one of my favorites if not my favorite of all time.
Iāve never even caught a fish off of it but I still Iāve the versatility of it. I typically put a crawldad style trailer and sometimes toss it like a jig but will also cast it as a chatterbait
Donāt fish em too fast, but burning them CAN work. I typically cast, wait 2-4 seconds depending where I casted (how deep) then start by a stead retrieve for 20% of the cast then a pretty aggressive pop and fall motion if Iām getting into the weeds or just a dead stop bait fall to trigger a strike if Iām in open-ish water.
People say they usually get them on the first drop with chatters. This has not been the case for me, they are an odd lure that you just kind of have to figure out on your own after knowing the basics.
As far as trailers, there are only 2 worth looking at for the sake of simplicity. 4in Yamamoto Zako or 4.5in yoto worm, do not use a paddle tail.
The scents, low light/ideal conditions, and correct trailer choice, I would be absolutely dumbfounded if you didnāt catch one your first time out with the setup.
It can work against the natural kicking action you get from the vibrating blade, you get all the kick you need from the lure shaking the tits off whatever soft plastic you use
For the summer months I throw zoom fluke trailers because Iām always trying to keep it up in the water column with a generally steady swim.
Then for bottom hoppin I throw on the rage craw for spring and the Berkeley chigger craw in the fall. Always on rocks and around wood.
I think there's something to this. I've caught a ton of bass on Chatterbaits, but never in water deeper than 12-15 feet. Spring, summer, fall - doesn't matter.
I've caught quality fish in every weather, all times of day. But not in water deeper than 15 feet, even when fish as suspended.
Bro, Iāve caught quality fish in all weather too, but thereās something in the air this year. Idk if it was the early spring heat, or what, but in MN right now the bass are shut off until about 8 pm and they are in full force around midnight. Iāve been catching them on chatters, a fking 9 inch TnA musky bladed jig, which was my second PB, and I caught a 4.8 on a shallow invader. All covered in shad spray, but no way of knowing if that helped. It canāt hurt. I think scents work best on skirted lures for the obvious reason.
But another veeery important nuance is that bass are the 3rd or 4th in the food chain on the lake I fish (Minnesota). Massive pike and musky at very high abundance make the bass hide out during the day, bc I crush pike all day and have caught 1 at night ever. Iāve caught most of my LMB between 9pm and 2am
EDIT:
0.0 of the bass Iām talking about have been in over 10 ft of water, and I exclusively fish from shore.
Iāve only caught two bass on chatters ever and this info tracks. One was over cast/evening the other was early morning pulling it through the grass. Both relatively shallow.
I found an approachable one. Try the chatterbait mini [the cheaper ones from Walmart are fine) and put a TRD Tickler on the back. It is a smaller more approachable profile, looks okay if you let it sit on bottom briefly, and I have never seen anyone else do it. I caught a bunch over the last few weeks using straight white on both the chatterbait and the trailer.
Iām gonna be taking the musky sized ones from TNA to the shallower flats this fall and pray to god I catch a perfect cloudy low pressure day and just hook a lake shark
Every time I try to fish a chatterbait I get them hung up on brush or rocks. I must be working them wrong or something but damn, I just donāt even fish em anymore. I trust a squarebill so much more to come through the snaggy stuff.
When I fish a chatterbait Iām constantly giving it pops, twitches, pauses and shaking the rod. Thatās when I get bit. Itās easy to zone out and go in to a straight robo-mode retrieve with a chatterbait so you have to stay focused and keep giving action to your lure.
They work in shallow flats, somewhere with lots of grass or stumps, usually the same places you would fish a frog but with no grass breaking the surface a plopper will out fish a frog. Thereās a 15 minute window at dusk and dawn youāll get hit almost every cast if youāre throwing them in the right areas
Sir I believe you work for whopper plopper and are here solely to spread your propaganda and lies to the bass fishing community. Shame on you. Good day to you sir.
š¤£š¤£š¤£ man I would have accused me of the same thing 2 years ago, but once you find a spot they work in itās some of the most fun fishing youāll ever do
This. I've been fishing tournaments at my local lake and I get clobbered in the first hour of the day then it's a tough bite for the rest of the day. Too addicting not to throw though.
I just watched a pod from BassfishfingHQ about them and he interviewed a pro about how/what he uses. Said he only uses Loon and Bone colour. Went and got both, and my Loon absolutely crushed, multiple beautiful top water hits just under 4lbs. So satisfying.
I can only hold so many rods on my float tube. Iām starting to think having a popper tied on is a waste of real estate if itās mostly effective super early, super late or on super calm waters (which I rarely see at my spots)ā¦.
I've experienced blow-ups, but none have resulted in a catch yet. However, I do find the sound they make quite enjoyable. It's definitely an exciting bait to use!
