Chatterbait Vs Rattletrap

[jmoore020965]

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?

[Sam]

Never thought about comparing the Chatterbait and a lipless crankbait as I use both at different times of the year.

 

I  throw a lipless crankbait in the spring and fall in all bodies of water.

 

I throw the Chatterbait in the summer on rivers.

 

Since there are no rules in bass fishing that must be followed, and depending on where you live and the waters you fish, either bait can produce strikes at any time and anywhere.

 

Both baits can be fished under identical conditions so give them a shot and see which one produces the most strikes. And remember you can fish a Chatterbait over pads and surface grass while you cannot fish a lipless crankbait over pads and surface grass.  Since both make lots of noise they are used in stained and dirty water.

 

Regular crankbaits have their place in your arsenal. The square bills are designed to be pulled over and through wood; crankbaits are used to find deeper holding bass; the colors are used to mimic forage at different depths and times of the year; some make noise while others are silent for different applications; and crankbaits are also used as search baits to find the bass.

 

The guys will be adding their input to this post so please read what they add.

 

Just remember, you have to experiment with all types of baits until you find the "pattern."  You can use these two baits as search baits along with a crankbait or by themselves.

 

Please let us know how you do with your experiment.

 

You can use the lipless and Chatterbait like a crankbait

[jmoore020965]

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.

[jmoore020965]

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.

[Senko lover]

I can throw a chatterbait in places where I would be a little more hesitant to throw a ratltrap. A chatterbait is a little quieter than a Trap, although it has more vibration and flash. 

Good question, I really don't know the answer!  

[gardnerjigman]

I don't think they are even on the same spectrum of techniques. 

[NathanW]

If you don't see the use for regular crankbaits anymore because the existance of Traps and Vibrating jigs I suggest you get better at crankbait fishing. At least get to that novice level of crankbait fishing because at that point you will clearly understand the advantages and disadvantages of a regular crankbait. 

[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."

[jmoore020965]

Look at it this way- if you had a sinking hard lure that didn't vibrate or rattle, you would probably never use it over a swim jig. That is where my line of thinking starts, and I'm trying to follow it down the line to different hard bodied lures and see how much it holds up. I'm not suggesting *necessarily* it holds up all the way to this convo, but on some level it does, and I'd like to see some seasoned vets' input on specific advantages and disadvantages.

[gardnerjigman]

K.I.S.S.....

[jmoore020965]

Haha that's true- and in the end that's my goal. Maybe that means different things for you and me. For you it means take the information as it's presented to you. For me it means simplify the system as much as possible by eliminating redundancy and inefficient designs in every area possible. Yes this requires more thought and theory, but that's what I get stoked on so I don't mind. Regardless, both of us are attempting to keep it simple, just with different definitions of what simple means. I'm also only a few years into serious bass fishing, so I'm trying to understand as much as possible. This type of analyzing helps me understand.

[Fishes in trees]

For me - two different baits - two different purposes - kinda.   A lipless crank - rattle trap style bait (although I never use Rattle Traps) for me, its purpose it to run over the tops of whatever grass/vegetation is available - at a pretty rapid pace.   Early spring - it might be 2 feet deep.  Late fall - same thing.  In-between, whatever depth the grass is, I want a bait that I can pull pretty fast over the top of the grass.  If the grass is topping out 2 feet below the surface in 8 feet of water, I still use the trap to tick the tops of the grass.  Once grass gets matted over or otherwise gets too thick - trap don't work for me.

 

A chatterbait, I will use interchangeably with a spinnerbait.   Some days the fish prefer one over the other.  I've gotten more multi species action of the chatter bait.   I've caught 3 channel cats in the 5 lb range on a chatter bait in 3 to 5 feet of water.   Never had a catfish hit a spinner bait.   For me, if the pattern involves bumping a lot of stumps, a spinner bait works better for me than a chatter bait.  But that seems to be a day to day thing for me.  JMO

[Jon G]

Totally different baits just because they make noise does not make them similar...

[iabass8]

Two entirely different baits that excel in different situations. 

[J Francho]

I use them both for fishing. That's where the similarity ends.

