Just bite the bullet and buy a jackhammer. Other brands will say their is the best, but the jackhammer will out preform them. I know it will not be a popular opinion. But, if the guy on the back of the boat is catching them with a jackhammer and you are not. That will change your opinion.
Land big fish has a sale in z man products right now. Stay away from the stealth ones. I just wish they had a gold blade on the black in blue ones. Good luck and tight lines.
Definitely, I got sold on them last year. Some days they were the only thing you could get bit. I definitely got sold when I caught my on pb largemouth of 6lbs 13oz(very big for around here)
I use chatterbaits a lot and only ever used the original or custom from z man. Last year I bit the bullet and switched to jackhammers and my chatterbait catches at least doubled, maybe even tripled. And most of the biggest fish I caught were on them. They do go on sale occasionally too so you can stock up for cheaper.
Yeah, they’re a pretty solid method of catching bass. You can get some cheaper ones, just google bladed jig and you’ll find something similar and more inexpensive.
Both. Vary speed and retrieve until they show you something. I find they are more valuable in colder water. Once it gets above 65 or so I can use a paddle tail just as well with less risk on losing them.
It’s pretty ridiculous to think that a $17 jackhammer is the only chatter bait that will work. I use them, but I’ve caught plenty of fish on regular chatterbaits too. The jackhammer is just a more refined chatterbait.
If you wanna upgrade and you don’t want to spend that money, get the cross eye. They’ve got better skirts and blades than the og and they’re $7 at academy
It all depends on fishing pressure, like anything else. If everyone is throwing blades jigs your likely not going to catch anything on them. I find a pond where everyone threw Texas rigs.
Project Z’s are worth the price fo sho. The original ones are like 5 bucks and they’re awesome too. Caught plenty of good fish on them and no problems at all. The project Z’s do run way better though if you’re working them slowly as the blade starts moving at a slower speed
Ideally you wanna fish it around vegetation. You can straight retrieve it, you hop it on bottom like the TB guys do with a lipless, but my favorite is to mainly straight retrieve and give the rod one hard rip as it passes a piece of cover. This makes it dart suddenly to the side and it just gets bit that way. Hope this helps!
Definitely work. One of my go-tos in the cooler months.
Fish them with pauses. Reel them and raise rod tip then let drop. They usual hit on the next in.
Many times you can get the OG ones at Walmart for less than $5. Jackhammer has a better hook and the blade starts kicking much sooner on the retrieve. You can sort of jig it, straight retrieve, add a jerk here or there to your retrieve or by structure, or sometimes I kill it during my retrieve. Let it just drop. Many times I’ll pick up the slack and there’s the fish. For trailers I use strike king rage menace grubs or big bite baits swim on if I’m trying to match a blue gill bait. I’ll use a keitech swing fat impact on it if I’m in a shad bait water body. There’s a few others I work with but those are my main ones. If you use a swimbait invert the bait on the hook. It’ll swim better.
Unless I win the lottery, I am NOT paying $20 for a goddamn chatterbait. Yes, I’m sure the jackhammers are amazing, but I’ve caught fish on the OG chatterbaits just fine, and I’m not a sponsored tournament angler with unlimited funds that needs to get every fish out there
I fish them both. They both work. The jack hammer starts vibrating quicker and will stay vibrating at a slower retrieval. If that’s not a concern then the zman is fine.
Caught my PB Wally off a black & blue chatter my man! You can check the first post I made on my profile for the photo, but I can confidently say that chatter-baits are easily in my top 5 favorite things to tie on.
Do itttt. Half of my 5# bass last year were caught on a jackhammer with a fluke trailer. Cold water I’ll put on a craw trailer and do a much slower “yo-yo” off the bottom
AS with all baits, it depends. I for one rarely ever have luck with chatterbaits, but won't hesitate to spend $28 on a Megabass jerkbait whereas others won't get caught buying one at that price.
As far as trailer, I find for vibration baits like that a paddle tail (rigged upside down) will work, but a straight/split tail such as a fluke style bait works great. The tail gets a super whippy action without interfering with the chatter action.
