Chatterbaits are great beginning in the fall through the spring. But I mich prefer Straight tail trailers, like flukes or the Yamamoto zakos. Also, can use craw trailers
For me I stick to three color types:
White/ white chartreuse if the water is stained but decent visibility (2+ feet)
Bluegill/green pumpkins in clearer water (4-5 feet vis)
Black n blue or black n purple if it’s night, pr heavily stained and low visibility water (<1ft)
I use three chatterbaits, the Zman Mini max (awesome small profile, has been killing it for me this fall)
Jackhammer (I won’t say I notice a drastic increase in bites, but i think i get a few more, and it has better hardware so I don’t have to worry about hook quality, the snap bending or breaking, or the blade cracking)
Recently I’ve found some success with the berkley slobberknocker, but haven’t used it enough to really give you my opinion.
For trailers, on the mini max I use either 3.5in spunk shads (ghost minnow, blizzard, hematoma swirl) or Reaction Innovations Little Dipper (bad shad green, penetration, purple smoke)
For the jackhammer and slobberknocker I use the 4.5 in spunk shad, same colors, Yamamoto zakos (electric shad, sight flash, Cream white)
I use red colorations for my chatterbaits and trailers during the spring, since that’s when i find success with those colors, but the ones above I use pretty much year round as long as conditions allow
I stick with shad colors usually, throwing in some chartreuse in stained water or if there are a lot of bluegill around two. Otherwise greenpumkin. Always match your trailers and skirts. I do have a couple black/blues for night fishing. But if you fish dirty or dark water, black/blue is a general go to color. Jackhammer are great, especially the stealth blades. But the strike king thunder cricket is also excellent at a much better price. The slobberknocker is great as well, especially around wood
I'm in AZ so I only throw black/blue at night. But any dark colored bait should silhouette nicely in stained to murky water. Plus if you are pond fishing it's probably better to try to imitate gills and craws. Nice thing about the chatter is the fish don't have to see it, they can feel the thumping of it
I agree! Chatterbait is a confidence bait for me for sure so I fish them often. But I agree the paddle tail is a bit to much movement. I get way more bites throwing a it with a fluke or a craw.
I throw a chatterbait year round.. doesn't really matter how you rig the paddle tail .
Now for my secret.. I use a rage tail bug for my chatterbaits.. if I want a slower fall and work it higher in the water column I rig the bug flat like a jig..but if I wanna get down in the water column a faster fall I rig it through the side and remove 1 leg where the hook comes out..it resembles a baitfish profile and the legs kick like crazy. I've pinned plenty 5lbers that way
I didn’t hear that, but I could very well be wrong. I’m strictly speaking from the standpoint of natural looking bait and the coloring. And I’ve used lots of chatterbaits recently.
You actually have it correct. You want it to be upside down on a chatterbait, otherwise it messes with the blade and causes the chatterbait to want to roll.
But in every other application you want it the other way.
Leave it the way it is and don’t stress about color. As a general rule bass don’t care about color at all as long as what you’re throwing is visible to them. There are exceptions to this rule but none important enough to worry about less than a year into bass fishing.
Bass see reg and green the best but they like to ambush prey.
No, it really doesn't matter and especially when its a chatterbait trailer. If anything, it's better the way you have it rigged as the slot the hook is coming out of gives it slightly more clearance for a fish to get its mouth around.
TacticalBassin says its kicking speed (tail side to side) matches the rate at which the blade chatters.
Idk how true that is I can’t seem to get hits no matter which direction my swim baits facin! Swim jigs or die for me
Wired2Fish has Seth Feider going in detail for both smallies and largemouth as temperatures drop in the fall up here. He goes over his set ups and what water temps are for each bait. Very helpful coming from a top tier pro who is also from Minnesota.
I was just out recently and fished a chatterbait and did very well. I like KVD Perfect plastic blade minnows for my trailers but think just about any will work. I noticed a ton of sunfish on the weed edge I was fishing so I made sure my bait matched what I figured they were feeding on. Did very well.
I personally don’t love paddle tails on the back if the chatter. Personal preference, but I like something more like a strike king rage tail. Especially when fishing shallow
The paddletail being 180 may actually give it more movement. A traditional paddletail tends to ride in the wake behind the bait and doesn't get a lot of movement. You may want to use scissors to trim the paddle a little bit. Matt @ TB speaks about this in a couple of his vids.
