FC or Braid for Chatterbaits

[Dypsis]

I've been throwing alot more chatterbaits since the middle of last year and going forward into this year.  Are you using FC or Braid.  The master himself, Brett Hite, uses 20lb Sniper.  I use 30 or 40lb braid depending on what rod I have.  It is important to to me be able to snap grass free.  

 

Does it depend on if you are using more of a composite rod that has some give, ie braid and maybe if using a less forgiving rod where a little stretch is need go FC.  

 

Just trying to hear your thoughts and opinions on the subject.  Also, would like to hear your setup - rod specs and gear ratio.  

[bigturtle]

I use 30lb braid with 14lb mono because I fish mine on a H-MF rod

[iabass8]

I like fluoro. I've used braid. Just prefer fluoro. Both work. The right rod is more important when picking lines. 

[hunterPRO1]

i say braid, stronger, better feel, and line vis doesnt matter with moving baits normally.

[Mike L]

12# Yo-Zuri 

 

 

 

 

Mike 

[Dypsis]

6 hours ago, iabass8 said:

I like fluoro. I've used braid. Just prefer fluoro. Both work. The right rod is more important when picking lines. 

What do you like about FC more.  What specs are your rod?

16 minutes ago, Mike L said:

12# Yo-Zuri 

 

 

 

 

Mike 

Wow, I've heard Yo-Zuri has a high breaking strength but with the grass I fish I was think 15/17lb if I decide to go FC.

[Mike L]

12# Yo-Zuri has an advertised breaking strength of 19#. 

 

I don't know what kind of grasses you have, but can't imagine it being much different than what grows  down here in South and Central Fla.

I tried useing 16# Sniper but it really wasn't that much better and personaly I really don't see any advantage to useing straight, top of the line flouro for any type of moving baits. 

And I just don't trust the cheaper brands....Been there and done that. 

 

But Bottom contact? Absolutely 

 

 

 

Mike

[NHBull]

20 lb braid 10-15 lb FC........I use several rods for these but happen to have braid on them

[MickD]

FC for nothing but leader, mono or braid  depending on your preference.  I use braid with FC leader for almost everything exc baitcasting surface lures (mono).

 

[iabass8]

1 hour ago, Dypsis said:

What do you like about FC more.  What specs are your rod?

 

I prefer the way fluoro fishes in general. 

Rod is a dobyns 733

[Loomis13]

7 hours ago, Dypsis said:

I've been throwing alot more chatterbaits since the middle of last year and going forward into this year.  Are you using FC or Braid.  The master himself, Brett Hite, uses 20lb Sniper.  I use 30 or 40lb braid depending on what rod I have.  It is important to to me be able to snap grass free.  

 

Does it depend on if you are using more of a composite rod that has some give, ie braid and maybe if using a less forgiving rod where a little stretch is need go FC.  

 

Just trying to hear your thoughts and opinions on the subject.  Also, would like to hear your setup - rod specs and gear ratio.  

While not a chatter bait, I typically base my line on the rod for moving baits. If I have a moderate rod I will use braid, but I just got a Medium fast rod for cranks and will be putting flouro on it.

[JDNKC]

Floro.  Usually 15 pound tatsu or invisx.

[RichF]

17lb Fluoro for me and a heavy glass rod.  Love that combination. 

[fishballer06]

I normally use 14-17 lb. fluoro, because that's what a majority of my reels are spooled with an it works well. If I'm fishing around heavy weeds or lily pads, I'll go to braid because I find it necessary to rip it through that stuff (or rip weeds off the hook). 

 

I've experimented with 12 lb. fluoro, and I feel like it's too weak for chatterbait fishing. I was either unable to rip it through grass, or I wasn't getting good hooksets. I'd get a lot of fish to the boat and the fish would either A. come off, or B. I'd net the fish and the lure would fall out of the fishes mouth. This tells me that I wasn't getting the hook driven into the fishes mouth well enough. Probably because the thin 12 lb. line and the stretch wasn't driving with much force whenever I was out at the end of a long cast. 

[Robert Riley]

I'd make the call depending on the water clarity. I've recently tried braid and a moderate rod and it's great. I used to use 12# FC and now I use 40# braid. 

[Wayne P.]

I have been using Chatterbaits since the real original ones and always with superline.

I use 50# Spiderwire Stealth. Water clarity is an non-issue.

If you read the back of the package it states braided line for best performance.

[bagofdonuts]

14-20lb floro for me. I think the stretch is more important to the action of the bait than for the hook up. You want the chatterbait to rip out of the weeds then die and fall a bit before pick it back up. That pause is when i get almost all my bites. Stretch in the line gives a better rip/pause action for me.

[Dypsis]

Like I said I've been running braid maybe I'll try some FC and see how I like it and go from there.

[Deleted account]

I fish chatters on 15 lb Big Game or 30 lb braid depending on how where and what I'm trying to do. Around grass and pads braid gets the nod. When I want to fish a ligther head, and have a slower fall I go with the mono. MH fast for the mono, MH not quite as fast with braid.

[Logan S]

Usually 15lb flouro (sometimes heavier, but always flouro) on a Heavy/Fast glass rod.  This combo allows the bait to behave in the most productive manner when fishing through thick grass (IMO of course).  

 

You're going to be fishing a lot of the same waters as me...And around here the overwhelming majority of chatterbait fishing is going to be in shallow, grassy water like the Potomac, Upper Bay, etc so you'll probably want to tailor your stuff to that.  

 

My personal thoughts and experience on this is that braid does pop out of grass easily, but it's actually too good at it for this technique...It just comes right out quickly and easily, sometimes without 'popping' at all.  I find that I trigger more bites when I let the bait contact the grass and then load the rod tip slightly before doing a sweeping pop to break it free.  The glass rod and flouro really makes this easy and efficient.  The new class of rods made for this application aren't like your typical glass cranking rod at all and the few different models I've used are light, balanced, and sensitive.  

[blckshirt98]

I use 20lb Sniper on a Phenix X3 glass rod, works well for me!

[smr913]

I like braid on a slower rod and mono/fc on a faster rod. A bladed jig with braid and an extra fast rod is like driving over the buzz strips on the highway.  

[kbeeb374]

Last year I only had one set up for these and 12# yozuri hybrid was what I used on the 7'2'' tatula MH regular (Mod-fast).  It worked really well.  Now i'll have another set up that ill be putting 30# super slick 8 on to see what I like better.  That will be a 6'8'' MHF Aetos  I'll end up swapping reels to see which combo works better.  It doesn't seem like it could get much better but I like trying new things

[waymont]

Usually 30lb braid straight, or 15lb mono or fluorocarbon leader added. The leader may go up to 17-20 depending on the cover, but never below 15lb.

[lunkerboss923]

I'm glad I found this thread. I have been experimenting with a 1oz heavy dark sleeper and 6" Magdraft on a 735 Fury Shimano SLX DC 6:1 with 30lb Suffix Braid. This is my frog rod and I use a Scorpion DC 8:1 for those applications. I generally fish all moving baits on a 734 Sierra generally fish 12 to 15lb Copoly Yozuri with the same reel. To save money and keep from going out and buying a new reel, I figured keep it simple and change the reels out. The only thing that may be a little cumbersome will be fishing it around structure and mistaking structure for strikes. The sensitivity of braid and the constant contact with the bait can be a plus or a minus. What I'm looking forward to is fishing that weedless Crosseye on braid. I think this will be the deal!