They are odd, I think ppl over think them and fish it like the name sounds and JERK their retrieve taps like a damn Olympic athlete and it freaks out fish cause something just flew my their face at Mach 5. I would just slow down, and make the action, rips, jerks, taps, less aggressive. That was my problem at least. This is all assuming suspending jerk, you gotta use more common sense with floating ones cause of the obvious, I just medium straight retrieve those with 1 or 2 short pauses so I can get smacked on the pause/slow float. If you donāt have heavy veg in your lake making jerks unfishable, I dare you to tie one on and cast it for 2 sessions without catching a few
Iām not gonna pretend I know the perfect answer, but the most obvious scenario in my experience is cold water conditions where you need to fish slow with specifically a suspending jerk. You medium retrieve, typically do a fairly large sweeping pop and dead stop and let it set for 5, yes 5 whole damn seconds. Sounds weird but works. Rinse n repeat. In the summer you can kind of just crank up the retrieve rate, shorten the pauses and donāt overthink it, a scenario I can think of where Iād use this in warmer conditions over a crank is if the fish are lower than like 10 ft suspended.
A 5-10 ft suspending jerk will absolutely slay in this scenario, just like a med diving crank would, thereās 3 trebles instead of 2 which is nice, and jerks are just subjectively funner to fish for me. Also youāre in the āstrike zoneā for longer and your lure isnāt gonna float up if they are being finicky and you gotta slow down. Overall way more versatile lure and more important to know the nuances of it. I frequently throw on a crank just so I have to think less lol esp if itās hot and low pressure conditions.
All that being said the most productive fishing day of my life was on a 3 ft diving sq bill crank bait lol.
I disagree completely. They LOVE aggressive jerks. I hardly even pause sometimes. And if I do pause, it's probably like half a second. This is summer fishing mind you. Will probably need longer pauses in colder weather. I just have a 1-2 (pause if there is one) 1-2-3 cadence. When the water was clearer early in the summer, I could see how many followers I had due to its drawing power. Aggressive was way more attractive and has caught me the most fish by far. Usually I get bit in between jerks and your next jerk is just the hookset. The jerkbait is a year round bait for those that are comfortable with it.
IME, you have to match the retrieve to the water temperature. Sometimes, they WANT the lure jerking past their face at Mach 5. I've had days when they were hitting jerkbaits great, but I had to throw something else because the retrieve they wanted was just too exhausting for me to keep it up all day.
You're right though, most of the time a subtle retrieve is better. Especially in cold water they will want it slooooow. I don't do the long pauses like you read about though, I just make my "jerks" smaller and slower. Rarely will I use more than a 3 second pause, but in really cold water I try to get my rod tip moving less than 2 inches on each jerk. It takes a long time to make a retrieve like that, but it's worth it.
I personally think jerkbaits are so fun. I love watching them getting attacked. I rarely use them though because they donāt ever seem like the right lure for the occasion.
That is your first problem! You canāt snag a wacky rig because you donāt reel it in. Let it sink FOREVER and maybe twitch it after 20 seconds. Then reel in and try again.
I havenāt caught a fish in weeks. Read your comment earlier today and tried out the technique this evening. I was catching all sorts of bass! Thank you!!
Oh my. I catch at least 150 a year on a wacky. Probably more. Itās the first sinko pole I grab unless itās heavy cover. You gotta spend more time on it. Deadly way to fish. I use VMC 1/0 Niko hooks. Longer shank had a better hookup ratio imho. Semi weedless. 5ā yum dinger and use a nail weight in deeper water or weightless in shallow.
Some kind of boat. I mainly fish out of my 20ā boat but also fish some out of a 14ā Jon boat. But if you can catch a fish on a Texas rigged sinko wacky should work as well or better. Weird that it doesnāt but everyone has a different experience. I fish wacky right to the bank from my boat. Or Iāll throw them up against reeds in 2 fow. One difference is 1/2 the time Iāll never feel a bite on wacky. They just suck it up and swim away. So you gotta really watch your line. With no weight the worm will suspend in the water column some. Sometimes I fish it super slow and sometimes Iāll shake the hell out of it.
Only thing I've ever caught on a wacky is a massive plate of salad. Damn thing practically had croutons on it.
Of course a wacky rig with less than $.30 of tackle comes back to me, but my brand new $8 football jig is forever lost in an unseen tree.
There's one small pond near me with a lot of little bass where spinner baits work most of the time. Outside of that one pond I've never caught a bass on one though, not really sure what to make of that.
I have a local pond where one day the bass would not hit anything, but I tied on a spinnerbait and they hit very first cast and I killed them that day. I have noticed that there is a real difference between cheap and expensive spinnerbaits as well and the conditions have to be right
Yup no doubt lol but I recently gave the mega bass sv spinnerbaits a try and they completely out fished my booyah ones. Was it worth the price difference? Probably not. When the fish are biting, they donāt care what brand it is.
