Chatterbaits offshore

[RHuff]

Soooooo.. listened to this week's Luke Dunkin podcast and he had Zona on as a guest. About 2/3 of the way through the interview he asked Mark what is one technique, lure, etc that you think is getting ready to take off in the fishing world and Z alluded to fishing a chatterbait out deep in offshore structure but it takes a certain way of rigging it up.... Anyone of you beautiful people on here have the scoop? My hunch is a big heavy chatterbait with a big swimbait trailer as opposed to a craw or grub and letting that sucker fall and either slow roll it or hop it off the bottom similar to a blade bait but this is just me guessing...… He hinted that it is a big fish bite... anyone got the juice and wanna share? 

[Bluebasser86]

I fish them offshore on grass lakes all the time. Let them drop and then rip them off the bottom. It's violent when a fish hits them. I have guys order 3/4 and 1oz baits sometimes, I'd imagine they're fishing them offshore in deeper water also. 

[A-Jay]

Not sure what he's calling 'offshore' exactly.

Don't even know what part of the water column we're talking about here.

Either way, a vibrating jig is still a jig, just with a blade on it.

Jigs have been working pretty good 'offshore' for a long time.

They work pretty good inshore as well.

Don't claim to be a vibrating jig expert,

but regardless of what depth I'm throwing one,

fishing it 'like a jig', has easily been my most effective method of presenting them.

Big brown bass up here choke them. 

On a separate note, a scrounger type bait & trailer

fished low & slow is quite the deadly offshore deal,

especially for big LMB. 

And we don't ever hear about that one. 

A-Jay

[WIGuide]

Bobby Lane has a few videos about it as does ***. Some of the "chatter" I've heard about it is throwing big 1+ oz. chatterbaits to off shore structure. The heavy ones are among some of the most popular chatterbaits among the pro's even though they are some of the least popular in the general public. 

[RHuff]

I also see where Strike King is a releasing a tungsten thunder cricket I wonder if it is more designed for offshore structure in deep water? I'm thinking for ledges, humps, and channels? I can't see any way something with a blade on it like that would come through any type of brushpiles or boulders very well... 

[AlabamaSpothunter]

Just now, RHuff said:

I also see where Strike King is a releasing a tungsten thunder cricket I wonder if it is more designed for offshore structure in deep water? I'm thinking for ledges, humps, and channels? I can't see any way something with a blade on it like that would come through any type of brushpiles or boulders very well... 

A weedless model of the Chatterbait is one incredibly difficult bait to get stuck.

 

I fish chatterbaits extensively in and around heavy cover, and the only way I get the brushguard Project Z Weedless series stuck is when I'm yo yoing, and I wrap the line around cover.  

 

32 minutes ago, A-Jay said:

Not sure what he's calling 'offshore' exactly.

Don't even know what part of the water column we're talking about here.

Either way, a vibrating jig is still a jig, just with a blade on it.

Jigs have been working pretty good 'offshore' for a long time.

They work pretty good inshore as well.

Don't claim to be a vibrating jig expert,

but regardless of what depth I'm throwing one,

fishing it 'like a jig', has easily been my most effective method of presenting them.

Big brown bass up here choke them. 

On a separate note, a scrounger type bait & trailer

fished low & slow is quite the deadly offshore deal,

especially for big LMB. 

And we don't ever hear about that one. 

A-Jay

Both are two of my favorite baits and baits that are tied on full time when it's warmer.   Perhaps I should fish them more now.  

[Team9nine]

6 minutes ago, RHuff said:

I also see where Strike King is a releasing a tungsten thunder cricket I wonder if it is more designed for offshore structure in deep water? I'm thinking for ledges, humps, and channels? I can't see any way something with a blade on it like that would come through any type of brushpiles or boulders very well... 

It’s designed to run deep into pockets, wallets and credit cards, and scour out the last remaining dollars you have until payday ? Works much better than the lead version, so you'll probably need a dozen or so to start with - then another dozen the following year when they release updated colors and blade combos ?

[RHuff]

1 hour ago, AlabamaSpothunter said:

A weedless model of the Chatterbait is one incredibly difficult bait to get stuck.

 

I fish chatterbaits extensively in and around heavy cover, and the only way I get the brushguard Project Z Weedless series stuck is when I'm yo yoing, and I wrap the line around cover.  

