Winter Bass Fishing Chatterbait Tips!

What's up, Bass Resource? We've got John Cruise here and we're talking about chatterbaits, one of my favorite baits to fish all year. The chatterbait, one of my favorites all year long. We're going to talk about chatterbaits in the wintertime. Most people are not thinking about chatterbaits in the wintertime. There's a couple applications you may be missing and then obviously in the wintertime, sometimes you're going to catch that pre-spawn, that time period right before the fish are starting to move up. Really, really a key time for chatterbaits.

So first of all, you've got colors, you've got sizes, you've got all these different applications, all these different things that when you're talking about chatterbaits. You've got these mini chatterbaits, you've got the bigger chatterbaits, you get the regular chatterbaits. 

The regular chatterbait in the wintertime is where I'm going to go first. When we're talking about the true wintertime, white, like a brighter white, like we've got right here. This is the Z-Man Jackhammer and the brighter white is really what I'm going to be focusing on. Probably starting with a half-ounce because, in the wintertime, the fish are not going to be in that really, really shallow water usually. So I'm going to go with a half-ounce to start with. With that half-ounce, I'm also going to bounce up to a three-quarters. That three-quarter ounce is really underutilized by a lot of anglers with chatterbaits. That three-quarter ounce can be fished effectively 6, 8, and 10 feet deep. You can throw that bait out there, let it sink down to the bottom, and then you can have a slow, steady retrieve and keep that chatterbait down. Those fish are not seeing chatterbaits. 

The reason that we're going with white is because white is probably the best wintertime color for any kind of a moving bait. That bright white, for some reason, I put a Fishalicious Shockwave on the back of there. The wintertime is when I'm going to go up sizing with my trailers. About the only time that I'm going to do that. Five-and-a-half-inch Spunk Shad, probably my number one choice in the frosted purple. Probably the number one color choice. But that's not the only time. That's really when you're going to be early wintertime you need baitfish present. You want to be able to see baitfish. You may or may not be around the grass, but in that true wintertime, we're talking about water temperatures that are colder. The fish are not anywhere close to spawning when it's that early winter, true wintertime.

As we get a little closer to spring, we're talking in a lot of areas, it could be even late January and into February, there's like a magical conversion to where all the anglers start throwing reds and oranges. I think that there's a time period where they'll still bite the white one and then sometimes they just want that orange one. There's something about that color, that red-orange color. This is the four-and-a-half-inch Spunk Shad in the Lava Craw on the back. There's something about this combination right there in that color that just triggers big bass in that late wintertime, early pre-springtime period. And really, really good around grass, but also I've caught them really good on this color right here in that little more stained water, but even around rocky banks, even around baitfish. And you think white might be the deal, for some reason, something about that orange and red combination. 

And there's multiple different versions and variations. You've got the black and red color variation with a little shockwave on the back. And then when this is the one I just had, and then you had the more subtle green pumpkin and red. If the water's a little clearer around grass, this one is really, really, really good. I've caught a lot of fish on that particular color. When maybe this is too bright, you might want to go to a little more subtle with that red in there. So just kind of let the watercolor dictate what that is, but don't be afraid to throw that bright red, even in water that you almost might think it's too clear. Don't be afraid to throw that bright. There is something about that late wintertime when that thing actually crushes them. It just triggers something in those fish.

But the setup that I like, I like to throw a baitcaster, almost exclusively for the chatterbait. I'm going to be having the line I usually use is a Sunline Shooter 18 pound. You can use 16 if you want to keep that bait down a little bit more. You can use 20 if you want to keep it up a little bit higher. 18 is just a good combination for me, that it's strong enough that I don't have to worry about banging the bait off of the bottom and rocks and stuff like that, and still hooking five-pounders and swinging them in the boat. 18 pound is plenty for that. And then the rod, I think, is key. You want to have a rod that's not too stiff. If you fish any kind of a fast action rod that's got a lot of backbone to it, might have a soft tip, but a lot of backbone to it, that's not enough give for the bait. You will lose a lot of fish on that chatterbait. You can see this rod right here has a lot of bend to it throughout the rod. That's called a moderate action right there. This is the Cashion chatter grass rod. It is just a great action for a chatterbait. Caught a ton and ton and ton of fish on it. That's what you want.

And then I like a seven-to-one gear ratio reel. This is a Daiwa Zillion SV TW. You want to have a quality reel that you can make really, really long casts, cover a lot of water when you're fishing that chatterbait, no matter what the season it is. So that's kind of my... And then as far as for working that chatterbait, you want to be able to throw the bait out there in the wintertime, let the bait sink to the bottom, and don't be afraid to give it some rips before as you're reeling it, and then maybe let it sink down to the bottom, rip it a little bit more, and then reel it. Just think in the wintertime, you got a lot of shad that are kind of dying off. And so that's what you're trying to emulate, especially with the white colors, but you're just trying to get that erratic trigger strike, especially in the wintertime when you're fishing the more bait fish colors. You're going to be reeling it along and then just letting it die, and then ripping it up. Not like a full-fledged yo-yo, but you definitely want to rip it more often, and then start back with the slow reel. That is the way I fish a chatterbait in the wintertime. I'll catch a lot of fish on that chatterbait in the wintertime. Using those two different color shades, you will catch a lot of big bass in the wintertime if you don't forget to tie on that chatterbait.