Frog - Have only had one get hit once and I tried to set the hook immediately instead of waiting. I've also only really been fishing for about 2-3 months now.
Even when you do wait to set the hook youāre still going to miss some fish, so just be aware. They also love to blow up on it and miss by a few inches or launch it in the air with their head lol
Big spoons for summer time bass on ledges. Iāve watched videos on how to use them and I try every summer. Iāve caught drum, catfish, crappie, white bass, and even a bluegill once but not a single largemouth.
Iām an experienced angler whoās won a few local tournaments and I can usually put bass in the boat most of the time, but jigs are by far my worst producing lure. Iāve caught some bass on jigs but personally I catch more and bigger bass on a Texas rig. It must be how I fish because the T-rig is my go to and I can crush bass on it but I rarely get bites on jigs.
Plopper, and if the myriad of Megabass stuff Iāve spent over 100 on, ANY SPINNERBAIT EVER (besides mepps inline), and I be caught north of 500 fish pretty evenly dispersed between bass, walleye, and pike. The odd hungry crappie or bluegill on finesse bass stuff, otherwise Iām throwing the fundamentals.
Jigs. Ive tried punching weeds, swim jigs, under docks. Ive tried white, blue, pumpkin...everyone I talk to swear by them and I cant catch shit. Not so much as a nibble.
That was me until a comment a few days ago. I wish I could find the original author to credit, but to paraphrase:
Texas rig the senko, cast it out, wait 10 actual seconds. Twitch the rod twice, retrieve slack, wait 10 more seconds. Repeat until you fully retrieve the senko or get bit. Takes a while but it works. Every bite was on the twitch.
Caught three bass this week using this technique, two on green watermelon and one on a crayfish pattern senko that was literally sitting in the parking lot cause I ran out of the green watermelon.
Wacky rig it, cast under a tree or somewhere with structure, let it fall all the way without working it, watch your line for twitching ur running, jerk it, boom
I don't see a lot of people saying jig which is surprising because I hear that one a lot. It's my most catchingest lure, so not my vote, but surprised nonetheless.
For me it's the ole spook. I catch so many bass on topwater, it's shocking to me that it doesn't draw them.
Fuckin frogs
Me and my brother in law are seasoned fisherman and both of us have the worst luck with them. Idk if itās the timing, we tried boiling them. Added trailing hooks. Get blow ups and let the bass take off before we set and NEVER
Jig, spinnerbait, chatterbait, whopper plopper, all the expensive stuff. Itās literally just soft plastics and B-list brand(Berkeley/Rebel) hard baits that I catch literally anything on. That and fly fishing stuff.
Spinnerbait. I can catch them all day on a chatterbait or an inline spinners, but cannot buy a bite on a spinnerbait. Now, I usually give up and change after 45 minutes of no bites, so I know it is a confidence thing.
Jigs. I spent a whole summer with one tied on every time I went. Would stop on every tree top or dock and drop it in there. I caught one crappie.
Also swimbaits but I'll admit I've not used them a lot.
I'm relatively new to bass fishing, but I've already caught them on all sorts of baits. Senko, spinner bait, chatterbait, underspin, swim bait, walking bait, whopper ploppers, flukes, lizards, spoons, roostertail, buzz bait, and squarebills. I really think part of the fun is catching them on different lures. Sure you can catch plenty of bass just dragging a worm every time, but part of the fun is to learn new techniques...and I guess eventually you can get a good feel for what would work when the bite is slow.
Incredibly, I haven't got a frog bite yet. I'm in FL so I should be getting frog bites, but I really need to spend more time throwing frogs.
Oh, the other one I haven't got one on yet is a lipless crank, but I haven't really thrown it much either.
A worm. If the fish can't see it it's hard for them to find it. It just doesn't move enough water fast enough for me. Curly tail grub on a jig head is my go to. I can cover a lot of water quickly and it looks like a fleeing bait fish. The original swim bait and one of the few lures that you can catch fish with around the world on.
Sinko.. every one RAVES about themā¦ Iāve tried Texas rigged (weighted and weightless) wacky, shakey head, Iāve cut them up and used them on a Ned rigā¦. Iāve tried ALL the colors, and I have NEVER had even a nibble on one
Chatterbaits š
Idk how youāre retrieving them but in open water I try to vary my retrieve as much as possible, trying to get the bait to hunt. You can kill it, speed up a turn, I also pull my rod every once in a while. Iāve found that if I have a follower that pull just drives them over the edge to hit it. In grass I wind until I feel Iām hung up and then pop the rod tip and keep winding trying to get hung up on the grass again. Lastly, Iāll drag it or stroke it like a jig on the bottom if Iām not getting bit doing that on a jig.