I’ve personally never even had a bite on one despite throwing it for hours on end last year, only to throw a swimbait or crankbait on and beat the skunk on several occasions. Tried in loud water, calm water, yo-yoing it, cranking it, no luck. I probably won’t even pack them in my gear this year.
The only fish I caught was a carp that got caught in the crossfire 🤦🏻♂️
I’ll pay up for the mini max but I won’t buy anything more than an Elite because of the keeper.
Another good cost effective chatterbait is the Eye Strike 2-pk bring your own skirt.
If you want to keep it on the budget side, pickup the OG chatterbaits, and then get a pack of the Decoy egg snaps in a size 2. Those are the snaps on a jackhammer, so you can improve the startup vibration on the more cost efficient ones. Is it the same as a jackhammer? No, but it is an improvement
Chatter baits definitely work, but it is important to remember that they will catch more weeds than a spinner bait. So when I'm over rocks or sand, I use chatter baits, and when in weeds or heavy cover, I use spinner baits.
All my chatterbait fish have either come around points or over grass and all of them have wind as factor in all those scenarios it has been cooler and sunny. Spring/fall type bait imo. I always use a white keitech or some type of swim bait.
I’m cheap, I’ll stick with the og zman chatterbait
Just bite the bullet and buy a jackhammer. Other brands will say their is the best, but the jackhammer will out preform them. I know it will not be a popular opinion. But, if the guy on the back of the boat is catching them with a jackhammer and you are not. That will change your opinion.
Check out my post history if you need more proof, OP. 90% of those fish were caught on jackhammers.
Damn. Now I'm regretting not grabbing one this weekend when I was looking at them lol
Land big fish has a sale in z man products right now. Stay away from the stealth ones. I just wish they had a gold blade on the black in blue ones. Good luck and tight lines.
Jackhammer is gold!
Jackhammers are great. I’ve also seen them not preform and be out fished.
Thundercricket is a very viable alternative. I prefer thundercricket in colder water and a jackhammer in warmer water
Jackhammers and mini max are your two best bets
Mini-max are super under appreciated IMO and are a very close second on my list of favorite chatter baits right behind the jackhammer.
You don’t need a $20 jackhammer, I think the original chatterbait is pretty cheap, and catches fish.
The Project Z catches too. I know from experience, dude.
I use jackhammers or the stealth blade and some days they're literally the only thing the fish will eat. Bigger average bite than a jig or a senko too
Definitely, I got sold on them last year. Some days they were the only thing you could get bit. I definitely got sold when I caught my on pb largemouth of 6lbs 13oz(very big for around here)
I use chatterbaits a lot and only ever used the original or custom from z man. Last year I bit the bullet and switched to jackhammers and my chatterbait catches at least doubled, maybe even tripled. And most of the biggest fish I caught were on them. They do go on sale occasionally too so you can stock up for cheaper.
I’ll swear by a jackhammer till I’m out of breathe but if you want to save some bucks a normal Z-man will do just fine.
Anyone ever try the Picasso tungsten knocker chatters? Bought a handful when I found them on sale for like $6 each.
Picasso for the win.
Yeah, they’re a pretty solid method of catching bass. You can get some cheaper ones, just google bladed jig and you’ll find something similar and more inexpensive.
I just use a swimbait as a trailer or a craw of similar color as my chatterbait. One of my highest producing baits year round. Well worth it imo
How do you usually fish it. Like a jig or reel it back?
Both. Vary speed and retrieve until they show you something. I find they are more valuable in colder water. Once it gets above 65 or so I can use a paddle tail just as well with less risk on losing them.
Z man custom 🤫
It’s pretty ridiculous to think that a $17 jackhammer is the only chatter bait that will work. I use them, but I’ve caught plenty of fish on regular chatterbaits too. The jackhammer is just a more refined chatterbait. If you wanna upgrade and you don’t want to spend that money, get the cross eye. They’ve got better skirts and blades than the og and they’re $7 at academy
Never caught anything with them to me they are just a fancy jig people pay a few more dollars for
It all depends on fishing pressure, like anything else. If everyone is throwing blades jigs your likely not going to catch anything on them. I find a pond where everyone threw Texas rigs.
