Chatterbait Review

[lizardsrule]

Well I decided that I needed to play with the Chatterbait today This was not my first time throwing it, however I threw it only briefly previously, while I was catching fish at the time. It didn't catch any fish, so I changed back to what was working which was a t-rigged Baby Paca Craw at that time. I decided before I went out today I was going to give the bait a good workout and did, I fished it for approx 3.5 hours today, out of my 9 hours of fishing. I will break it down into two sections. Section 1 will be titled, "What Chatterbaits Do Well", and the second section will be titled "what Chatterbaits Do Not So Well".

What Chatterbaits Do Well!

The Chatterbait is a very eratic moving bait at times, and very consistant at others. It gives off a very unique vibration while retrieving this bait. I could actually see my line making a consistant wiggle while steadily retirieving it. However with a slight twitch while retrieving, the bait will make a more eratic jump so to speak. Also when Pumping the bait on the retrieve, you can get a much more eratic action, then a straight retrieve. I will not say this is a "DO ALL" bait but it definately has a place from now on in my tackle bag. The bait only takes a very minimal depth to achieve the vibrating, however you must have it submerged some, it will not vibrate on top of the water trying to retrieve to fast, but you can pump it out of the water, then let if fall back just a little. The action and vibration will notify every fish in the vicinity that it's there, much more than a spinnerbait or loud crankbait. It did catch some bass today, and some bowfin, and had lot's of gar banging it. This is probably IMO the newest "GOOD" baits I've seen come out in a long time. You can fish it in a variety of retrieves, speeds, and depths. The trailers are matched up well, and made of some very elastic plastic, and are quite durable. The bait also stayed consistant all day with it's action. I believe it to be a different variation of a spinnerbait per se, so you can fish it any of the same ways you might like to fish a spinnerbait, with a few limitations on that. I also fished it with a trailer hook, and it still moved well, and the twin tentacle trailer did a decent job of even concealing the trailer hook. Most of the timewhen I would get weeds on it, either a hard jerk of the fishing rod or letting it fall some, and then jerking it would more often than not remove the weeds. I did like the skirt, with almost a hard plastic type o-ring. The blade appears to be very durable, and was not chipped or bent after going through the ringer.

What A Chatterbait Do Not So Well!

This has been mentioned on this site before, however it deserves to mentioned again. They have poor hooks, and need to be sharpened before you ever get them wet. I had 4 brand new ones to use today, and all of them were what I consider dull right out of the package. They do not have any real action of the fall, other than the skirt, it's much like a Jig when let fall without the bigger/bulkier trailers usually used with Jig's. It doesn't move through weeds very well IMO. It will get caught up on most anykind of weed, but does go through most pads pretty well. Now When saying it doesn't go through weeds well, that is compared to a standard spinnerbait. The finish on the hooks and heads will come off without much effort, which doesn't bother me to bad. They are not easy with the line tie and blade on the front to walk over much on any obstacle, without becoming caught on that object. The hookup ratio was poor, however this could be due to what was biting(if it was gar, they are almost impossible to hook anyway, and bowfin are also more difficult than a Bass). I also believe a thinner hook might help with the hookup ratio, and yes it was sharpened before I started to use the bait. The skirts come down quickly and regularly from the lip. I even used Pro's Soft Bait Glue to attempt to keep it up, but that didn't even work for long(that's the first time I've had anything with the glue not stayed glued).

Overall on a scale from 1-10 I would rate this bait a 7. Mainly because of the vibrations, and action is not like any other lure I've used. However I believe if they want to make it better, some quality hooks would go a long way. Also they need to figure out a better way to secure the skirt, the trailer pushed up tight to it helps, but not enough. I would use this bait over submerged vegetation, or through smaller pads, or pads that are not too tight together, not however in really thick vegetation like do a spinnerbait. The bait performed and did catch bass, so I know it will work. However if they ever get the materials/quality up, that would go a long way in my appreciation of them. They are $5.99 at dicks where I bought them several months ago, and for the most part are worth the money. They however are not the "BEST" fish catcher at all times, and all conditions. These were "MY" observations of this bait, along with "MY" opinons only. I do not have any affiliation with Chatterbaits or any lure manufacturer, other than I keep a lot of them in Business LOL.

Lizards