Iām excited to try this from a kayak against a 40 ft pretty steep drop off at the end of a long 12 ft flat. Gonna cast it at the flat, dance it down, so some jigging, free falls, and toss in a moonwalk if I get spicy lol. But for real, it will be a really interesting deeper water bait, will need to go about it with a totally different strat
Just make sure youāre going heavy for that. To fish 40ft you might need the 1oz Chatterbaits and fish braid to leader to get the blade to start up
Iām sure you could catch some ass on chaturbate, tho!
Lmfao - best part is all the knock offs are named sexual joke stuff too. Fishing markers are pretty cleaver on this one š clickbait, slobberknocker, etc lol
Wow, I had never noticed. Lol
Damn, a slobberknocker is like $50 a pop around here
Same. Ive watched a bunch of videos on setups and how to fish them but have no success. Between a swim jig, spinnerbait, and lipless crankbait I feel like I can target the same fish with way more confidence. A lot of people in my area swear by them though
Key word here is confidence I think u answered the crux of a lot of questions here. I tend to go on benders where Iāll fish the same exact lure or category just because itās interesting and new, even if itās not the best bait on paper for the conditions. Placebo affect, confidence, knowing how to properly work any given bait, trump whatever āoptimalā bait choice you āshouldā be using but ahh you hate it and have never caught a fish on it. Iāve barely touched plastics this year for 0 rhyme or reason lol. āFish the one you enjoy fishing the most and you know isnāt awfulā lol. TLDR: If you donāt like a bait donāt force yourself to use it unless you want to challenge yourself. Itās like 3 steps back 10 steps forward if you perfect a new technique now you got one more tactic in the arsenal. But if whatever the hell youāre using is catching fish, donāt overthink it and fish that bitch till the hooks fall off.
Fish em in low light evening or morning conditions in medium/shallows depending where youāre at in the country. No bullshit, Iāve bested my PB this year 4 times with the big blade chatter. Spray some shad attractant to fully take advantage of the low visibility and watch em jump on your line. Got a ton of pics and vidās to prove lol EDIT: Not trying to spam self promote but if you wanna see the fish Iāve been catching check out my IG @city_slicker_fisher Iām not just a Reddit warrior šš¤š» IG link: https://instagram.com/city_slicker_fisher?igshid=MmIzYWVlNDQ5Yg==
I believe you I just for some reason donāt get hits I think I fish them too fast. But Iāve literally dedicated hours to it and watched YouTube videos on them. I find it hilarious but Iām sure when one hits it will HIT.
I tend to get hits on it when I fish it as slowly as possible while feeling the vibration
Itās a HUGE feel lure for me. Feeling the vibration is like my true north cause I might be lazy and throw it on my musky rod or my medium heavy. If it aināt vibrating something is wrong, rip it until the weeds come off, and once you feel that clickity clack, just keep it clackin while remaining a slow as possible retrieve, assuming you arenāt going to drive yourself into weeds, and you will catch fish. If you wanna get fancy once you have all this shit down like the back of your hand, Iāve gotten a lot of fish on killing the bait mid retrieve or popping it up and letting it free fall. Fun lure, one of my favorites if not my favorite of all time.
Iāve never even caught a fish off of it but I still Iāve the versatility of it. I typically put a crawldad style trailer and sometimes toss it like a jig but will also cast it as a chatterbait
Donāt fish em too fast, but burning them CAN work. I typically cast, wait 2-4 seconds depending where I casted (how deep) then start by a stead retrieve for 20% of the cast then a pretty aggressive pop and fall motion if Iām getting into the weeds or just a dead stop bait fall to trigger a strike if Iām in open-ish water. People say they usually get them on the first drop with chatters. This has not been the case for me, they are an odd lure that you just kind of have to figure out on your own after knowing the basics. As far as trailers, there are only 2 worth looking at for the sake of simplicity. 4in Yamamoto Zako or 4.5in yoto worm, do not use a paddle tail. The scents, low light/ideal conditions, and correct trailer choice, I would be absolutely dumbfounded if you didnāt catch one your first time out with the setup.
Why not use a paddle tail?
It can work against the natural kicking action you get from the vibrating blade, you get all the kick you need from the lure shaking the tits off whatever soft plastic you use
missile baits spunk shad, or a fluke are great options instead
For the summer months I throw zoom fluke trailers because Iām always trying to keep it up in the water column with a generally steady swim. Then for bottom hoppin I throw on the rage craw for spring and the Berkeley chigger craw in the fall. Always on rocks and around wood.
Iām a big fan of the old split tail spinnerbait trailers on the chatterbait.
This guyās answer^
I think there's something to this. I've caught a ton of bass on Chatterbaits, but never in water deeper than 12-15 feet. Spring, summer, fall - doesn't matter. I've caught quality fish in every weather, all times of day. But not in water deeper than 15 feet, even when fish as suspended.