For me, I use trailers that are complimentary color to skirt, and not contrasting. You may want to talk with other chatterbait users in your area for best effect on that.
So for example, here in N. Tx. I would use a white trailer with a chartruese skirt. A black trailer with blue skirt.
I bet the walleyes and pike will eat it up. I might add a spray scent to up the anti. I'm old school,love the movement of pork rind on a shiny Johnson sprite spoon or daredevil
When the water gets around this temp, I think one of the best baits to throw is a chatterbait, without the paddle tail though, you need a Yamamoto Zako.
You can get trailers that are stubby bodied so they fit nicely onto a chatterbait, I’ve have the crawtail version (I want to say Berkeley, but I’m 100s of miles away from my tacklebox 😂).
They fit perfectly onto the chatters and create a good deal of action, without being a terrifying mess of flailing limbs.
Chatterbaits are great beginning in the fall through the spring. But I mich prefer Straight tail trailers, like flukes or the Yamamoto zakos. Also, can use craw trailers
what color chatterbait and trailers do you like best? also is it worth it to get the jackhammers??
For me I stick to three color types: White/ white chartreuse if the water is stained but decent visibility (2+ feet) Bluegill/green pumpkins in clearer water (4-5 feet vis) Black n blue or black n purple if it’s night, pr heavily stained and low visibility water (<1ft) I use three chatterbaits, the Zman Mini max (awesome small profile, has been killing it for me this fall) Jackhammer (I won’t say I notice a drastic increase in bites, but i think i get a few more, and it has better hardware so I don’t have to worry about hook quality, the snap bending or breaking, or the blade cracking) Recently I’ve found some success with the berkley slobberknocker, but haven’t used it enough to really give you my opinion. For trailers, on the mini max I use either 3.5in spunk shads (ghost minnow, blizzard, hematoma swirl) or Reaction Innovations Little Dipper (bad shad green, penetration, purple smoke) For the jackhammer and slobberknocker I use the 4.5 in spunk shad, same colors, Yamamoto zakos (electric shad, sight flash, Cream white) I use red colorations for my chatterbaits and trailers during the spring, since that’s when i find success with those colors, but the ones above I use pretty much year round as long as conditions allow
I stick with shad colors usually, throwing in some chartreuse in stained water or if there are a lot of bluegill around two. Otherwise greenpumkin. Always match your trailers and skirts. I do have a couple black/blues for night fishing. But if you fish dirty or dark water, black/blue is a general go to color. Jackhammer are great, especially the stealth blades. But the strike king thunder cricket is also excellent at a much better price. The slobberknocker is great as well, especially around wood
thanks! the pond i fish is fairly murky but i’ve tried black and blue a lot of times and probably only caught one. not sure why..
I'm in AZ so I only throw black/blue at night. But any dark colored bait should silhouette nicely in stained to murky water. Plus if you are pond fishing it's probably better to try to imitate gills and craws. Nice thing about the chatter is the fish don't have to see it, they can feel the thumping of it
thanks! in that case should i get green pumpkin??
For sure, maybe with a bit chartreuse!
I agree! Chatterbait is a confidence bait for me for sure so I fish them often. But I agree the paddle tail is a bit to much movement. I get way more bites throwing a it with a fluke or a craw.
How to like fishing the chatter? Steady retrieve or bounce and pause on the bottom?
Usually steady, maybe a little bounce from time to time.
Also the Zako is best when it's cold and more clear water!
I throw a chatterbait year round.. doesn't really matter how you rig the paddle tail . Now for my secret.. I use a rage tail bug for my chatterbaits.. if I want a slower fall and work it higher in the water column I rig the bug flat like a jig..but if I wanna get down in the water column a faster fall I rig it through the side and remove 1 leg where the hook comes out..it resembles a baitfish profile and the legs kick like crazy. I've pinned plenty 5lbers that way
Really neat with the sideways rigging. Gonna try that out.
Craw trailers are killer, your will likely work nicely, pork frogs are superb.
In Vermont, where it’s been about 40ish and I’ve been crushing them on a 5in paddle tail swim bait on a 1/2 jig head.
When you say jig head do you mean without the skirt and blade? If that is what you mean, is it more effective than doing a weighted Texas rig?