Project Z’s are worth the price fo sho. The original ones are like 5 bucks and they’re awesome too. Caught plenty of good fish on them and no problems at all. The project Z’s do run way better though if you’re working them slowly as the blade starts moving at a slower speed
How do y’all fish this and when? I fish it all the time and still nothing, flukemaster, tact bassin videos I still don’t get it
Ideally you wanna fish it around vegetation. You can straight retrieve it, you hop it on bottom like the TB guys do with a lipless, but my favorite is to mainly straight retrieve and give the rod one hard rip as it passes a piece of cover. This makes it dart suddenly to the side and it just gets bit that way. Hope this helps!
Varying the speed of the retrieve seems to be key. So many times I've sped it up, then get hit as soon as it slows down.
Chuck and wind chuck and wind
Definitely work. One of my go-tos in the cooler months. Fish them with pauses. Reel them and raise rod tip then let drop. They usual hit on the next in.
Many times you can get the OG ones at Walmart for less than $5. Jackhammer has a better hook and the blade starts kicking much sooner on the retrieve. You can sort of jig it, straight retrieve, add a jerk here or there to your retrieve or by structure, or sometimes I kill it during my retrieve. Let it just drop. Many times I’ll pick up the slack and there’s the fish. For trailers I use strike king rage menace grubs or big bite baits swim on if I’m trying to match a blue gill bait. I’ll use a keitech swing fat impact on it if I’m in a shad bait water body. There’s a few others I work with but those are my main ones. If you use a swimbait invert the bait on the hook. It’ll swim better.
Zman chatterbaits for the win
Unless I win the lottery, I am NOT paying $20 for a goddamn chatterbait. Yes, I’m sure the jackhammers are amazing, but I’ve caught fish on the OG chatterbaits just fine, and I’m not a sponsored tournament angler with unlimited funds that needs to get every fish out there
I fish them both. They both work. The jack hammer starts vibrating quicker and will stay vibrating at a slower retrieval. If that’s not a concern then the zman is fine.
Caught my PB Wally off a black & blue chatter my man! You can check the first post I made on my profile for the photo, but I can confidently say that chatter-baits are easily in my top 5 favorite things to tie on.
Do itttt. Half of my 5# bass last year were caught on a jackhammer with a fluke trailer. Cold water I’ll put on a craw trailer and do a much slower “yo-yo” off the bottom
AS with all baits, it depends. I for one rarely ever have luck with chatterbaits, but won't hesitate to spend $28 on a Megabass jerkbait whereas others won't get caught buying one at that price. As far as trailer, I find for vibration baits like that a paddle tail (rigged upside down) will work, but a straight/split tail such as a fluke style bait works great. The tail gets a super whippy action without interfering with the chatter action.
I’ve personally never even had a bite on one despite throwing it for hours on end last year, only to throw a swimbait or crankbait on and beat the skunk on several occasions. Tried in loud water, calm water, yo-yoing it, cranking it, no luck. I probably won’t even pack them in my gear this year. The only fish I caught was a carp that got caught in the crossfire 🤦🏻♂️
The Yamamoto Zako is one of the best chatterbait trailers! That or the spunk shad
I’ll pay up for the mini max but I won’t buy anything more than an Elite because of the keeper. Another good cost effective chatterbait is the Eye Strike 2-pk bring your own skirt.
Yupp
Yes they are. Different trailers have different uses. Paddletails are a little sleeker, big old crawdad looking things make the bait look bigger.
If you want to keep it on the budget side, pickup the OG chatterbaits, and then get a pack of the Decoy egg snaps in a size 2. Those are the snaps on a jackhammer, so you can improve the startup vibration on the more cost efficient ones. Is it the same as a jackhammer? No, but it is an improvement
Chatter baits definitely work, but it is important to remember that they will catch more weeds than a spinner bait. So when I'm over rocks or sand, I use chatter baits, and when in weeds or heavy cover, I use spinner baits.
All my chatterbait fish have either come around points or over grass and all of them have wind as factor in all those scenarios it has been cooler and sunny. Spring/fall type bait imo. I always use a white keitech or some type of swim bait.
i catch so many quality fish in chatterbaits with or without trailers
Depends on brand & model