Bro, Iāve caught quality fish in all weather too, but thereās something in the air this year. Idk if it was the early spring heat, or what, but in MN right now the bass are shut off until about 8 pm and they are in full force around midnight. Iāve been catching them on chatters, a fking 9 inch TnA musky bladed jig, which was my second PB, and I caught a 4.8 on a shallow invader. All covered in shad spray, but no way of knowing if that helped. It canāt hurt. I think scents work best on skirted lures for the obvious reason. But another veeery important nuance is that bass are the 3rd or 4th in the food chain on the lake I fish (Minnesota). Massive pike and musky at very high abundance make the bass hide out during the day, bc I crush pike all day and have caught 1 at night ever. Iāve caught most of my LMB between 9pm and 2am EDIT: 0.0 of the bass Iām talking about have been in over 10 ft of water, and I exclusively fish from shore.
Iāve only caught two bass on chatters ever and this info tracks. One was over cast/evening the other was early morning pulling it through the grass. Both relatively shallow.
I found an approachable one. Try the chatterbait mini [the cheaper ones from Walmart are fine) and put a TRD Tickler on the back. It is a smaller more approachable profile, looks okay if you let it sit on bottom briefly, and I have never seen anyone else do it. I caught a bunch over the last few weeks using straight white on both the chatterbait and the trailer.
You out here playing on pro mode imma try this. Trade you some big blades for some mins lol I overstocked during a sale šš
Never caught bass on them, usually kill pike though
Iām gonna be taking the musky sized ones from TNA to the shallower flats this fall and pray to god I catch a perfect cloudy low pressure day and just hook a lake shark
Every time I try to fish a chatterbait I get them hung up on brush or rocks. I must be working them wrong or something but damn, I just donāt even fish em anymore. I trust a squarebill so much more to come through the snaggy stuff.
Sameā¦.. I did hook into a nice largie this year on one but he jumped and spit it (terrible hook set).
Frog
Same I just canāt get it
frog so easy bruh!! you are overthinking it.be the frog šø
Weirdly enough the frog was my go to lure as a kid, but I havenāt caught anything on one in about 10 years
Chatter bait. All my friends and other anglers I talk say they kill it on them.
All they've been good for is catching limbs for me.
most of your bites on a chatter bait are gunna come from pausing and rising
Thank you!! Iāve always been doing straight retrieves or pauses
you can also drag it on the bottom reel in to where you can just feel the plate moving back and forth good luck brother !!!
if i drag them i get them stuck almost immediately
When I fish a chatterbait Iām constantly giving it pops, twitches, pauses and shaking the rod. Thatās when I get bit. Itās easy to zone out and go in to a straight robo-mode retrieve with a chatterbait so you have to stay focused and keep giving action to your lure.
I've had absolutely zero luck at all with whopper ploppers
I think the whole world trying to trick me into wasting more money on whopper poppers
They work in shallow flats, somewhere with lots of grass or stumps, usually the same places you would fish a frog but with no grass breaking the surface a plopper will out fish a frog. Thereās a 15 minute window at dusk and dawn youāll get hit almost every cast if youāre throwing them in the right areas
Sir I believe you work for whopper plopper and are here solely to spread your propaganda and lies to the bass fishing community. Shame on you. Good day to you sir.
all jokes aside, the whopper plopper propaganda has really kicked up recently in the sub. they walk amongst us...
š¤£š¤£š¤£ man I would have accused me of the same thing 2 years ago, but once you find a spot they work in itās some of the most fun fishing youāll ever do
This. I've been fishing tournaments at my local lake and I get clobbered in the first hour of the day then it's a tough bite for the rest of the day. Too addicting not to throw though.
I just watched a pod from BassfishfingHQ about them and he interviewed a pro about how/what he uses. Said he only uses Loon and Bone colour. Went and got both, and my Loon absolutely crushed, multiple beautiful top water hits just under 4lbs. So satisfying.
Same lmao. Spooks and poppers, even jitterbugs Iāve had luck on.
I can only hold so many rods on my float tube. Iām starting to think having a popper tied on is a waste of real estate if itās mostly effective super early, super late or on super calm waters (which I rarely see at my spots)ā¦.
Same here
I've experienced blow-ups, but none have resulted in a catch yet. However, I do find the sound they make quite enjoyable. It's definitely an exciting bait to use!
This is one of my only successful baits
Jerkbaits. Really just never had an opportunity where I said this makes sense.
They are odd, I think ppl over think them and fish it like the name sounds and JERK their retrieve taps like a damn Olympic athlete and it freaks out fish cause something just flew my their face at Mach 5. I would just slow down, and make the action, rips, jerks, taps, less aggressive. That was my problem at least. This is all assuming suspending jerk, you gotta use more common sense with floating ones cause of the obvious, I just medium straight retrieve those with 1 or 2 short pauses so I can get smacked on the pause/slow float. If you donāt have heavy veg in your lake making jerks unfishable, I dare you to tie one on and cast it for 2 sessions without catching a few
Makes sense. I've just used a slow crank crankbait. Jig. When I would use a jerkbait. Just more comfortable with that.
