Product Awareness Z Man Elite Chatterbait

[SGT Rico]

I just got back from one of those magical fall days here in Georgia. I visited a local pond and the bite was on! After messing around with some lures, I found the recipe they were looking for. The good ole trusty Chatterbait.

 

That's when the problem began. I ordered 4 3/8oz Zman Elite Chatterbaits. While casting one of them, I noticed that it wouldn't swim true all the time. When it did, and I was around fish, they'd clobber it.

 

I cut the one I was throwing and swapped out to another of the same kind. Again, the same problem . Sometimes it would swim true, and some cast it wouldn't. After getting frustrated with it, I looked around my tackle boxes and found one original chatterbait. Never had an issue with it! I caught around 10 fish on that lure and it never fouled while retrieving it. Fish after fish, the original  chatterbait work great.

 

I started looking at both lures when I got home and found some odd things with the Elite. I've taken pictures of both of these for yall to look at them and chime in.

 

The blades are less bent on the Elite and the wire that retains the blade itself is a different design. Note: blade comes off easier on the elite than they do on the original. 

 

I purchased 4 and so far two of them are going in the trash. I might have gotten duds, but 2 out of 4 is not good.

 

My setup I was using today was a 7' MH Veritas and the reel was a Curado E5. My line was Suffix 832 50lb braid.

 

[Bluebasser86]

Quality control issues was part of why I started making my own. It seemed like I had to buy a few of the original chatterbaits to get one that had good paint/skirt/hook/blade all in one bait. Some the skirts would never stay up, hooks were dull or rusted fast, paint chipped off really easily, or I really had to work hard to tune the blade to swim right. I think they've worked out a lot of those issues but no desire to go back since the homemade versions are working just as good and I get to modify them to how I want them to look. 

[Sam]

Thanks for the heads up.

Appreciate it.

[slonezp]

Catch a pike on one and you can kiss it goodbye

[ww2farmer]

I am not a big chatterbait guy, but I am going to make my own for the few times I throw them. All the z-man one's I have bought have either rusted or fallen apart, the only good thing about them are the skirts.

[MarkH024]

Strike King Pure Poison is a better chatter imo. Better colors, doesn't rust out, better hook.

[iabass8]

I can't wait to try out that pure poison bladed swim jig.

[beagle 25]

I like the frenzy vibe but the blades come out of the package strait like in your photo I just put a little bend in them and they work perfectly the only thing with the frenzy you have to watch out for is with the swinging hook it will twist and not run true 

[dam0007]

Can't you just bend the blade in the new ones to match the old ones? I tweak cranks all the time that aren't swimming inline on retrieve.

[beagle 25]

That's what I did with the frenzy vibes and it worked

[craww]

The originals work better for me also..The components ain't so great (rust, hooks get dull) but they're so cheap and the alternatives just don't catch as many fish for me. The way I look at it, they're so snagless 3-4 at the tune 14 bucks or so lasts me all season and into the nexy year if not rusted...So I can live with it lol knowing they have the right action.

[DanielN]

I just got back from one of those magical fall days here in Georgia. I visited a local pond and the bite was on! After messing around with some lures, I found the recipe they were looking for. The good ole trusty Chatterbait.

 

That's when the problem began. I ordered 4 3/8oz Zman Elite Chatterbaits. While casting one of them, I noticed that it wouldn't swim true all the time. When it did, and I was around fish, they'd clobber it.

 

I cut the one I was throwing and swapped out to another of the same kind. Again, the same problem . Sometimes it would swim true, and some cast it wouldn't. After getting frustrated with it, I looked around my tackle boxes and found one original chatterbait. Never had an issue with it! I caught around 10 fish on that lure and it never fouled while retrieving it. Fish after fish, the original  chatterbait work great.

 

I started looking at both lures when I got home and found some odd things with the Elite. I've taken pictures of both of these for yall to look at them and chime in.

 

The blades are less bent on the Elite and the wire that retains the blade itself is a different design. Note: blade comes off easier on the elite than they do on the original. 

 

I purchased 4 and so far two of them are going in the trash. I might have gotten duds, but 2 out of 4 is not good.