 

Both are two of my favorite baits and baits that are tied on full time when it's warmer.   Perhaps I should fish them more now.  

 

 Do you let it fall onto the bottom and rip it up? Sorta like cracking a tube? A lot of my lakes have that dark green algae grass looking stuff all over the bottom....  

[Dogface]

A plain old blade bait with no trailer. Smaller, compact and deadly. 

[gim]

Its sometimes hard to make a chatterbait (or other lure) move slower solely based just on trying to reel it in slower.  Our human nature wants us to speed it up.

 

This can be mitigated with proper equipment - a heavier version of a chatterbait, a trailer that doesn't make it rise, and a lower gear ratio on the reel.

 

Casting it out, allowing it to sink to the bottom, and then kind of popping it along would seem like an effective strategy offshore in deeper water.

[Bankc]

Rip it up and let if fall!  That's what I do.  It's basically a weedless blade bait to me.  

Though, I don't do it often.  Our water here is pretty stained, and you usually won't find much vegetation in deeper water.  And I haven't had much luck with bladed jigs under any circumstance away from grass.  But on the rare occasion I have got to use one, and had success, it's under this scenario.  

[camman]

I’ve fished them in maybe 20-30ft of water around trees/rock piles letting it drop then ripping it off the bottom…sort of like fishing a jigging or monster spoon.  I use a 1oz jig with a normal trailer like a Keitech or Rage Mennace…the only thing I did was switch out the blade to a smaller one….if you use a bigger chatterbait blade it gets tiring ripping them off the bottom

[RHuff]

What Rod and Reel setup do you all use?? 

[Deleted account]

4 hours ago, A-Jay said:

Not sure what he's calling 'offshore' exactly.

Not sure when "the middle of the lake" became the west wall of the Hudson canyon, but I don't like it!...

[Johnbt]

My buddy was driving my boat and caught this in 15-20 feet of water. The lake gets a bit deeper in places. We were casting at the bank 25 yards away and hopping them on the bottom until they were under the boat. He caught this one almost straight down.

 

 

10.5# caught on 3/9/17 on a 3/8 oz white/chartreuse chatterbait with a large trailer - Kalin's Mogambo Grub - Chartreuse Hologram - 6".

 

His technique; my idea to show up with large grubs in our favorite color.

 

He was using a 6.5' Medium casting rod. We found a few of them at a show for $25 each new - the stand where the guy takes loss leader combos and breaks them into racks of rods for $25 and bins of (nearly useless) reels for $10. It's a Quantum ULC661 IM7 and I eventually found the last two combos in North America on line at the Quantum warehouse in Tulsa iirc for something like $17.50 each. It took some work to find the combo number, the rod number was useless. Great rods for lures up to 1/2 ounce it says. Full cork, too.

I think he had an original Steez on it that day. It's his favorite spinnerbait rod, too.

[AlabamaSpothunter]

5 hours ago, RHuff said:

 

 Do you let it fall onto the bottom and rip it up? Sorta like cracking a tube? A lot of my lakes have that dark green algae grass looking stuff all over the bottom....  

I don't have lots of muck on the bottom, rather hard cover like laydowns, xmas trees, boulders. 

 

I'm not trying to touch bottom per say, I just want to have that fluttering down effect, and sometimes it dips down into the tops of the cover, many times generating a strike as it deflects off it.  

 

I imagine the technique you are describing is something like working a blade bait, or lipless.   Just bouncing it off the bottom a few feet and then letting it come back to bottom.  

[AlabamaSpothunter]

4 hours ago, RHuff said:

What Rod and Reel setup do you all use?? 

I bought a dedicated setup for chatterbaits I love them so much....

 

Alpha Angler 7'3 Moderate Fast....Glass tip, composite bottom section.

JDM Zillion SV TW 1000 6.3 

15lb PLine Ultimate Fluorocarbon 

 

Rod really matters I've found, lots of specific chatterbait rods, and this is one technique that really benefits from a tailor-made rod. 