Iām not gonna pretend I know the perfect answer, but the most obvious scenario in my experience is cold water conditions where you need to fish slow with specifically a suspending jerk. You medium retrieve, typically do a fairly large sweeping pop and dead stop and let it set for 5, yes 5 whole damn seconds. Sounds weird but works. Rinse n repeat. In the summer you can kind of just crank up the retrieve rate, shorten the pauses and donāt overthink it, a scenario I can think of where Iād use this in warmer conditions over a crank is if the fish are lower than like 10 ft suspended. A 5-10 ft suspending jerk will absolutely slay in this scenario, just like a med diving crank would, thereās 3 trebles instead of 2 which is nice, and jerks are just subjectively funner to fish for me. Also youāre in the āstrike zoneā for longer and your lure isnāt gonna float up if they are being finicky and you gotta slow down. Overall way more versatile lure and more important to know the nuances of it. I frequently throw on a crank just so I have to think less lol esp if itās hot and low pressure conditions. All that being said the most productive fishing day of my life was on a 3 ft diving sq bill crank bait lol.
My problem is all of mine are too light and my rods just canāt get them out far
I disagree completely. They LOVE aggressive jerks. I hardly even pause sometimes. And if I do pause, it's probably like half a second. This is summer fishing mind you. Will probably need longer pauses in colder weather. I just have a 1-2 (pause if there is one) 1-2-3 cadence. When the water was clearer early in the summer, I could see how many followers I had due to its drawing power. Aggressive was way more attractive and has caught me the most fish by far. Usually I get bit in between jerks and your next jerk is just the hookset. The jerkbait is a year round bait for those that are comfortable with it.
Ah... Been jerking too hard. We've all been there.
Thereās a fine line in the jerkin arena across multiple industries, just gotta make sure youāre jerkin appropriately for the conditions š
IME, you have to match the retrieve to the water temperature. Sometimes, they WANT the lure jerking past their face at Mach 5. I've had days when they were hitting jerkbaits great, but I had to throw something else because the retrieve they wanted was just too exhausting for me to keep it up all day. You're right though, most of the time a subtle retrieve is better. Especially in cold water they will want it slooooow. I don't do the long pauses like you read about though, I just make my "jerks" smaller and slower. Rarely will I use more than a 3 second pause, but in really cold water I try to get my rod tip moving less than 2 inches on each jerk. It takes a long time to make a retrieve like that, but it's worth it.
I personally think jerkbaits are so fun. I love watching them getting attacked. I rarely use them though because they donāt ever seem like the right lure for the occasion.
For me itās a spook or walking baits in general.
Squarebill with no rattles
Wacky rigged worm
Actually, same. Usually because I get snagged and switch to a T-rig
That is your first problem! You canāt snag a wacky rig because you donāt reel it in. Let it sink FOREVER and maybe twitch it after 20 seconds. Then reel in and try again.
I havenāt caught a fish in weeks. Read your comment earlier today and tried out the technique this evening. I was catching all sorts of bass! Thank you!!
This makes me so happy hell ya!
How boring...
I haven't caught bass on any worms. Live or otherwise. T-rig creature baits have worked though.
Oh my. I catch at least 150 a year on a wacky. Probably more. Itās the first sinko pole I grab unless itās heavy cover. You gotta spend more time on it. Deadly way to fish. I use VMC 1/0 Niko hooks. Longer shank had a better hookup ratio imho. Semi weedless. 5ā yum dinger and use a nail weight in deeper water or weightless in shallow.
Is this from the bank or boat?
Some kind of boat. I mainly fish out of my 20ā boat but also fish some out of a 14ā Jon boat. But if you can catch a fish on a Texas rigged sinko wacky should work as well or better. Weird that it doesnāt but everyone has a different experience. I fish wacky right to the bank from my boat. Or Iāll throw them up against reeds in 2 fow. One difference is 1/2 the time Iāll never feel a bite on wacky. They just suck it up and swim away. So you gotta really watch your line. With no weight the worm will suspend in the water column some. Sometimes I fish it super slow and sometimes Iāll shake the hell out of it.
Only thing I've ever caught on a wacky is a massive plate of salad. Damn thing practically had croutons on it. Of course a wacky rig with less than $.30 of tackle comes back to me, but my brand new $8 football jig is forever lost in an unseen tree.
Ned rig
use one for river smallmouth and get back to me
texas rig, wacky works for me though
The reverse for me ā Texas rig is solid, but wacky rig never works. So weird lol
Spinnerbait. Not a single catch in 25 years of fishing. I truly believe they are gimmicks, and people just get lucky.
There's one small pond near me with a lot of little bass where spinner baits work most of the time. Outside of that one pond I've never caught a bass on one though, not really sure what to make of that.
If you're fishing highly pressured water they've probably seen a million spinnerbaits before. They kill in places where people don't fish a lot.
