What does a Chatterbait do that a Spinnerbait can't do better?

[tcbass]

So I bought some Zman Chatterbaits last year and didn't get a bite. I was determined to catch something this year. It's the end of the season for me so the other day may have been my last day out. We went out and I told my friend that I wanted to catch a fish on this lure and that I hadn't had any luck with it all last year. 

 

Well, 1st cast I caught a small bass which was pretty cool. After that, nothing. But I did get caught up on weeds a lot, in places that a spinnerbait would have been able to rip through or gone through without getting hung up as much.

 

 

So, what does a Chatterbait do that a Spinnerbait can't because I can't see a time when I would want to run a Chatterbait over a Spinnerbait?

 

 

[A-Jay]

I am a vibrating jig user & abuser.

I also throw a spinnerbait quite a bit, however I'm looking for the vibrating jig to do 'less'.

What I mean by that is, by using a model vibrating jig that has a painted blade (insert Z-Man Jackhammer),

I can usually run these baits low & slow, while still getting a decent vibration & action with out so much flash.

Granted I could opt for painted spinnerbait blades, but I've not experienced any where near the success with them.

Finally, I am also always fishing a vibrating jig around some type of vegetation.

While certainly not in the thickest slop, but in & around some medium to lighter bottom weeds.

YMMV

A-Jay

 

[MIbassyaker]

Two advantages that I notice, both situational:

 

1. The greater vibration of a bladed jigs give additional and valuable feedback when fishing around certain kinds of vegetation... I can tell better when I'm starting to hang and need to rip, and I can tell better when I get a subtle strike.

 

2. People often talk about preferring bladed jigs in murky water because of the vibration, but I prefer them in clear, calm water over spinnerbaits, where flashing blades may just be too much. I also seem to be able to fish them slower than spinnerbaits.

[MickD]

If the fish want it slow, the chatterbaits easily allow you to give them slow.  I've found them very effective in shallow areas for LMB, if the vegetation allows them.  I've not found them as effective on SMB.

[WRB]

I am not a fan of Chatter/bladed jigs and prefer spinnerbaits. However I consider them 2 very different lures. Chatter baits are a noisy lures with little blade flash, spinnerbaits are a quite lure with a lot of blade flash and water displacement with a wide range of blades availble in serval sizes.

Chatter/blade baits to me are a choice where crankbaits can't go easily. My preference is Scrounger jig or crank bait over a chatter/blade bait. If lots of baitfish are attracting bass then a spinnerbait shines.

The Chatter/blade bait that worked for was Karu Vibrashock with a football head that was sent to me try out about 10 years ago before ZMan bought the Chatter bait patent.

Tom

[The Bassman]

Never understood the comparison of a chatterbait to a spinnerbait. I see them as not having any real similarity. To me a chatterbait can both serve as a jig or a crankbait depending how it's retrieved. I like to let mine drop a little then give it a light jerk then vary the retrieve. Sometimes I let it drop and it gets bit on the fall. I caught a nice one around 4 lbs. this afternoon doing just that. You really can't do that with most spinnerbaits. Strike King used to make a short arm for drop fishing. 

[zell_pop1]

I catch more bass on short arm colorado blade spinnerbaits than chatterbaits or double bladed spinnerbaits. Most people only use them in black for night fishing and I think that is a big mistake. Having said that at times the chatter bait is what they want just have to experiment.

[JediAmoeba]

Chatterbaits to me are far superior at night.  I get less misses than I do with a spinnerbait at night.

 

 

[Big Rick]

Chatter baits get hung up WAY more than spinnerbaits..... 

 

On a side note, it appears the patent for the blade mounted directly to the jig head has expired. I am seeing copies all over now with the blade directly mounted to the jig tie. 

[Bird]

I have several variations of the chatterbait and much prefer the black/blue with painted blade but it falls well short of the spinnerbait for overall effectiveness......if that's what your asking. 

Chatterbait will land some good fish though. 

[Bluebasser86]

Bladed jigs are more similar to squarebill than they are a spinnerbait IMO, at least that's more how I fish them and the bait they've basically replaced. Not a lot of flash, but a good vibration. A bit of a more natural profile versus a spinnerbait. Easier to fish in grass than a spinnerbait since the blade doesn't spin and get bound up and can usually be ripped free of all but the heaviest grass.

 

I like to fish both, but on a majority of days the bladed jig is far going to outproduce the spinnerbait for me. Clear water, heavy wood cover, and cold water (below 45*) are times when a spinnerbait will outshine the bladed jig typically.

[A-Jay]

All very interesting responses here so far.