[jmoore020965]

I just cannot imagine how any of you guys can say that a chatterbait is all that different from a lipless crank.  Its not just about the noise, its about the side to side action, the fact that its representing a baitfish, and yes, its noisy. 

I'm not saying they're exactly the same and they work exactly the same in the same situations.  I'm saying they have a very similar side to side action, they both make a fair amount of HF and LF noise, and I have no clue what situations one would work better over the other.  That's why I'm asking.

As far as fishability is concerned, the chatterbait wins out every time for me because of the upward turned single hook (I'm always throwing my search baits into the gunk, I can't imagine fishing any other way.) 

...It's a simple question- *when would you* choose rattle trap, *when would you* choose a chatterbait.  If you guys would seriously never consider them to be useful in the same situations, then which situations would each excel in for you?

[jmoore020965]

http://www.ebay.com/itm/CUSTOM-MADE-DEEP-DIVING-CHATTERBAITS-BIGBASSBAITS-NET-FISHING-LURE-CHATTERBAITS-/181741515728

I just did a search for "diving chatterbait" to see if there was a good solution to get more action on the downward dive, such as in a standard crankbait, and I happened to come up with this ebay listing.

",BRAND NEW CUSTOM HAND PAINTED AND MADE PROFESSIONAL TOURNAMENT WINNING CHATTERBAITS-DEEP DIVERS.THE HOTEST BAIT EVERY SERIOUS FISHERMEN IS USING   HERES THE SECRET  INSTEAD OF THOWING DEEP DIVING CRANKBAITS ALL SUMMER SWITCH TO A HEAVY MODEL DEEP RUNNING WEEDLESS SUPER SHARP CHATTERBAIT.CHOSE BETWEEN 3/4 OR 1 OUNCE IN FOUR DIFFRENT COLORS
 

WE ARE PRO GUIDES FISHING THE FAMOUS LAKE GUNTERSVILLE AND THIS IS THE FIRST YEAR USING OUR DEEP RUNNING CHATTERBAITS AND WE ARE CATCHING GIANT BASS EVERY DAY BECAUSE THEY  HAVE NEVER SEEN THIS BAIT DEEP!!!!!

 

.We are on the lakes everyday andnot only USE these baits but we have Bassmaster elite pros throwing them."

Not saying that vendors won't lie, but I don't think I'm the crazy one here.  If heavy chatterbaits work as well as deep diving cranks, then it would make sense that a standard chatterbait will work as well as rattle trap.  Obviously there are differences, but I cannot agree that they are "two completely different baits with completely different uses."
 

 

[beagle 25]

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.

yeah it amazes me how those 6 hooks will get wrapped up in everything except a basses mouth

[Jon G]

Chatterbaits are usually fished with a slow steady retrieve while lipless cranks are usually burned, yo-yo'd, killed, and ripped and popped hard. 

 

You are saying that they are the same do to noise and action. If that were the case almost all the lures we use "are the same"

[jmoore020965]

So you don't think that a lipless crank is more similar to a chatterbait than say a jerkbait or texas rig?

PS I have had a ton of luck burning, yo-yoing, starting and stopping, etc with a chatterbait.  It seems fish ALSO like it slow, more-so than a trap, and my theory for that is it has more lifelike action and appearance, so when you slow a trap down, the fish get a good look at it, and aren't as interested.  That's just my experience though.

[jmoore020965]

Look at it in the water- it's not just "action"- it's the same action as a trap or crank.  Side to side swimming action.  Those are the only two classes of bait that offer that same action.  Seriously guys?  I think I'm about to give up on this with you guys.

 

PS I never said they were the same, I just said they have many similar elements.

[deep]

My head hurts.

[deep]

P.S. Try a scrounger.

[jmoore020965]

Scroungers are close but their action is more of a vibrating barrel roll. They don't "swing" side to side so much as "rotate" side to side which doesn't move nearly the same amount of water as a crank or chatterbait' side to side swing. Kind of a "finesse" cranking jig.

Consider this- so many people consider a chatterbait to be interchangeable with a spinnerbait. Why? It stands to reason that a chatter bait has a lot more in common with a crankbait. Is this theory completely lost on all you guys?

[Jon G]

I'm really lost now on what you are trying to explain......