To rattle or Not to rattle (jigs)

[McFly]

Do most of you use a rattle on your jigs? If so do you use factory installed rattles or after market add ons?

[Master_Hunter_1977]

IMO I believe that rattles work well in a couple of situations.  1) in stained water 2) whenyou are fishing in an area that other people don't use rattles on their jigs.  I believe that when you don't go long with the norm it is more productive.  Same is true with the sounds of the rattle.   Different sounds of rattles can produce more fish.

[Siebert Outdoors]

the only time I use rattles is in muddy water. Otherwise i dont see a reason too.  

[Bankbeater]

I use the ones without a rattle probably 90% of the time.

[crankin_king]

even though my company doesn't put rattles on jigs(price reasons) eye am a firm believer in rattles 24/7/365

[bubbler]

I dodn't use aa rattle all of the time and the only times I realy do is in the heavy cover or in mudy water

[basspro48]

I don't think it makes a big difference whether you put a rattle on your jig. So I really don't make a point of adding or removing the rattles, I just fish it the way it came in the box. However, when I am making my own jigs I like to add a rattle because it gives me confidence that the fish will find the bait faster, also because most of the 4+lb. fish I caught last year came on a jig with a rattle.

[hi_steel_basser]

I like rattles. I tink they imitate a crawdad. The only time I don't use them is in clear water.

[dink]

I fish alot of dirty water and used rattles much of the time on jigs.  The past few years I have been fishing jigs without rattles and have not noticed a difference.  If I want rattles, I usually use glass worm rattles in the trailer instead of jig rattles for a more streamlined bait.

[cbfishalot]

I use rattles in stained or muddy water and at NIGHT!!!!!

[RoLo]

Although air is highly compressible, water is practically incompressible, acting more like a solid.

For this reason, fish do not have internal ear-holes for hearing, but feel vibration in their body.

Some experts believe that the vibes that bass feel may lack directional capability.

If that is true, than bass would not be able to home-in on rattles and vibrating lures.

In any case, I personally remove all rattleboxes if I can. In addition to being downright ugly,

they add weight to the lure, and some tend to interfere with the hook-throat or crowd the trailer.  

Roger

[eastkybass]

I never use rattles I don't think they help but it may just be a confidence thing for me.

[Catt]

I use jigs with out rattles 99.5% of the time

Bass don't have a problem finding my jigs even at night

[Valascus]

I use rattles in heavy cover or in chocolate milk muddy water. Most of the jigs I have purchased do come with rattle that you can put on and take off whenever you feel like it. If the water is clear I never use 'em as I fear they may spook fish.

After reading Mr. Hannon's explanation of a bass' lateral line, I too wonder of the effectiveness of rattles. My question is this: If the bass can not hone in on vibrations or noise, can they hone in on water displacement that a lure creates? Is water displacement different from vibration? If more water displacement equates to more hook ups then that could be an argument to leaving the rattle on, if nothing else to create more bulk on the lure and displace a little more water.

[jigfisherman]

I use rattles at night and in muddy water.

[harshman]

I have to agree with the general answer... I mostly use in stained water or at night. Most of the jigs I build get rattles added to them, but can be easily removed. I am also a big fan of scent on my jig, I know this is a little off topic, but I've started using scent infused skirts and noticed my bites seem a little better.

Harshman

[Papa_Tom]

Several years ago---not too long after rattles were first being attached to jigs--I read an article by Rich Zaleski (I think in Fishing Facts).  Subject of the article was tests he had completed on jig rattles in an aquarium.  Using underwater devices to detect the sounds, he surmised that the jig landing, knocking on rocks, limbs, etc., was far louder than any noise emitted by the rattle.  Plus, take a look at how you have to move the jig to activate the rattle.  Hard to do that at the end of a line.  When I buy a jig, if it's got a rattle, fine.  If not, I'm OK with that, too.  Get 'em wet and put 'em where they live.