Northwest Fishing Reports

so i usually fish in max up to 10 maybe 15 feet (no depth or fish finder) of water. ive only caught fish off weightless weedless senkos. i wana get into using the crank spinner or buzz baits. any tips on depths and places to use these or even what kind of baits to use. help would be greatly appreciated

fishin masta wrote:so i usually fish in max up to 10 maybe 15 feet (no depth or fish finder) of water. ive only caught fish off weightless weedless senkos. i wana get into using the crank spinner or buzz baits. any tips on depths and places to use these or even what kind of baits to use. help would be greatly appreciated

Ah something I've been asking myself. I've had some luck with weightless senkos, weedless and wacky rigged but I'm dieing to catching something on my spinnerbait, buzzbait, and my recent addition, chatterbait!

For deeper depths though, I do know dropshot rig can be pretty useful. Get that lure down the water. You can also use a jig but I don't really know how to work jigs that well so wrong person to be giving advice on that.

Oh SO many discriptions on these subjects/methods.

Ok, here goes;

buzzbaits - find an outside submergant weedline/dropoff, fish parallel. Then throw the bait at a 45 degree angle to the weedline and throw it towards the shallows. THEN take the boat over the shallows and throw at 45 degrees towards/over the deep water. Then boat along over all the shallow weeds and just throw haphazzardly over the weeds. The fish could be anywhere under, in, or over the weeds.

Then do some buzzing along the inside weedline.

Not to mention the topwaters and wakebaits - do the same methods.

Then you can look for rocks, rock piles, sand, gravel, and do the same around the edges, over the top, and all around these areas.

Then you can do all that along dock edges, reed edges, lily pda edges, and in the big pockest of open water in the middle of lily pads. Better have a STOUT rod to pull out the BIG fish, and min. 20 lb line, if you are gonna throw into those pockets, or you won't get your lure back.

Got the idea just how many ways to fish a buzzbait? Same for spinnerbaits, shallow crankbaits that only dive 1' to 2', then you have to determine how deep the weeds are and use a crankbait that dives that deep. LOADS of fun catching a big fish on a buzzbait, I always have one tied on and the rod at the ready most ALL the time, even if I don't plan on using it.

ckim85 wrote:

fishin masta wrote:so i usually fish in max up to 10 maybe 15 feet (no depth or fish finder) of water. ive only caught fish off weightless weedless senkos. i wana get into using the crank spinner or buzz baits. any tips on depths and places to use these or even what kind of baits to use. help would be greatly appreciated

Ah something I've been asking myself. I've had some luck with weightless senkos, weedless and wacky rigged but I'm dieing to catching something on my spinnerbait, buzzbait, and my recent addition, chatterbait!

For deeper depths though, I do know dropshot rig can be pretty useful. Get that lure down the water. You can also use a jig but I don't really know how to work jigs that well so wrong person to be giving advice on that.

Jig, as in 1/2 oz hair/skirted jig with pork or plastic trailer? Throw it out along the weedline/dock/rock pile, hop it back using short hops of 6" to 12". Try different hops, the fish will tell you what they want 'today'.

1/8 oz jig with grub? Swim it everywhere. Skip under docks, along docks, weeds, pads, ect. Then let it sink down to the 10' - 20' depths and hop it on the bottom. You do lose a few that way, but the fish - WHOOHOO!

When I'm fishing for perch in the cooler months, I'll typically pickup a smallie or two on a jig. Mind you that we're talking depths between 30' and 40' down. As the water cools even more the perch continue to move to even deeper (60' to 80') water and I stop picking up bass altogether. Jigs are easy once they hit the bottom, heck you can see them on the finder along with the fish. The trick is detecting a take while it is on the way down. This is where watching your line and having a sensitive rod pays off in spades and applies to all jig fishing and mooching. As was mentioned try a drop shot, can be deadly on finicky fish and one tends to lose fewer lures.

Amx wrote:

ckim85 wrote: Jig, as in 1/2 oz hair/skirted jig with pork or plastic trailer? Throw it out along the weedline/dock/rock pile, hop it back using short hops of 6" to 12". Try different hops, the fish will tell you what they want 'today'.

1/8 oz jig with grub? Swim it everywhere. Skip under docks, along docks, weeds, pads, ect. Then let it sink down to the 10' - 20' depths and hop it on the bottom. You do lose a few that way, but the fish - WHOOHOO!

Ah! Thank you for the tips. I've been fishing with a 1/4oz skirted jig alot instead of a senko lately but havent caught anything... Just picked up a black/blue color 1/4oz strike king today...i'll be on the water testing it out tomorrow evening

that black and blue spinner is GOLDEN! mini stike king. I have caught over 200 bass while using that black and blue spinner just this year! biggest is a 16 incher and he nailed it as soon as it hit the water. try different retrieves with it. like go fast or reel in and stop on your retrieve or let it hit the bottom reel in and repeat. change it up until you get the pattern of there strikes for that lake and that day, cause it always changes. the most successful lure i have owned! average size of fish is between 8-12 inchers. lots of fun tho. I have been using the senkos lately with a texas rig. It will fish any depth u desire and i have noticed that when using texas rigged senko, color is important!, that the average size has jump up on this rig, 10-15 inchers. I have even landed the biggest fish i have ever caught with this rig and it was 19 and 3/4inches weighing 5lbs! I am no expert or due i know everything about bass fishin, i just know what i have experienced. one other thing i have learned is that trying a new fishing lure style requires alot of patients due to doubting what u dont know. I figure there are so many ways to catch a bass that if i know as many as possible in my arsenal that those tough biting days I can literaly throw everything i can at them..

can anybody give me some insight on how to fish a chatterbait? I've been trying it out but no bites at all :/ do i just crank it in like a crankbait?

ckim85 wrote:can anybody give me some insight on how to fish a chatterbait? I've been trying it out but no bites at all :/ do i just crank it in like a crankbait?

