How To Choose A Combo: Chatterbaits (Rod, Reel, & Line)

Keri: There you go. There's a big one. We got another ChatterBait fish.
 
Glenn: Look at this guy. He's mad.
 
Keri: Look at that. ChatterBait!
 
Glenn: There we go.
 
Keri: Got a ChatterBait fish.
 
Glenn: Right there.

So, let's talk a little bit about the equipment that we're using here. This is real critical to successful ChatterBait fishing. What I've got here is a 7-foot medium heavy power rod, with fast-action tip. Real fast-action tip. I don't know if you can see that. Let me show you. See that tip? Real fast. Almost an extra fast. That is ideal for fishing ChatterBait. Now, if you've got a spinnerbait rod, that's perfect for fishing ChatterBaits. But the 7-foot medium heavy is pretty much a universal tool. You can use it for worm fishing, for ChatterBait, for paddle tail fishing. You can even use it for jig fishing. There's even more. There's a lot of uses you can use for a seven and a half medium heavy power rod. So, get yourself a couple of them and rig them up. But this is what you wanna use with a ChatterBait.

With it, I've got the Revo SX baitcasting reel. This is an awesome reel for this. It's a 6:6:1 gear ratio. And the reason I'm going with that instead of, like, a 7:3 or faster is, for the most part, your success with a ChatterBait is with a slower retrieve. And I'll get into the retrieves in a minute, but the 6:6 enables me to keep it down, even if I get a little anxious and I start speeding up. It's gonna keep that down to a slower speed.

With this reel, also, it's got a fantastic smooth drag. Real nice drag on it, and when you hook onto a fish, usually it's a big one, and you need a good drag to be able to fight them back to the boat and not get them to tear the hook out of his mouth. I also have a real strong... The drag on is also very, very strong. It's 24 pounds of drag. That is really unusual for bass fishing. Most reels for bass fishing are only like 12 to 16 pounds on the drag, so 24 pounds is really stout for bass fishing. And that's great because what I like to do is I fan cast this. I'll fan cast it across big flats of weeds and submerged milfoil, for example, and just, you know, start at like the 11 o'clock position. And then my next cast would be 12, my next cast would be 1, and so on and so forth. Just covering water. And you make those really long casts, and so, when that fish is way out there, and he hits it on the end of a long cast, you need the drag to be down tight in order to set that hook with that much line out.

And speaking about that line, I've got, here on, I've got 30-pound FireLine Ultra 8 line on this. The 30 is really good, and the FireLine here, because it's a micro Dyneema fiber, it goes through the guides real smooth and that aids for long casts. So, again, as I mentioned, long casts on this are critical. 
 
So, real nice long cast with this line. It has no stretch, so, again, you can get good hook-setting power on those long casts. And pair that with this reel, which gives you a nice long cast as well, you're gonna get that bait fired way out there and cover a lot more water than somebody else who's not set up like this. So, be sure you get yourself one of these reels and pair it up with this FireLine.

Keri: There you go. Look at that. Look at that. Where are you, dude? 
 
Glenn: Come here, fish. Boy, that's a good fish.
 
Keri: He's acting like he's really good. Come here. There you go.
 
Glenn: He's not that big, but he sure felt like it.
 
Keri: Yeah, they wanna chase something.
 
Glenn: There he is.
 
Keri: ChatterBait! That's a good fish. It's the best one we've found all day. Or almost, just like...
 
Glenn: ChatterBait!
 
Keri: ChatterBait!
 

For more tips and tricks like this, visit BassResource.com.