 

My setup I was using today was a 7' MH Veritas and the reel was a Curado E5. My line was Suffix 832 50lb braid.

 

I was directed towards this thread and wanted to respond on behalf of Z-Man.  We appreciate any and all feedback on our products, good or bad - fortunately, we get a lot more positive feedback on the ChatterBait, but we're definitely receptive to any kind of constructive feedback that we can get to help us make a better bladed jig. 

 

My apologies for your experience with the ChatterBait Elite.  Something was definitely off with the Elites you got, and we will gladly send you replacements (just shoot me a message through this site).  The Elite runs a little bit differently than the Original due to a slightly different head shape and a molded-in eyelet that puts the blade closer to the head.  Most of our pros and the anglers we've talked to prefer the action of the Elite to that of Original, namely because the blade makes more contact with the jghead and creates more of a "chattering" sound that gave this bait its name.  It's hard to tell, but it appears that the eyelet on the bait in your picture may not be molded into the head correctly, and the flat surface on the eyelet may be causing the blade to catch.  We saw this on some of the early Elites and have since made some changes in the manufacturing process to prevent this going forward.  Again, just get in touch and we will send you replacements along with a return shipping label for the baits you have - we would like to check them out to see where we went wrong so we can eliminate mistakes like this going forward.

 

Good catch on the difference in the bend on the blades - you are correct that the blade on the Elite is not as curved as the blade on the Original.  This should not make much of a difference in the action though, and the blades can be easily tuned if you want a little bit more or less bend in either. 

 

As far as the Original ChatterBaits go, we've made a lot of improvements to these baits over the last few years and are always looking for ways to make the Original even better.  Several years ago, we received complaints about hooks, so we switched to a higher quality custom needlepoint hook that is very sharp.  We've received a lot of great feedback about the new hook.  Overall, we feel like we're making a much better product now than ever before, and the number of pros using (and winning money on) the ChatterBait speaks to that.

 

Thanks for sharing your experience on the Elite, and please get in touch so we can get some replacements out to you!

[Primus]

ZMFish I am impressed with your response to this thread, to be honest with you I had previously had a poor opinion of your company because the chatterbaits that I purchased in the past I thought were made poorly component wise especially the dull hook. I had no doubts  about the ability of the bait to catch fish but because of the poor components I had sought out alternatives and I had settled on the Strike King design. I will be more open to the chatterbait when I purchase these types of baits in the future. Question, since it's been a while since I have used a chatterbait, is their a trailer keeper on the bait ? Thanks

[smalljaw67]

ZMFish I am impressed with your response to this thread, to be honest with you I had previously had a poor opinion of your company because the chatterbaits that I purchased in the past I thought were made poorly component wise especially the dull hook. I had no doubts  about the ability of the bait to catch fish but because of the poor components I had sought out alternatives and I had settled on the Strike King design. I will be more open to the chatterbait when I purchase these types of baits in the future. Question, since it's been a while since I have used a chatterbait, is their a trailer keeper on the bait ? Thanks

 

From the picture it appears they use a molded barb rather than a wire keeper, personally I think the molded barb is better, keepers were designed to eliminate the amount of lead on the hook shank but I never had a problem with having baits pulled off lead barbs. The other thing is I'm speculating Z-Man makes the bait to be used with their Elaztec plastic baits and those don't do well with wire keepers.

[CTGalloway21]

my trailers on my Z-Man melted together and screwed all of mine up.  I will never buy another Z-Man product again.  haha

[roadwarrior]

I was directed towards this thread and wanted to respond on behalf of Z-Man.  We appreciate any and all feedback on our products, good or bad - fortunately, we get a lot more positive feedback on the ChatterBait, but we're definitely receptive to any kind of constructive feedback that we can get to help us make a better bladed jig. 