Iv never fished one of these baits !! I do understand the premise behind the make up , and yes it does catch fish but i havent had a situation on which iv said to myself "i wish i had a chatterbait" ..wish i could offer some advise , but Whenever a new bait hits the market , i dont fall into the i gotta have it just because its new state of mind ... If you have noticed that bait is not a "go to bait" for many pro 's in most case it typicaly serves as a "optional bait " or a different look if you will to entice a bite .. If a lake gets spinnerbait and buzz bait pressure all the time from many bass anglers a chatter may be the different look that can make a diffence for in your day .. im sure some of the fine anglers on here can add a lil more insight to there experience with that bait .. good luck man

BBD

thanks Dez. Yeah I bought this thing while I was at Cabelas and I gotta admit...I thought it was a jig.. Didn't actually see the gold plate thing...

I put it in the water and it was pretty fun to fish so I've been fishing with it for a bit but with no success. I'll set it aside from now and stick with the go-to's.

chatter baits can be fished like a jig would. the idea of it is more vibration in the water for attraction, like a spinner. It is also a jig so u can pop it and let it rest or swim it. whatever your perfered style. the blade will also help make it a little weedless in some situations. I have fished this stlye of bait and had no real success, nothin i would write home about. put trailers on them or try different colors. like the earlier reply i have not seen many use them even though at the store they are almost always sold out, probably just because its different. I kind of think it scares the fish more then anything, my opinion.

thanks for the insight bass woody, i think i'll more or less use it like a jig. it is kind of hard to control unlike a spinnerbait because the blades cause so much vibration that its hard to give it a little more action with my rod.
hell, i bought the thing thinking it was a jig anyway. if anything i'll take the blade off and just use it as a jig.

I have fished the chatterbait here and there since they came out. I have caught my fair share of fish on them, but I haven't fished one all year long. I just feel more confident in the same situations, throwing a spinnerbait or a jig. I think the key to this bait is that it is a different look, but I can get a different look on a spinnerbait by changing blades out, or changing the skirt. Plus, the spinnerbait is more weedless.

ckim85 wrote:can anybody give me some insight on how to fish a chatterbait? I've been trying it out but no bites at all :/ do i just crank it in like a crankbait?

I've caught a good amount of fish on chatterbaits recently. The only method thats worked for me so far is slow rolling near the surface. I've caught fish of the shore under brush and near docks and lillies with it. fishing it over submerged weed beds. So basically I've been fishing it just like a spinnerbait. I haven't caught any fish by jigging them yet , maybe next spring. I've found that it picks up weeds way too easy to jig it in weedy lakes , it doesn't work out well.

BucketMouthCatcher wrote:

ckim85 wrote:can anybody give me some insight on how to fish a chatterbait? I've been trying it out but no bites at all :/ do i just crank it in like a crankbait?

I've caught a good amount of fish on chatterbaits recently. The only method thats worked for me so far is slow rolling near the surface. I've caught fish of the shore under brush and near docks and lillies with it. fishing it over submerged weed beds. So basically I've been fishing it just like a spinnerbait. I haven't caught any fish by jigging them yet , maybe next spring. I've found that it picks up weeds way too easy to jig it in weedy lakes , it doesn't work out well.

yeah I stopped by a small lake on the way bac from running some errands and the blades are like weed magnets.

I was cleaning out my bait box and turns out I have 2 chatterbaits... i have no idea where i got the second one. I only remember buying one lol.

but i somehow ended up buying awhole lot of everything. I never realized how much crap i have accumulated.

ckim85 wrote: yeah I stopped by a small lake on the way bac from running some errands and the blades are like weed magnets.

I was cleaning out my bait box and turns out I have 2 chatterbaits... i have no idea where i got the second one. I only remember buying one lol.

but i somehow ended up buying awhole lot of everything. I never realized how much crap i have accumulated.

I'm the same way...all the sudden I have like 6+ poppers, a bunch of rapalas, and probably 10 bags of plastics. not to mention the trout gear...

Is that all you have? I carry more then that in the boat. Not to mention the spare stuff in the cabinets. I've got stuff in the boat I haven't used in many years. SOMEDAY I'll get that cleared out again.

I too have used the chatterbait alot. It has certain advantages over a spinnerbait, which is why I use it in certain applications when a reaction bite is on. The chatterbait can be skipped up under docks, brush and cover and worked thru wood alot easier than a spinnerbait. It's weakness is in weeds, grass, pads, where the big front blade just digs into the weeds and doesn't come out clean. Also, a spinnerbait has less vibration, but much more flash. Again both baits have there time and place for use and both will catch fish when used in the right situation.

Mark

ckim85 wrote:can anybody give me some insight on how to fish a chatterbait? I've been trying it out but no bites at all :/ do i just crank it in like a crankbait?

Amx wrote:Is that all you have? I carry more then that in the boat. Not to mention the spare stuff in the cabinets. I've got stuff in the boat I haven't used in many years. SOMEDAY I'll get that cleared out again.

LOL no not even close. I have a tacklebox filled with JUST spinners, one with rapalas, 1/2 box with rebel poppers, and so many bags of plastics I keep them in the backpack. keep in mind I only JUST started bass fishing this spring. Never even tried for a bass before this year! I am fishing with three rods now, but I am thinking about adding a 4th :P