Strange how lures you stopped using years ago creep back into your tackle box. I'm not a big fan of the Mepps, and still not, but spinnerbaits were my go-to for covering water. (They still hang in my spinnerbait box collecting dust.) But a month ago, I happened to see a Micro Chatterbait lying on the ground, picked it up and forgot about it in my tackle box. Finally, I tried it but wasn't impressed by the skirt's action. I removed it and hooked on a 4" plastic worm (no-action tail). I noticed immediately the pulsation of the worm and the blade's strong vibration felt even at a long distance cast. That day, it caught bass.
I did some research on the Chatterbait and saw different YouTube videos of bass caught. What surprised me were the number of different trailers used
with the skirt attached. So, I reattached the skirt but shortened it. Now it had a nice pulsation and also caught bass with no trailer!
I will try different trailers, starting with the ones I saw on YouTube with and without the skirt. (BTW, the anglers swore by the Chatterbait as one of the best bass baits ever! I ordered some in the regular size.)
Another
blade bait I rediscovered this year was the
Beetle Spin. I can't even remember catching fish on it but tried it in June. Once I caught fish, I switched to different soft plastic shapes. Like the Chatterbait, there were a large number that caught fish such as the Crappie Magnet, 3" slim plastic worm (no action tail), curl tail body minus the tail, Ribbon Tail curl tail (Berkley) and others. Surprising was how aggressive the fish strikes were as well as the various species that attacked it. Bass, panfish and pickerel got hooked on small #6 and #4 jig hooks. Like the Chatterbait, the blade's vibration imparted a different action to the soft plastic and the flash got their attention fast even in murky water with a lot of suspended algae.
Guess it's time to tie on a spinnerbait with and without a trailer. No doubt it will catch fish.
