By Michelle Armstrong
In early 2000 that boy I married and myself were traveling for a couples tournament in Greenwood, SC. While visiting a local tackle shop I saw this lure called a Chatterbait. It was a peculiar looking thing. I thought it looked like a swim jig attached to a piece of tin. Curiosity won so we made the purchase.
I attached a curly tail grub as the trailer and off we went. At first cast, I liked how far I could throw it. Upon retrieve I was taken aback by the vibration I felt. Upon hookset on a fish, I had a knee jerk reaction and away the fish went. It was a learning curve but I quickly learned to give it a second after the strike, quite like the moments you wait with a topwater bait, and voila, fish in the boat! Needless to say, the Chatterbait has been a basic necessity in my arsenal ever since.
The Chatterbait shines when other moving baits lose their luster. For instance, when a crankbait only gets a sniff or you feel it get blasted and the Bass just aren’t committing, try the Chatterbait. No one says you have to start reeling as soon as it hits the water. You can count it down to different depths. If you are using a 4-6’ diving crankbait count the CB down…one Mississippi, Two Mississippi, three…you get the point.
The Chatterbait shines on its own in almost any condition. A Lot of fisherman love the CB under cloudy conditions and when it’s raining and a spinnerbait isn’t producing. I’ll not argue that the CB works great under these circumstances. Many times during a rain storm I’ll chose the is over a spinner bait. But don’t get caught up in the norm and limit the possibilities of the Chatterbait. It also shines in clear water and on sunny days. A prime example, while I was throwing a frog over grass on a bright clear morning, the fish were just swatting at the frog.
I picked up my Chatterbait and started fishing over the grass. Several times when the grass grabbed the bait, a few light twitches and the bait would break loose often creating a reaction strike.
In more recent days, I prefer to add a fluke as my trailer. I like to stick with white on white CB’s and flukes or more natural colors. I rig on a Powell 7ft Inferno with 17 lb fluorocarbon line. This does the trick even when fishing over grass.
I haven’t found a condition yet where a Chatterbait couldn’t serve the purpose of putting fish in the boat.
Now go catch fish.