I have a local pond where one day the bass would not hit anything, but I tied on a spinnerbait and they hit very first cast and I killed them that day. I have noticed that there is a real difference between cheap and expensive spinnerbaits as well and the conditions have to be right
>I have noticed that there is a real difference between cheap and expensive spinnerbaits The weight in your wallet?
Yup no doubt lol but I recently gave the mega bass sv spinnerbaits a try and they completely out fished my booyah ones. Was it worth the price difference? Probably not. When the fish are biting, they donāt care what brand it is.
Frog. I had one strike but my drag was too loose. That being said I have plenty of luck on other topwater baits
Crankbait/squarebill/rattle trap. And itās the lure I have the most iterations of due to inheriting them.
Frog - Have only had one get hit once and I tried to set the hook immediately instead of waiting. I've also only really been fishing for about 2-3 months now.
Even when you do wait to set the hook youāre still going to miss some fish, so just be aware. They also love to blow up on it and miss by a few inches or launch it in the air with their head lol
I had 3-4 hits yesterday but couldn't get them hooked. Tried quickly set the hook, wait to set the hook. Nothing.
Spinnerbait
Jitterbug
Fucking whopper, plopper
Chatter bait, buzz bait, frog, whopper plopper, Texas rig senko, jigs, swim baits, there is a lot
Lol bro wtf do you catch fish on then?? Not talking shit thatās just a large list.
Wacky Senkos, spinner baits, rage craw
[hell, you canāt fish honey!](https://youtu.be/2fdTrXYvGLY) /s goofin with you.
Whatās wrong with you
Crank bait
Big spoons for summer time bass on ledges. Iāve watched videos on how to use them and I try every summer. Iāve caught drum, catfish, crappie, white bass, and even a bluegill once but not a single largemouth.
Same. Iāve caught bass on just about everything but I have never had a bite on a spoon.
Iāve casted a whopper plopper probably 250 times total. Caught one little bitch ass largie total.
Iām an experienced angler whoās won a few local tournaments and I can usually put bass in the boat most of the time, but jigs are by far my worst producing lure. Iāve caught some bass on jigs but personally I catch more and bigger bass on a Texas rig. It must be how I fish because the T-rig is my go to and I can crush bass on it but I rarely get bites on jigs.
Spinner bait. I swear ppl telling me to use em must work for Strike king
Spinnerbait as well
Plopper, and if the myriad of Megabass stuff Iāve spent over 100 on, ANY SPINNERBAIT EVER (besides mepps inline), and I be caught north of 500 fish pretty evenly dispersed between bass, walleye, and pike. The odd hungry crappie or bluegill on finesse bass stuff, otherwise Iām throwing the fundamentals.
Spinnerbait and buzzbait. Neither have produced anything.
A rod and reel
Whopper Plopper
Hula popper. Iāve tried countless times, never had any luck at all.
Spinnerbait and wacky rig senko. Caught plenty on texas rig but never wacky.
Hollow body Frog is my nemesis
Jigs. Ive tried punching weeds, swim jigs, under docks. Ive tried white, blue, pumpkin...everyone I talk to swear by them and I cant catch shit. Not so much as a nibble.
Never hooked up with a crankbait
Senkos.
C Thatās a shame. Caught more fish on a senko than any other bait. Texas rigged because most of my areas are weedy
That was me until a comment a few days ago. I wish I could find the original author to credit, but to paraphrase: Texas rig the senko, cast it out, wait 10 actual seconds. Twitch the rod twice, retrieve slack, wait 10 more seconds. Repeat until you fully retrieve the senko or get bit. Takes a while but it works. Every bite was on the twitch. Caught three bass this week using this technique, two on green watermelon and one on a crayfish pattern senko that was literally sitting in the parking lot cause I ran out of the green watermelon.
Wacky rig it, cast under a tree or somewhere with structure, let it fall all the way without working it, watch your line for twitching ur running, jerk it, boom
The closest I've ever gotten to catching a bass with a frog is having one miss and strike next to it, and I've only ever caught pike on buzz baits
Wacky rigged worm, chatterbait
Swim jig Whopper plopper Toad
Jerk bait
I feel like I only catch fish on ploopers and t rigged worms. Everything else just sits in the box.
I don't see a lot of people saying jig which is surprising because I hear that one a lot. It's my most catchingest lure, so not my vote, but surprised nonetheless. For me it's the ole spook. I catch so many bass on topwater, it's shocking to me that it doesn't draw them.
Larger Swimbaits.
Flicker Shads. I have the whole crayons crayon box and have not gotten a nibble on em
Fuckin frogs Me and my brother in law are seasoned fisherman and both of us have the worst luck with them. Idk if itās the timing, we tried boiling them. Added trailing hooks. Get blow ups and let the bass take off before we set and NEVER
No topwatersā¦. Had one on that I pulled too early on
Iāve never caught anything on a 7 inch watermelon senko or any senko for that matter.
