L
et’s step back and take a look at a bait that had
taken off and started to create its own bass lore
in March of 2004. This bait was made around a home plate-shaped blade that was attached to a jig head. It
did not take long for this new bait to start to create waves
with local anglers, catching bass and having top shows in
the early bass tournaments of the 2004 season. If you are
wondering what this bait is, welcome to the ChatterBait.
In 2004 at ICAST, I was walking the aisles looking at all the baits on display, I came down an aisle where there was a gentleman swimming a bait over a log in a tank; I stopped and watched the demonstration. I do not know if this person was Ronny Davis, but when I walked away, I was not really impressed with what I had just seen. How Wrong Was I?!
When the 2005 tournament season started, the ChatterBait was front and center and was starting to create some attention, showing bass legions across the United States just what it could do out of the gate, winning tournament after tournament. From that time forward, the ChatterBait created a special place in bass fishermen’s tackle boxes, and it is a bass fishing staple go-to today in many anglers’ eyes.
Following the ChatterBait’s early success, many top tackle companies started to create their own versions. I will reference the ChatterBait as a vibrating jig in this article. My meaning is not tilted towards one bait or company; I am referring to a bait category.
Let’s fast-forward through the 20 years since the vibrating jig came onto the bass scene and update some of the tactics and rigging that we are currently using to help put more bass in the boat today.
BLADE MAKEUP
When the vibrating jig came onto the market, it was available in just a silver-blade model, but today, companies have expanded blade choices and shapes that make up the vibrating jigs.
Blade sizes have expanded and so has the makeup of these blades. Blades are now available in silver, gold, copper, and a full assortment of colors, to name a few. Lure Parts Online has also started to sell blades in forage bait patterns to expand the options of using vibrating jigs in your waters. If you
are fishing a frog pattern or a baitfish pattern, there are blades that will have that pattern, making it easier for you to imitate the forage that the bass is eating with your bait.
Some manufacturers have also started to have bait options with holes punched in the blades. These blades create a bubble stream that comes off your bait as you retrieve it. This can be used as an attraction to help trigger bites and add more vibration to your bait. This blade option may be something that you want to stock in your box when you are faced with fishing in dirty water situations or when targeting bass in heavier weed conditions. This adjustment can be a solution to help bass find and react to your bait, creating more bites in tough conditions.
VIBRATING JIG SKIRTS
When it comes to skirts, I carry a wide assortment to match the forage bases in my waters. Bluegills and crawfish are my top two. I also stock some frog patterns in my mix and always expand some of these color patterns with bright accent colors mixed into my skirt patterns.
When I am faced with fishing in off-colored water conditions or heavy cover, I use these accent pattern skirts to help the bass that is tracking the sound of the bait. It assists them in zeroing in on the bait when they get close enough to see it and optimizes the chances of success, when triggering a strike.
I can’t tell you how many times this has been the main difference in getting bass over the side of the boat or not. It comes down to this simple rule “a bass can only bite the bait, if they can find it”.
I will admit that I probably carry a few too many skirt options in my box, but I can also tell you I have had a few times when I have had a buddy fishing with me asking if they can get one of these skirts that I am using, so they can start catching bass as well.
TRAILER OPTIONS
This is a category that I have put a lot of thought and fishing time into. In the early years, many companies also followed this plan. If they were to include a trailer in the package with the bait, what was that trailer?
®
Spring 2025
page 59