 

While the vibrating jig has come on strong relatively recently, it's actually in it's infancy stage when compared to the spinnerbait.  Despite some disagreement about who may have really marketed the first spinnerbaits that started the craze, many bass fishing historians believe that the overhead clothes pin design first came on the scene sometime in the 1940’s; and built momentum into the 1950's. That's quite a head start.  So we may still have a lot to learn about the vibrating jig.

 

 Admittedly, I've only been throwing the thing for perhaps 3 seasons now and I went mostly fishless with it the whole first one.  I have many years on the water with a spinnerbait in my hand and I'm still learning. 

 

Where the OP was looking for what one bait can do that perhaps the other one can not ?

There may not be much but for me the one characteristic that sticks out is speed.

 I can burn the heck out of a spinnerbait - just under the surface and it's killer !

Conversely, I can really crawl a vibrating just on or even just off the bottom - and that's been very good as well: especially early & late season.

 

A-Jay

 

 

 

 

 

[Glenn]

Different tools that have similar uses.  Both have their merits, and are better than the other depending on the conditions.

 

Kinda like arguing an open-end wrench is better than a crescent wrench and vice versa. 

[deadadrift89]

More vibration in dirty water gets me more bites. Also like ripping it over the top of grass on flats.

[MassYak85]

I generally fish spinnerbaits faster or when the fish are looking for that flash. Chatterbaits I like more fishing slower, or on hard bottom where I can hop them like a jig. I treat spinnerbaits like an all-terrain-vehicle of bass fishing and will throw them around ANY type of cover cause they are very good at coming through pretty much anything. Chatterbaits not so much but if I ma fishing more open water or flats with less cover I might try a chatterbait. If they want neither I try a swimjig or crank. I usually try and dial in one of those four lure types as my go-to search bait of the day to gauge their interest level. Doesn't always work out that way though. 

[Big Rick]

11 hours ago, A-Jay said:

So we may still have a lot to learn about the vibrating jig.

This is so true. In just a few short years there have been several "sub-species" of bladed jig come out the really shine in one area that the others generally fail in. Like speed, for instance. Some types will blow out when you really crank on them. Yet the Jackhammer will run true no matter how fast you crank it, at least in my experience.  And speaking of Jackhammer, due to a slight difference in the blade and how it relates to the head this bladed jig has a very unique vibration that has caught me more fish than all the other in my box combined. And this is just scratching the surface of the differences in even the bladed jig community. 

 

Now that it appears that Z-Mans patent has expired we will see a TON of new innovations on the bladed jig in the coming years because this bait is definitely a winner and therefore will continue to be improved to drive sales of "new" variations, colors, sizes and blade types. And I'm not even going to try to delve into the Booyah Melee with it's totally different approach on the blade position..

 

 

 

 

[primetime]

I still have not truly figured out the chatterbait, so I would say it is not an easy lure to fish if just chucking and winding which is basically what I do with a spinnerbait. I find chatterbaits better in weeds and try to rip it out similar to how you would fish a trap or squarebill, so it is more weedless. With Spinnerbaits, I kind of keep it simple and because I have been using them since a kid, I like to simply cast and reel or bulge along weedlines and structure or bump and run it, and it is easier to use in my mind as I don't feel the trailer makes a huge difference. 

 

I find with a spinnerbait, If I try to put on a bigger trailer or soft bait, it gets it off balance, so I stick with the basics like split tails, small ribbon tail, or grubs. 

 

One thing I notice with a Chatterbait, is the trailer is often the difference, and using a fluke vs. Swimbait, vs. Creature bait gives it a completely different action. I have caught fish using a fluke which gives it a large profile aggressive action and then some days I would only get bit using something without action like a critter craw or Salt craw. 

 

One thing I like to do is color the blades black or sand them down to take away the flash. I feel like the flash is often too much in shallow water or near surface in areas I often fish. I actually catch most of my fish either at night simply waking it near the surface or letting it tick weeds with a stop and go almost like swimming a jig basically. The one trailer that I always have confidence in is the Lake Fork Segmented swimbait without a boot tail, or a 4" Finesse worm which for some reason works well for me. 

 

I guess my point is Chatterbaits take time to learn and are not always easy to fish since they still catch weeds where you want to fish them often, and ripping out of grass etc. is not always easy. Guys that catch big fish down here on chatterbaits fish them with big boot tails and use them as a main tactic since the water is stained. In muddy water they are really good cause easy to find.

 

I plan on putting in more time this year to get more confidence. They certainly work extremely well for bigger fish and the bigger fish are usually in nasty places or deep which makes them harder to fish imo.

