Nighttime Chatterbait Rod

[JediAmoeba]

I love fishing at night - I love fishing spinnerbaits and more recently chatterbaits have moved to the front of the pack.  Probably the past 3 years I have moved from Spinnerbaits to almost exclusively chatterbaits for that moving bait bite.  Cranks and squarebills still get used but those are situational for me.

 

Anyway, one of the problems I have had was missing fish.  I figured most of this was due to the fact your senses are heightened in the dark so when you feel a bite you instinctively slam it.  I was using my traditional spinner/chatter gear which was a MH fast action rod with 30 pound braid.  Due to many fish being missed to me yannking it out of their mouths too early I added a 10' mono leader thinking this would help a bit.  It didn't.

 

So last fall I started experimenting with a 7'6" mh crankbait rod with straight braid.  As of now this is off the table - I am hooking almost all the fish but on long casts where the fish bites early on I end up losing them- probably due to not being able to bury the single hook and they easily shake it when airborne.  

 

So I am back to the drawing board.  One of the reasons I like the chatterbait over a spinnerbait at night was I get a lot of fish at night that hit the blades on the spinnerbait...this doesnt happen on the chatter.  I don't use trailer hooks on the chatter because that really messes with the action on the trailer and at night that can be key.  What are yinz using for your night time chatters?  I think I am going to go back to a mh fast action rod and train myself to delay a second on the hookset.  

[Bluebasser86]

Same thing I use during the daytime, 6' 9" H/F Hammer Micro/Tatula SV TWS 6.3:1/PLine CXX 15lb.

[5by3]

Stick with your MH fast. 

[gim]

I was considering a night time fishing trip in the near future. I haven’t done it in years but it’s been so hot during the day I can’t tolerate it very long. A chatterbait, spinnerbait, and topwater are looking lures I intend to try.

 

Jediamoeba, do you use the same color lures at night as you would during the day? For example, if the water is murky I use a brighter color during the day so they can see it. Is this the same at night or should I use a darker color? Also, is it even worth fishing a murky lake at night or should I stick to clearer water lakes?

[Born 2 fish]

8 minutes ago, gimruis said:

I was considering a night time fishing trip in the near future. I haven’t done it in years but it’s been so hot during the day I can’t tolerate it very long. A chatterbait, spinnerbait, and topwater are looking lures I intend to try.

 

Jediamoeba, do you use the same color lures at night as you would during the day? For example, if the water is murky I use a brighter color during the day so they can see it. Is this the same at night or should I use a darker color? Also, is it even worth fishing a murky lake at night or should I stick to clearer water lakes?

I like a black spinnerbait with a big Colorado blade.

[PhishLI]

2 hours ago, Born 2 fish said:

I like a black spinnerbait with a big Colorado blade.

That's the exact bait that got my buddy his only bite, and bass, last night. A nice 3 1/2 pounder.

[JediAmoeba]

2 hours ago, gimruis said:

I was considering a night time fishing trip in the near future. I haven’t done it in years but it’s been so hot during the day I can’t tolerate it very long. A chatterbait, spinnerbait, and topwater are looking lures I intend to try.

 

Jediamoeba, do you use the same color lures at night as you would during the day? For example, if the water is murky I use a brighter color during the day so they can see it. Is this the same at night or should I use a darker color? Also, is it even worth fishing a murky lake at night or should I stick to clearer water lakes?

When it gets hot and the sun is beating down, murky lakes heat up quicker so they fish great at night.  But so do clear lakes.  Something that astounds me at night is how shallow you can catch big bass.  They literally will go within inches of shore.  

 

As far as colors it honestly doesnt matter as much as one would think - I think size and cadence matters more.  I upsize everything and you would be amazed at the small bass that are hitting a spro 50 Rat.  As far as cadence I keep it simple and slow - you get some misses but you also get that tap of the lure when they just catch it followed by a brutal THWACK when they hit it.  I love fishing at night.  

 

Except for the fact I threw my spro 50 rat at mach 10 the other day 50 feet high into an hemlock tree.  I had my light on retying a lure and thought I was further away from shore...my eyes hadn't completely adjusted so I let her sail....the worst backlash I have ever had since I wasnt expecting it at all... I did get the rat back but needless to say i had to respool that reel.

[PhishLI]

12 hours ago, JediAmoeba said:

What are yinz using for your night time chatters?  I think I am going to go back to a mh fast action rod and train myself to delay a second on the hookset. 

I fish my chatters on 3 rods of various lengths which are all MHF, and straight braid. I had a bad habit of pointing my rod at the chatter for a long time. I'm always wading, so the rod is nearly at water level, so even worse. I missed so many hooksets due to no stretch in the line and no possibility of the rod absorbing anything. One time, in frustration, I simply pivoted which put the rod 90 degees to the line, then presto. Now the rod was able to flex with the strike and my hookups went through the roof.

[PhishLI]

2 hours ago, gimruis said:

I was considering a night time fishing trip in the near future. I haven’t done it in years but it’s been so hot during the day I can’t tolerate it very long. A chatterbait, spinnerbait, and topwater are looking lures I intend to try.

Those are good choices in general, but it really depends on what they're keyed in on. If they're eating bait suspended just below the surface they might not hit topwater or anything close to the bottom. A shallow crank that runs 2 feet deep max, have silent and rattle types on hand, could be the charm. Slow reeling a floating jerkbait can be deadly if they're in that mood. I always throw small to medium size paddle tail swimmers rigged weedless and work them on the bottom and through weeds, sometimes fast and sometimes slowly, and have great success close to the bank. Big ribbon tail worms get smashed on the drop or when slow rolled. A black buzzbait is always in the mix. Last week I was fishing a Gantarel Jr the way I always do: Slow with twitches and pauses. Nothing. I bombed it out and burned it in, which is something I never do, and finally started getting hits like crazy. Night fishing is about sound and vibration. You just have to figure out how they want things.

[walleyecrazy]

I have been using a Dobyn's Sierra 734c exclusively for my chatter baits and spinner baits this year. To me it is about the perfect rod for those baits. It just seems to have the perfect tip, and my hook up ratio has been awesome. I have been killing it fishing at night with both a chatter bait and a black single blade colorado spinner bait. 

[gim]

On 7/20/2020 at 9:50 PM, PhishLI said:

Night fishing is about sound and vibration. You just have to figure out how they want things.

Follow up success story on this.  I went last night from 8-11pm.  The first hour all I did was dodge waves from recreational traffic, trying to mark spots to fish after dark.  By 9pm, they were all gone and I started catching fish.  I caught 10 bass in the next 2 hours including an 18, 19, and 20.5 inch bass all on a black spinner bait.  Needless to say I intend to do this again in the future and I am going to try a topwater lure too.  The 20.5 incher is the biggest bass I've caught this season.

[YoTone]

dobyns fury 704 or the bass x 7'1' mh/f

 

[Dumbbassanglr]

Loomis 844

[Derek1]

I can’t catch a fish on a chatterbait so it doesn’t matter what I use.