Chatterbait Chatter: Tips and Techniques to Get the Most from a Chatterbait

If you haven’t been throwing a chatterbait, you don’t know what you’re missing! A worthy addition to any angler’s tackle bag, chatterbaits are just the right medicine when you need an aggressive presentation that maximizes vibration and erratic action.

But as Ron Davis, who helped design the very first chatterbait, warns, "A very small percentage of the people who bought the bait learned how to use it … When something new comes out, everyone has got to get one. But unless you have a little success with it, you won't use it much."

That’s a real shame, and the chatterbait has been called “the best bait that everyone owns and nobody throws."

So whether you’ve never tried one, or have owned them for years, I’d like to offer a few chatterbait tips and techniques to improve their performance and help you catch the fish of a lifetime.

Keep reading to learn how to fish a chatterbait!

• How To Fish a Spinnerbait
• How To Fish a Popper
• How to fish a jerkbait
• How to fish a Crankbait
• How to fish a fluke
• Jerkbaits vs Crankbaits

Chatterbait Basics

Chatterbaits are essentially improved jigs, and they’re specifically designed to outperform spinnerbaits and square-bills in the grass. By adding a large, hexagonal blade to a time-tested design, they up the ante on vibration, while preserving the skirt and/or soft plastic action that jigs are already justifiably famous for.

The result: an undeniably deadly combination of extreme vibration and tempting action.

And unlike the longer blades of your spinners, that single squared-off blade on a chatterbait makes a lot of noise. As Steve Wright explains, “Ronny Davis's much-tinkered with design makes the hexagonal blade bounce off the lead head of the jig and reverse itself.” That wild vibration makes this lure a killer, especially in high-pressure lakes and rivers.

Chatterbaits are also perfect choices when spinnerbaits are simply too fast for the conditions, and the possible range of trailers makes them among the most versatile options out there. And because they can be rigged Texas-style with those soft plastic trailers, they’re ideal for working thick vegetation like weed beds that simply bedevil a conventional spinner or crankbait.

That’s where they’re at their best.

And whether you’re fishing bass or pike, walleye or muskie, the chatterbait deserves a place in your tackle bag.

When to Throw a Chatterbait

From what I’ve said above, there are a few simple ways to know if a chatterbait is the best choice:

• In weeds and grass. Chatterbaits are built to slide through vegetation that will catch spinners and crankbaits. Sporting a single hook, they work like jigs, swim like crankbaits, and vibrate like a spinner on steroids!
• In dirty water, especially if there’s a bit of breeze. I like to throw chatterbaits in roughly the same conditions that favor spinners.
  That’s the conventional wisdom. But plenty of anglers swear by them in clear water, too, as I’ll discuss in a moment.
• In clear water, especially below 60 degrees. Chatterbaits aren’t just for dirty water, though, and if you give them a try, especially when the bass are too sluggish for spinners, you’ll be amazed by just how effective they can be!

Check out our guide for the best chatterbait trailers

Chatterbait Tips and Techniques: How To Fish A Chatterbait

Slow down

Chatterbaits are generally at their best when fished slowly, whether that’s rolling them over and around a rock pile or popping them gently from a weed bed.

You don’t want to burn these guys through the water; so slow down and have confidence that the lure will call the fish to you. But that means that you need to work them correctly!

Work the action

Chatterbaits are at their most effective when you actively work them. A robotic retrieve just can’t wring the most from them, but a few quick pumps of your rod, a wriggle here and there, and some extra erratic action get that blade moving and the trailer swimming.

• Pop and reel. Start by letting your lure sink to the bottom. Next, pop it with a quick pump of your rod, and retrieve for a few seconds. Then, let it fall again and repeat. I find this is especially good with craw trailers.
• A slow, steady retrieve is something to try, especially with flukes and craws. Between the skirt, the blade, and those trailing bits of soft plastic, this can be murder when you zip your chatterbait just over the tops of weed beds.
• Hopping along the bottom. Working your chatterbait like a jig, making it rise and fall to the bottom in short hops or jumps, is often money. Especially in cooler water, when the bass are holding deeper, low, slow presentations are king. But don’t shy away from this technique in any season.

Interested in a new rod? See our selection of the best rods for bass fishing

Want to see these techniques in action--underwater?

Match the hatch in clearer water; go vibrant when it’s murky

As with most lures, you want to go natural in clear water and bright when it’s murky, dirty, or stained. For natural options, look to match your local hatch, whether that’s ciscoe or perch for pike, or frogs and shiners for bass.

In muddy water, colors like white and chartreuse are always solid options, and given the immense range of soft plastic trailers available, you can have your pick of colors and styles.

Best Chatterbaits

Keep in mind that pretty much any large, aggressive species will hit a chatterbait, so from pike to bass, walleye to muskie, these combinations will get it done.

Right off the bat, I’ll admit I’m biased toward Z-Craws and Brush Hogs in clearer water, keeping my paddle-tails and flukes for higher turbidity applications. That’s just my experience--your mileage may vary.

I also prefer the skirt and trailer to either alone. For my money, more is better!

I generally throw the ⅜ ounce chatterbait, and if short strikes are a problem, I’ll trim down the head of the trailer until they stop. Just take it easy, and start small with those reductions!

⅜ Ounce Z-Man Original ChatterBait with a Lake Fork Trophy Lures Live Magic Shad trailer

One of the most popular chatterbaits out there, the Z-Man Original--when paired with the impressive Lake Fork Trophy Lures Live Magic Shad--has the action that just turns fish on.

And whether you retrieve this awesome combo with a steady, slow cadence or work the bottom in short hops, all that fluttering action and vibration is a recipe for a hard hit.

I like pumpkin colors for both, but your options are almost limitless.

⅜ Ounce Z-Man Original ChatterBait and a Zoom Z-Craw trailer

This is perhaps my favorite pairing: the Z-Man in “Perch” and the 4 ½-inch Z-Craw in “California 420.” Those tiny speckles of red on the chatterbait and trailer, when combined with the swimming action of the craw, are just murder.

Whether you buzz these over weed tops, plop them into the thick stuff and work them out, or run them down the outside edge of the grass, bass and pike can’t leave them alone. Anything from quick pops, to varying your retrieve, to just letting it flutter between cranks will get the fish going crazy!

⅜ Ounce Z-Man Original ChatterBait and a Zoom Bait 7-Inch Magnum Super Fluke trailer

In murky, dirty, or stained water, light, vibrant colors can be killer. That’s when I’ll turn to the Z-Man in “Sexy Shimmer Blue” rigged with a “White Pearl” 7” Zoom Super Fluke.

Between action, vibration, and smell, this combo’s got you covered, drawing hits in water where vision will be limited.

⅜ Ounce Z-MAN Chatterbait Elite and a Zoom Bait Swimmin Super Fluke trailer

Another muddy/stained water pairing that I like is the Z-Man Elite and the Zoom Swimming Super Fluke. In “Chrome White” and “Baby Bass,” respectively, you’ll have the lifelike tail action of the awesome Zoom paddler, the fringed skirt of the chatterbait, and plenty of color and vibration to summon a strike.

The Elite is just a tad beefier than the regular Z-man and features a 5/0 Gamakatsu hook.

Final Thoughts

In the hands of a confident angler who knows how to work them, chatterbaits are a truly effective option. Especially when the lake or river you’re fishing gets a lot of pressure, that extra action and vibration can be just the ticket to impressive hits, even after the area you’re fishing has been worked-over by others.

I hope these tips and techniques will encourage you to try chatterbaits more often, and if they work for you, please let us know!

Check our our selection of the bass fishing lures!