[PhishLI]

I can't fish spinnerbaits in my spots at this time. Even if I find a few open lanes, one rub past weeds with algae on them and the blades foul instantly. On the other hand, I can throw chatterbaits here with far less pain than a spinnerbait. I can clear the veggies most of the time where it would be impossible with a spinnerbait. Wednesday I was targeting stands of weeds that were just poking through the water about 40ft off shore. I'd overshoot by 20ft and would slow roll it right in. Got a bunch of good bites and lost one 4 pounder. It ran, came back, did a full jump then spit. I couldn't convert any bites, but was satisfied that I got some action. Went back the next day under nearly identical weather conditions, but got blanked on the chatter. Got blanked on everything else too.

 

All of that said, I treat a chatterbait like a crankbait that's far more weedless than a treble bait. I can slow roll it on the bottom with a less resistive trailer or add a boot tail which allows it to be slow rolled higher in the water column. I can pitch it and let it drop. The best thing about it is that I can throw it much closer to heavy grass where they're hiding during the day without ending up blowing up the spot like I would with a crank if I get caught up. One plus about a chatterbait: They really try to kill it. The bites are intense.

[ChrisD46]

On 9/27/2019 at 7:36 PM, The Bassman said:

Never understood the comparison of a chatterbait to a spinnerbait. I see them as not having any real similarity. To me a chatterbait can both serve as a jig or a crankbait depending how it's retrieved. I like to let mine drop a little then give it a light jerk then vary the retrieve. Sometimes I let it drop and it gets bit on the fall. I caught a nice one around 4 lbs. this afternoon doing just that. You really can't do that with most spinnerbaits. Strike King used to make a short arm for drop fishing. 

*Probably better to compare a vibrating jig to a swim jig ...

[tcbass]

22 hours ago, PhishLI said:

I can't fish spinnerbaits in my spots at this time. Even if I find a few open lanes, one rub past weeds with algae on them and the blades foul instantly. On the other hand, I can throw chatterbaits here with far less pain than a spinnerbait. I can clear the veggies most of the time where it would be impossible with a spinnerbait. Wednesday I was targeting stands of weeds that were just poking through the water about 40ft off shore. I'd overshoot by 20ft and would slow roll it right in. Got a bunch of good bites and lost one 4 pounder. It ran, came back, did a full jump then spit. I couldn't convert any bites, but was satisfied that I got some action. Went back the next day under nearly identical weather conditions, but got blanked on the chatter. Got blanked on everything else too.

 

All of that said, I treat a chatterbait like a crankbait that's far more weedless than a treble bait. I can slow roll it on the bottom with a less resistive trailer or add a boot tail which allows it to be slow rolled higher in the water column. I can pitch it and let it drop. The best thing about it is that I can throw it much closer to heavy grass where they're hiding during the day without ending up blowing up the spot like I would with a crank if I get caught up. One plus about a chatterbait: They really try to kill it. The bites are intense.

 

 

Why does a crankbait ruin a spot? The way it lands?

[Black Hawk Basser]

1 hour ago, tcbass said:

 

 

Why does a crankbait ruin a spot? The way it lands?

I think he meant that getting a crankbait caught up in 5 lbs of salad will spook the fish in the area.

[Dens228]

Just now, Pickle_Power said:

I think he meant that getting a crankbait caught up in 5 lbs of salad will spook the fish in the area.

I concur.

[Koz]

Both the chatterbait and spinnerbait hold prominent places in my arsenal. One thing that I like about the chatterbait is its versatility. I can drag it or hop it along the bottom, use a straight retrieve, or give it a rip and have it change direction. Also, by varying the weight of the trailer I can change the fall rate and skirt action on the fall.

 

If I put a trailer on a spinnerbait it's usually a Keitech Swing Impact, but with a chatterbait I've had success with paddletails, craws, and creatures.

 

Each has it's time and place, but in the spring I rely more on the spinnerbait and the rest of the year I rely more on the chatterbait.

 

 

[PhishLI]

53 minutes ago, Pickle_Power said:

I think he meant that getting a crankbait caught up in 5 lbs of salad will spook the fish in the area.

That's exactly what I meant. I don't believe that dragging a vegetable mop through the area I'm targeting will help my cause. The grass is still so rediculously dense at my primary spots that certain large sections are barely fishable. The picture below is 2 weeks old. It's actually worse now. 

[tcbass]

2 minutes ago, PhishLI said:

That's exactly what I meant. I don't believe that dragging a vegetable mop through the area I'm targeting will help my cause. The grass is still so rediculously dense at my primary spots that certain large sections are barely fishable. The picture below is 2 weeks old. It's actually worse now. 

 

 

Ah. Ic. 

 

 

How does topwater work there?