Catch More Bass This Fall with Chatterbaits!

Hey, Bass Resource, John Crews here to talk with you about chatterbaits during the fall. Now the chatterbait is a great bait all year, but each season is a little bit different when you're talking about chatterbaits, how you fish them, what you fish, what colors, what sizes, how you throw them, where you throw them, all that kind of stuff. We're going to break it down for you right now with the chatterbaits. So in the fall, we all know what happens in the fall, bass become super focused on baitfish. It becomes all about the buffet line. They want to find that buffet line. Wherever the baitfish are, that's where the bass are going to be. If you can find the bass and the bait that's moved relatively shallow, less than 10 feet of water, chatterbaits are going to be something that I'm absolutely going to be having on my deck, having it into my rod, I'm going to have it in the water catching bass. So baitfish colors, baitfish colors, baitfish colors.

Probably my favorite one is a clear water shad. It's just a baitfish-y looking type color. Start usually with the half ounce unless I'm going to be fishing really shallow water. That happens a lot of times in the fall. We know that. A lot of times those shad will get up super shallow. They'll get up less than two feet of water. And if they're less than two feet of water, that's when I'm going to go to a three eights. But unless they're real shallow, I'm going to go with that half ounce so I can put a little more speed behind that bait in my retrieve. Clear water shad, frosted purple colored, spunk shad on the back, the missile bait spunk shad, that is just the combination I think that I've caught so many fish in the fall. And that goes up north as well for smallmouth and for largemouth in the south and mid-Atlantic, that whole area. You want to get around the baitfish and you want to put speed behind it and trigger those fish with the speed. I think that's a big, big key in the fall.

Sometimes you might need to make repeated casts. If you find a piece of cover that's got some shad nearby, you might have to throw two or three or four times. That's just a deal I've seen in the fall more than any other time of the year. Chatterbaits, I don't care what other baits you're throwing, the repeated casts in the fall can be a big deal. So don't forget about that with your chatterbaits as well. I think a lot of those fish have been beat on, maybe they've been caught a few times. So you might have to throw on them a few times to get them to bite.

The combination that we're going to be using is basically the same combination that I fish most all year. And that's going to be 18 pound Sunline Shooter on my line. It's very supple, it's very strong. You can get very precise casts with it because it's supple and it casts well, but you can also horse out four and five pounders from cover. And then you can boat flip four and five pounders and not worry about it. The reel that I use, a Daiwa High Speed, it's a seven to one gear ratio on the Zillion SV TW. You just want to reel it cast far and precise. I think that's the biggest key. And then you want to have the right action rod. You do not want to have too stiff of a rod when you're talking about chatterbaits. You want something that's got that moderate action, as I'll show you right here, you want that moderate action to where you can see that rod bend throughout because you'll be able to hook and land a much higher percentage of fish than if you have a faster action rod. I mean, trial and error, man. I've been there and done that. You want that slower, moderate action in your rod with that baitfish color in the fall.

There's a couple of variations that I'll go to in the fall. The one that I mentioned earlier was I'm going to go lighter with a 3/8. Even with the 3/8, we go with that baitfish color. Sometimes you want a little more finesse action. Sometimes I'll even trim out the underside of the skirt. So I'll trim out and thin out. You see it's a little thinner skirt than normal. I might thin that out, still put that Frosted Purple trailer on the back, but a little bit thinner skirt in the fall. For some reason, I think it works a little bit better. But you also may just want to go ahead and drop down to the Mini Max in the fall. A little bit smaller profile, a little bit smaller vibration. That could be very much a key. I've got that little Shockwave swimbait on the back. That can be something that's just a little tail kicking. You could go down to the 3.5-inch Spunk Shad as well. Either one of those is going to work real well on that Mini Max. That's a good little variation in the fall when you're getting around where there's a ton of those little baitfish. Maybe the fish have been beat on. Maybe you're fishing in a public body of water that has had a lot of pressure. Or maybe the fish are just really finicky. Sometimes in the fall, they get finicky and they get keyed in on really small baitfish. That little Mini Max can be a great little alternative to go to in the fall.

If you can find that stained water and you can find those baitfish, that is really the combination that you're looking for to be able to have those fish positioned up around the bank to where you can throw. Remember that speed factor like I talked about. In the fall, that speed factor is a big deal. Don't be afraid to get that erratic reel action that you can do throughout the warm weather season really, summer and even into the fall. You're reeling that bait and you're going to just give it a little erratic action. With that half ounce, you can really crank it pretty fast and then slow it down, reel it, just get kind of erratic with it in the fall. That chatterbait is going to be going crazy. It's going to be doing all kinds of stuff. That's when the magic happens. That's when you trigger those bass in the fall to bite because they may not be in that right mood. They've been fished for all year in most places. A lot of those fish have even been caught. They've just seen a lot of lures. They've been fooled before. They need something that triggers that reaction, that triggers that instinct of feeding, something that's a little bit different. That's why you have to kind of trigger them or trick them into biting that chatterbait a lot of times in the fall.

You find the right areas, there's going to be thousands and thousands of shad. Why wouldn't they just swim through and just wolf up a bunch of regular innocent shad? Why are they going to hit your chatterbait? That chatterbait has the vibration, but you give it that little extra action to where that thing's going to jump left, jump right as it's going through the water, and then all of a sudden, bam, they're going to come out of there. Don't forget about fishing shallow boat docks in the fall. You get in those areas that have baitfish present. A lot of times the fish will still be set up around those boat docks to ambush the baitfish. They may not be just swimming around in the middle chasing baitfish. Sometimes they do, sometimes they don't, but those fish will set up around those boat docks. I've had some really, really good days in the fall towards the backs of creeks or the backs of pockets that have some staying water and have some baitfish. Those shallow boat docks are going to be where a lot of those fish are going to set up, so don't sleep on those shallow boat docks.

If you have that 4.5-inch Spunk Shad, it'll help you skip that bait up under those docks so you can get to fish that really haven't seen a chatterbait. A lot of guys don't take the time to skip a chatterbait up under docks, especially in the fall. They've been fished for a lot. They're hiding back in there waiting to ambush that baitfish. Skip it way back in there. Get that erratic action as you're coming out. Next thing you know, you're reeling in a four-pounder. 

Chatterbaits in the fall, one of my favorite times. Chatterbaits are great all season. Chatterbait in the fall, do not sleep on it. It is a really, really good bait in the fall. Catch some big fish in the fall on that chatterbait. Something about chatterbait in the fall, that vibration triggers those little bit bigger bass to latch on to it, and that's what we all want, right? Chatterbaits in the fall, don't forget about it.