 

My apologies for your experience with the ChatterBait Elite.  Something was definitely off with the Elites you got, and we will gladly send you replacements (just shoot me a message through this site).  The Elite runs a little bit differently than the Original due to a slightly different head shape and a molded-in eyelet that puts the blade closer to the head.  Most of our pros and the anglers we've talked to prefer the action of the Elite to that of Original, namely because the blade makes more contact with the jghead and creates more of a "chattering" sound that gave this bait its name.  It's hard to tell, but it appears that the eyelet on the bait in your picture may not be molded into the head correctly, and the flat surface on the eyelet may be causing the blade to catch.  We saw this on some of the early Elites and have since made some changes in the manufacturing process to prevent this going forward.  Again, just get in touch and we will send you replacements along with a return shipping label for the baits you have - we would like to check them out to see where we went wrong so we can eliminate mistakes like this going forward.

 

Good catch on the difference in the bend on the blades - you are correct that the blade on the Elite is not as curved as the blade on the Original.  This should not make much of a difference in the action though, and the blades can be easily tuned if you want a little bit more or less bend in either. 

 

As far as the Original ChatterBaits go, we've made a lot of improvements to these baits over the last few years and are always looking for ways to make the Original even better.  Several years ago, we received complaints about hooks, so we switched to a higher quality custom needlepoint hook that is very sharp.  We've received a lot of great feedback about the new hook.  Overall, we feel like we're making a much better product now than ever before, and the number of pros using (and winning money on) the ChatterBait speaks to that.

 

Thanks for sharing your experience on the Elite, and please get in touch so we can get some replacements out to you!

 

WOW!

 

Your response and participation on the forum is appreciated. I hope you will consider

joining our team of sponsors. I think this would be a very good fit for both your company

and BassResource.com.

 

-Kent  a.k.a. roadwarrior

Global Moderator

 

 

[DanielN]

ZMFish I am impressed with your response to this thread, to be honest with you I had previously had a poor opinion of your company because the chatterbaits that I purchased in the past I thought were made poorly component wise especially the dull hook. I had no doubts  about the ability of the bait to catch fish but because of the poor components I had sought out alternatives and I had settled on the Strike King design. I will be more open to the chatterbait when I purchase these types of baits in the future. Question, since it's been a while since I have used a chatterbait, is their a trailer keeper on the bait ? Thanks

 

The Original ChatterBait does not have a trailer keeper, but the ChatterBait Elite has a molded-in trailer keeper.

[JKarbo214]

The KaRu Lures Vibrashock was the best chatterbait on the market.  Unfortunately, they had to stop making them because of a patent amendment from a different chatterbait company that seemed to be jealous of the success of the vibrashock.  It's an absolute shame when a company makes a better product and they are forced to stop making it because a company amends a patent.  This is the exact reason I will never buy another product from this "other" chatterbait company.  Luckily, I stocked up on the vibrashocks before they stopped making them.

[MacP]

I'm all about the frenzy vibes now.   The articulating hook behind the jig head is amazing.

[Hi Salenity]

Welcome ZMFish! I've got to say I love the chatterbaits and probably have 50 bags of Elaztek? On the boat!

Great stuff!

[iabass8]

The KaRu Lures Vibrashock was the best chatterbait on the market.  Unfortunately, they had to stop making them because of a patent amendment from a different chatterbait company that seemed to be jealous of the success of the vibrashock.  It's an absolute shame when a company makes a better product and they are forced to stop making it because a company amends a patent.  This is the exact reason I will never buy another product from this "other" chatterbait company.  Luckily, I stocked up on the vibrashocks before they stopped making them.

100% agree. best chatterbait i've ever used. i believe the company is under new management according to their facebook page last year and orders have to be made via his fleabay store. i haven't check in a while though.

[Megastink]

Can I have your "defective" chatter baits?

[Bluebasser86]

Welcome ZMFish! I've got to say I love the chatterbaits and probably have 50 bags of Elaztek? On the boat!

Great stuff!

 

And that's just the Zinkers!   Love the Zman plastics, haven't ever had the problems with melting others have had? They melt if mixed with regular plastics but I keep them in my bag all through our 100 degree summer days and haven't had one melt yet. Rigging them so they stand off the bottom is killer!

[AQUA VELVA]

I bought a few of the originals in black just for night fishing and they seem to work great. Only change I made was to put a fuller longer skirt on them with a trailer hook.

[JKarbo214]

KaRu Lures is in fact under new management and you can now get the Vibrashock once again.  I'd highly recommend you try it if you haven't already. In my opinion it is the best chatterbait on the market.