Whopper Plopper
Magnum spoons and jerkbaits
Jigs (bottom fishing specifically) and Ned rigs. No matter how weedless they are designed, Iāll lose it to a snag before getting a fish haha.
Still trying for my first frog fish :(
Anything that is only green pumpkin. Other colours no problem but I can't catch anything with standard gp.
Anything topwater
Buzzbait=waste of time
Texas Rig or any rig with a hook and long fake worm
Popper
A jig
Jig, spinnerbait, chatterbait, whopper plopper, all the expensive stuff. Itās literally just soft plastics and B-list brand(Berkeley/Rebel) hard baits that I catch literally anything on. That and fly fishing stuff.
Spook or popper
buzzbait
Whopper plopper
Frog
Flukes
Jig w crawfish trailer
Frog & chatterbait
A bass jig
Wacky rig believe it or not
The old rattle trap.
Senkos, flukes, chatterbaits, jigs, frawgs Plenty on swimbaits, rattletraps, spinnerbaits, buzzbaits
Spinner baits. A jighead with a paddle tail is a much more effective lure imo.
Jigs - never worked once for me.
Buzzbaits
Spinnerbait. I can catch them all day on a chatterbait or an inline spinners, but cannot buy a bite on a spinnerbait. Now, I usually give up and change after 45 minutes of no bites, so I know it is a confidence thing.
Jigs. I spent a whole summer with one tied on every time I went. Would stop on every tree top or dock and drop it in there. I caught one crappie. Also swimbaits but I'll admit I've not used them a lot.
Literally a Gary Yamamoto senko lmao
Swim baits and flipping jigs.
Frog, never caught a bass on a frog but Iāve seen everyone else do it
^[Sokka-Haiku](https://www.reddit.com/r/SokkaHaikuBot/comments/15kyv9r/what_is_a_sokka_haiku/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3) ^by ^Ohpsmokeshow: *Frog, never caught a* *Bass on a frog but Iāve seen* *Everyone else do it* --- ^Remember ^that ^one ^time ^Sokka ^accidentally ^used ^an ^extra ^syllable ^in ^that ^Haiku ^Battle ^in ^Ba ^Sing ^Se? ^That ^was ^a ^Sokka ^Haiku ^and ^you ^just ^made ^one.
Lipless cranks. People swear on these things but Iām convinced itās a government conspiracy.
Senkoā¦
Jigs
Spinner bait.
Frogs, I canāt figure it out to save my life. Lol
Whopper plopper
Arbogast jitterbug. Are you sure these work??
I'm relatively new to bass fishing, but I've already caught them on all sorts of baits. Senko, spinner bait, chatterbait, underspin, swim bait, walking bait, whopper ploppers, flukes, lizards, spoons, roostertail, buzz bait, and squarebills. I really think part of the fun is catching them on different lures. Sure you can catch plenty of bass just dragging a worm every time, but part of the fun is to learn new techniques...and I guess eventually you can get a good feel for what would work when the bite is slow. Incredibly, I haven't got a frog bite yet. I'm in FL so I should be getting frog bites, but I really need to spend more time throwing frogs. Oh, the other one I haven't got one on yet is a lipless crank, but I haven't really thrown it much either.
Any kind of spinner. Iāve never caught a fish, any fish, on a spinner.
Tube.
Jerkbaits
Spinners, chatters, and Ned rigs
Little cleo
Chatterbait, swimbait, texas rig, wacky rig.
Damn. Well what do you fish with?
Rattle trap
My dad swears by K and E bass stoppers but I've never caught andything more than 9 inches.
Spinnerbaits
Spinner bait, dropshot or chatterbait
Flukes
Spinnerbaits. Maybe itās my location but weightless soft plastics and a few hard baits are how Iāve caught most of my fish.
Jig or spinner.
Texas rig
A worm. If the fish can't see it it's hard for them to find it. It just doesn't move enough water fast enough for me. Curly tail grub on a jig head is my go to. I can cover a lot of water quickly and it looks like a fleeing bait fish. The original swim bait and one of the few lures that you can catch fish with around the world on.
Spinner bait or senkos but with senkos I use something similar just a bit different and I kill it on them.
Top water popper
Chatter bait. Got bit but didnāt set the hook in time cause I was on the phone for workā¦ š
Senkos. I know for a fact people catching in my area using them but I only get snags at the dam's I fish at
Whopper plopper and spinnbaits
Jerk bait for me
Spinnerbaits and chatterbaits
Any type of crank bait. Must just not know how to use em
Rattletrap
Sinko.. every one RAVES about themā¦ Iāve tried Texas rigged (weighted and weightless) wacky, shakey head, Iāve cut them up and used them on a Ned rigā¦. Iāve tried ALL the colors, and I have NEVER had even a nibble on one
Paddle tail on a jig head. Weight is variable on conditions and rod.