[Bdnoble84]

6 hours ago, camman said:

I’ve fished them in maybe 20-30ft of water around trees/rock piles letting it drop then ripping it off the bottom…sort of like fishing a jigging or monster spoon.  I use a 1oz jig with a normal trailer like a Keitech or Rage Mennace…the only thing I did was switch out the blade to a smaller one….if you use a bigger chatterbait blade it gets tiring ripping them off the bottom

Skirt on or off?

[RHuff]

2 hours ago, AlabamaSpothunter said:

I don't have lots of muck on the bottom, rather hard cover like laydowns, xmas trees, boulders. 

 

I'm not trying to touch bottom per say, I just want to have that fluttering down effect, and sometimes it dips down into the tops of the cover, many times generating a strike as it deflects off it.  

 

I imagine the technique you are describing is something like working a blade bait, or lipless.   Just bouncing it off the bottom a few feet and then letting it come back to bottom.  

 

That is correct, hopping it off the bottom… So you work the bait and kill it so it flutters during the drop?

[AlabamaSpothunter]

20 minutes ago, RHuff said:

 

That is correct, hopping it off the bottom… So you work the bait and kill it so it flutters during the drop?

Exactly, I generally have an idea of what I'm casting over cover/depth wise with sonar so I'm trying to bring up my rod a few feet.....kill it while reeling in that slack, bring up the rod tip a few feet....killing it while reeling in slack, etc.      

 

Kind of like the Vomit Comit, I just want to tick the tops of the cover after I start the next rod lift.    So much of the Yo Yoing I'm doing is coming from the rod.  

[camman]

4 hours ago, Bdnoble84 said:

Skirt on or off?

Skirt on

[txchaser]

20' flats, fished like a bifflehead has been productive for me. Might have also worked lifting and dropping, but this way has made for some amazing days. 

Basically keeping it running just over the bottom, banging off it. Requires some stop and start to keep it down.

[RHuff]

9 hours ago, txchaser said:

20' flats, fished like a bifflehead has been productive for me. Might have also worked lifting and dropping, but this way has made for some amazing days. 

Basically keeping it running just over the bottom, banging off it. Requires some stop and start to keep it down.

 

I like to use a 3/4 oz jig out deep do you recommend that same weight? Also, what kind of trailer? 

[Bankc]

On 1/10/2023 at 1:27 PM, RHuff said:

What Rod and Reel setup do you all use?? 

I've used all different kinds through the years, and they all seem to work pretty well.  Some techniques I'm more picky about.  But chatterbaits don't seem to mind, so long as the rod has the power to set the hook.  Pretty much any Medium Heavy rod will work for me.  You could probably get away with a stout Medium or even a Heavy rod if you're working a larger chatterbait.  Same with line, though you'll want to match the line to the rod.  In other words, you probably won't want to use a Moderate speed rod with mono, as that's just too much stretch to get a good hookset on a long cast.  Sometimes, if the grass is really thick, I'll go for a faster rod.  Sometimes if I'm trying to cast further, I'll go for a slower rod.  Mostly, I just pick a rod that will work that doesn't already have something tied on to it that I plan to throw later, so I'm not having to retie more often than I have to.  

 

  

2 minutes ago, RHuff said:

 

I like to use a 3/4 oz jig out deep do you recommend that same weight? Also, what kind of trailer? 

 

3/4 oz. is a good all around size.  I might go up or down depending on conditions, but that's my starting point.  As for trailer, whatever you like.  I tend to prefer the Keitech 3.5 swimbaits, but sometimes I'll switch it up to a rage craw or whatever I feel like at the time.  So long as it provides plenty of action on its own, that 's about all I care about.  

[a1712]

On 1/10/2023 at 10:53 AM, A-Jay said:

Not sure what he's calling 'offshore' exactly.

Don't even know what part of the water column we're talking about here.

Either way, a vibrating jig is still a jig, just with a blade on it.

Jigs have been working pretty good 'offshore' for a long time.

They work pretty good inshore as well.

Don't claim to be a vibrating jig expert,

but regardless of what depth I'm throwing one,

fishing it 'like a jig', has easily been my most effective method of presenting them.

Big brown bass up here choke them. 

On a separate note, a scrounger type bait & trailer

fished low & slow is quite the deadly offshore deal,

especially for big LMB. 

And we don't ever hear about that one. 

A-Jay

Amen. I've fished offshore where in any direction you couldn't see land. I was also fishing in 4' of water. Brian.