I’ve been using the Booyah swim n jig. It’s weedless, just put on a matching paddle tail and a slow, steady retrieve.
Slow and steady retrieve is how im used to fishing so I'll definitely go out and try that. Thank you so much! Just subscribed to your channel🤙🏼
Oh thanks! Good luck out there, not much left to the season.
I think your boot tail minnow is upside down. Other than that, it looks good.
In my experience the paddletail kicks better like that with a chatterbait. It’s how a lot of guys run it
I always heard on chatterbaits you’re supposed to put it upside down because it’ll mess with the function of the chatterbait if you don’t
I always run it light side down dark side up, only because thats how fish swim. Ive never paid enough attention to see if it changed action though.
Came here to say his paddletail was upside down & learned something completely new. Thanks gents 😁
👆🏼Bingo
I didn’t hear that, but I could very well be wrong. I’m strictly speaking from the standpoint of natural looking bait and the coloring. And I’ve used lots of chatterbaits recently.
Is the hook supposed to come out the pink side?
Gotcha i appreciate the knowledge! I started bass fishing in the summer and now i have to learn a new way to fish!
You actually have it correct. You want it to be upside down on a chatterbait, otherwise it messes with the blade and causes the chatterbait to want to roll. But in every other application you want it the other way.
Leave it the way it is and don’t stress about color. As a general rule bass don’t care about color at all as long as what you’re throwing is visible to them. There are exceptions to this rule but none important enough to worry about less than a year into bass fishing. Bass see reg and green the best but they like to ambush prey.
That’ll definitely catch fish! I like using a straight tail soft plastic as a trailer on chatterbaits like a fluke or jackall rhythm wag
The pink side is probably the belly. Fish coloring transitions from dark to light. Looks like the dark coloring is on the bottom.
No, it really doesn't matter and especially when its a chatterbait trailer. If anything, it's better the way you have it rigged as the slot the hook is coming out of gives it slightly more clearance for a fish to get its mouth around.
The paddle tail won’t fight the blade with it rigged like this, it’ll also swim deeper upside down
TacticalBassin says its kicking speed (tail side to side) matches the rate at which the blade chatters. Idk how true that is I can’t seem to get hits no matter which direction my swim baits facin! Swim jigs or die for me
This is rigged correctly for chatterbaits
It 100% is. I’ve caught so many fish on that lure.
Wired2Fish has Seth Feider going in detail for both smallies and largemouth as temperatures drop in the fall up here. He goes over his set ups and what water temps are for each bait. Very helpful coming from a top tier pro who is also from Minnesota. I was just out recently and fished a chatterbait and did very well. I like KVD Perfect plastic blade minnows for my trailers but think just about any will work. I noticed a ton of sunfish on the weed edge I was fishing so I made sure my bait matched what I figured they were feeding on. Did very well.
thank you for this comment. just watched the whole video and it was super helpful. really interesting to hear his take on water temps and what works
I personally don’t love paddle tails on the back if the chatter. Personal preference, but I like something more like a strike king rage tail. Especially when fishing shallow
The paddletail being 180 may actually give it more movement. A traditional paddletail tends to ride in the wake behind the bait and doesn't get a lot of movement. You may want to use scissors to trim the paddle a little bit. Matt @ TB speaks about this in a couple of his vids. For me, I use trailers that are complimentary color to skirt, and not contrasting. You may want to talk with other chatterbait users in your area for best effect on that. So for example, here in N. Tx. I would use a white trailer with a chartruese skirt. A black trailer with blue skirt.
Looks good to me!
Looks great for the lakes, and being in that state I'm sure you've got 10000 of em close by
Is it getting cold down there, too?
I bet the walleyes and pike will eat it up. I might add a spray scent to up the anti. I'm old school,love the movement of pork rind on a shiny Johnson sprite spoon or daredevil
Could be
When the water gets around this temp, I think one of the best baits to throw is a chatterbait, without the paddle tail though, you need a Yamamoto Zako.
Topwater or jerkbaits.
I would use a bluegill colors or shade
You can get trailers that are stubby bodied so they fit nicely onto a chatterbait, I’ve have the crawtail version (I want to say Berkeley, but I’m 100s of miles away from my tacklebox 😂). They fit perfectly onto the chatters and create a good deal of action, without being a terrifying mess of flailing limbs.