jmoore020965

Gardnerjigman they are clearly very similar baits- loud vibrating swimming baitfish. I'm just curious what situations would make you guys want to pull out a crank vs trap vs vibrating jigs. (Other than "I tried it and the fish took it so I kept fishing it lol") NathanW I can come up with plenty of disadvantages but only one advantage that I listed above- the fact that cranks have the most action on the way down instead of the way up. That being said I'm curious to know if there's any jig based lures that have that diving wobble like a crank. Maybe if you bent the chatterbait blade down just right. I'm also curious about what advantages and disadvantages you would list personally. I guess another crankbait advantage is that it floats when you stop, which can have the appearance of a dying baitfish. Senko lover provided some interesting insight that a trap is louder than a chatterbait, but it has more flash and vibration. So maybe in muddier water at times when the fish are more active, a chatterbait would shine?... One thing (I think) I know about bass hearing is that the high frequency sounds (such as from the rattling) are non-directional for a bass, but they alert the fish that something is near and tends to stir them up. The low frequency sounds/vibrations (such as a crankbaits wobble or a Colorado blade) are directional, so they help a fish locate prey and strike accurately in low visibility situations. So less HF sounds and more LF sounds (such as in a chatterbait) could maybe help the bass *find* the lure in dirty water, especially with the added flash of the blade, but without the added rattle to stir them up it might work better when they are already active. So the question begs, any tips on making the chatterbait rattle louder with less vibration and less flash? If you could control all three of these variables then I would have a hard time justifying the use of a trap over a chatterbait. It may seem silly, but I'm the type of guy who appreciates efficiency. If I can have a jig based solution instead of hard bodied lures I'm going to do it- it's a no brainier. A whole box of hard bodied lures give you the basically same number of options that a handful of jig components can give you, but the jigs will be weedless, soft-bodied, flavored, and customizable on the spot for different colors, actions, profile, etc, just by changing out the trailer or skirt. I'm not saying you guys are wrong in suggesting that I should just "fish it all until I know everything." But on a forum with the most knowledgable guys in the world, I think we could get a strong conversation about the lure theory going here. It kind of kills that conversation to dismiss it to "just go fish them until you don't have that question anymore."

And some guys might say that the treble hooks will help you hook more fish but guys with more experience will mostly argue against that- you lose so many fish on treble hooks but on a big jig hook such as on a chatterbait you rarely lose fish once they're fully hooked. Seems like the trebles just help you hook more cover.

I guess one factor I didn't consider is that there is a difference between "diving" as a crankbait does and "falling" as a rattle/chatter does. A crank bait has high fast action on the downward dive while the chatter/rattle just more or less flutters down and has the high fast action on its way back up towards your rod. This, honestly, is the only reason I could see choosing a crankbait over a chatter or rattle. And beyond that I can't see why you would choose a rattle over a chatter because like you said, you can bring a chatter over anything. So often you're constantly throwing your search baits at and past all kinds of brush, cover, banks, weeds, etc, I just can never ever justify throwing on a hard bait with two treble hooks instead of a soft/jig-type bait that has basically the same noise level and action. Plus you can switch out the colors and profile ona Chatterbait without retying. Plus the soft body will always have more action. It just seems like an obvious choice to me, but that's why I'm reaching out to see what you guys think. I know you're saying let the fish decide but I'm speaking in more of a theoretical sense, as I don't have time try everything, I'me trying to eliminate redundancy.

Are there times when you find a rattletrap works better or worse than a chatterbait? They seem to do basically the same thing, only the chatterbait is jig based so it's going to be more versatile and lifelike in many ways. What about those two compared to regular crankbaits? I just don't see much of a use for regular crankbaits anymore, since rattletraps and chatterbaits can be worked at any depth. Thoughts?

Have you ever rigged a double tailed grub sideways to represent a swimming baitfish instead of a craw? As in with the curly tails pointing up and down instead of side to side. What did you think? Not as an alternative to standard flat rigging, but as an additional option to make the bait more versatile when efficiency is important, and as an alternative to other, more conventional swimming baits like flukes or single tail grubs. I could see it working behind swim jigs, spinnerbaits, even buzzbaits for a high-action trailer for mimicking forage fish. What about other craw lures like beavers or punch craws, etc. These look great as bluegill or shell cracker imo.