Chatter Baits In Summer ?

[ChrisD46]

I often hear chatter baits are a cool / cold water bait only ... Anyone have success fishing a chatter bait in the Summer ? If so , please advise tips for success for fishing chatter baits in warm water - thanks in advance ...

[Bluebasser86]

I fish them all summer long. Excellent around weed edges right now, but I fish them around any kind of shallow cover as long as it's not too heavy of cover. I caught our biggest bass of the weeknight tournament on one last night in fact. 

[fishballer06]

Fish them the same as you do in the spring and fall. They're great over the top of weeds or around the edges. 

[Koz]

A few nights ago I caught a 2.5 pounder on a chatterbait with a grub trailer. Not huge, but for the small lagoons I fish a good sized catch.

[Scarborough817]

i always have one tied on normally slow rolled around the edge of pad beds as well as shallow weed lines. if i am fishing trees i tie on a strike king rage blade instead of traditional bladed jig 

[BrackishBassin]

Went out last Friday from 9-12. Zero wind and a feels like temperature of 111 degrees. The 3 fish caught were all caught on a chatterbait. They didn't bite anything else and I threw nearly everything I had with me (plastics, jigs, deep cranks, topwater in the morning along shade lines, etc.). Water had to be close to 85 degrees, possibly even warmer. 

[GreenGhostMan]

How are you guys fishing them?  For the life of me, I can't even get a bite on one.  I can fish an area with a chatterbait and get nothing, then switch to a spinnerbait and pull fish.  I've tried straight fast retrieves, slow rolling, yo-yo retrieve, popping my rod while retrieving... what's the secret???

[Brown Town]

I have one tied on at all times. Personally, I've seen color be the biggest factor to get them to bite. Someone in my boat always has one tied on and some days they will only hit black/blue and some days only white for example. Same bait with the same retrieve and location with 3 people throwing different colors and only one guy will catch all the fish. I have a box full of skirts just for chatterbaits in case I need to change on the fly to what they want.

[NHBull]

In addition to what was statded above, a Med retrieve in light choppy water works well too.

 

Pauseing randomly, the going fast, get reaction bites

[WRB]

7 hours ago, ChrisD46 said:

I often hear chatter baits are a cool / cold water bait only ... Anyone have success fishing a chatter bait in the Summer ? If so , please advise tips for success for fishing chatter baits in warm water - thanks in advance ...

Bass eat everything during the summer warm water period, lots of prey choices from terrestrial critters, baitfish, young of the fish of all types, crawdads, worms, frogs, etc, etc, why wouldn't they strike a chatter bait? If you can cast and relieve a chatter bait where the bass are located, they will strike it if they are active feeding, no different then any other lure.

Tom

[Koz]

3 hours ago, GreenGhostMan said:

How are you guys fishing them?  For the life of me, I can't even get a bite on one.  I can fish an area with a chatterbait and get nothing, then switch to a spinnerbait and pull fish.  I've tried straight fast retrieves, slow rolling, yo-yo retrieve, popping my rod while retrieving... what's the secret???

 

I've been using a black/blue Z-Man with a dark green grub and chartreuse tail. After letting it fall I set me speed when I first feel the thump-thump-thump of the blade. Hits are mostly on a steady retrieve, but occasionally I pause and then rip a few cranks so it changes direction, then go back to my original retrieve speed.

[Montanaro]

If wind is calm or close to calm I wont use chatterbait.  But with a little breeze it is usually lights out.  Thats been my experience.  I always use one...absolutely love everything about them. 

[RB 77]

I will fish them year round. The key for me is water clarity, or lack there of. The more stained the better. Clearer water I prefer old school spinner baits. YMMV...

[Scarborough817]

18 hours ago, GreenGhostMan said:

How are you guys fishing them?  For the life of me, I can't even get a bite on one.  I can fish an area with a chatterbait and get nothing, then switch to a spinnerbait and pull fish.  I've tried straight fast retrieves, slow rolling, yo-yo retrieve, popping my rod while retrieving... what's the secret???

no secret the fish just dont want to eat it 

[ChrisD46]

Thanks for the replies ! I'm going to try one in a Bluegill pattern for now (Summer)  in various conditions and see what happens ... In several weeks I will switch to a shad pattern (Fall) .

[jtipton91]

I caught the biggest bass of the tournament 2 weeks ago on a chatterbait, caught it bumping the bait through some thick timber. Unfortunately for me, I didn't enter big bass

[Bluebasser86]

36 minutes ago, ChrisD46 said:

Thanks for the replies ! I'm going to try one in a Bluegill pattern for now (Summer)  in various conditions and see what happens ... In several weeks I will switch to a shad pattern (Fall) .

Green pumpkin is a really good bluegill imitation as well. I tie a green pumpkin/chartreuse just to imitate bluegills. Golden Shiner, and my personal favorite, a color I call Ivy, have been the hot colors for me the last few weeks. Black and blue always seems to be a good color for a bigger than average bite too. 

[LxVE Bassin]

I fish them all year except the winter. 

[Fishes in trees]

Fishing them around edges of any kind is a good idea.  A buddy of mine hit on a pattern a few weeks ago of fishing the outside edges of standing timber.  Here's the deal - a few hundred yards of standing timber tree line. Boat is paralleling the tree line.

Bait is thrown paralleling the tree line - 8 to 15 feet away from the main line of trunks.   Mostly open water,  but there is a branch sticking out here and there, underneath the surface and difficult to see.  Throwing a bluegill colored chatterbait and running it 5 to 7 feet down in 14 to 20 feet of water.   Bud cleaned up on this pattern on two different occasions this summer - two different lakes.    I've been unable to replicate this, but thought I'd share - might work for you.

[Bluebasser86]

Caught the fish that won us big bass and sealed the deal on the win in our weeknight tournament last night on one of my black and blue bladed jigs with a sapphire blue pit boss trailer. 

[tcbass]

On 7/28/2017 at 8:19 PM, Montanaro said:

If wind is calm or close to calm I wont use chatterbait.  But with a little breeze it is usually lights out.  Thats been my experience.  I always use one...absolutely love everything about them. 

 

 

Havent caught anything on mine yet, but to be fair I've only used them once. Will try again. 

[Raul]

On 28/7/2017 at 4:49 AM, ChrisD46 said:

I often hear chatter baits are a cool / cold water bait only ...

 

WHUT THE HELL ? ........ 

 

Don't know from whom you heard it but that' s such nonsense !

[ChrisD46]

Thanks for the updated replies !