Chatterbait Tips – Picking The Best Trailers for Bass Fishing

Chatterbait fishing trailers

One challenge with bass fishing chatterbaits is picking a good softplastic trailer to pair with the bait. There are so many different types of softplastics used as trailers it is hard to know what works best. Here are some tips, and a list of some of the best chatterbait trailers for bass fishing. This will help you know what to look for in a chatterbait trailer, and also help you catch more bass on this awesome bait. What you put on a chatterbait can really elevate, and make this lure work even better.




 

What Makes a Good Chatterbait Trailer

Fishing with a chatterbait is a fire way to catch both smallmouth and largemouth bass. A lot of professional tournaments are won every year on this bait. One important element of a chatterbait, a lot of folks don’t consider, is what you put on the back of it. A good trailer will add more life, and appeal to this lure to draw more strikes and bites from the bass. Here’s three things to consider when selecting the best trailer for your chatterbait.

Color

Choosing a good color is important to match the bait-fish and forage the bass in your lake feed on. The general rule of thumb is clear water you want natural colors like green pumpkin and watermelon. Then with dirty water you want to go with really bright or dark colors. Like black and blue, or white with chartreuse. Another thing to consider with a swimming bait like a chatterbait is a bass generally see it from underneath swimming above them. Thus, two tone colors seem to work really well. Something with a dark top and light belly can really draw out those bass. Check out my post on picking a good color for your baits to help guide you in your color choices- Picking the Right Color

Profile

The silhouette profile of how your bait looks moving through the water is important to consider when picking a chatterbait trailer. Some soft plastics have a bigger bulkier size with big swimming tails. Others are slimmer and thinner with small tails. Chatterbait trailers can come in various shapes and sizes. The key to decide on the profile type is match the forage in the lake. Try to imitate the size and shape of what the bass are currently targeting. Another point about profile size is if you want more bites try using the smaller trailers. If you want to catch bigger fish, go with bigger profile soft plastics. An additional thing to consider is water clarity. It’s easier for a bass to see something bigger, than something smaller. They can feel a bigger bait easier, which can make a big difference in helping you decide what profile you want in your chatterbait trailer.

Action

Lastly, the type of action your chatterbait trailer provides when it’s kicking is important. How much tail movement is there when the bladed jig is swinging violently?  Does your soft plastic generate action without the chattering from the bait? These are things to think about for chatterbait trailers. Honestly, it seems the best chatterbait trailers generate their movement from the actual vibration of the blade, instead of the action coming from the softplastic. Sometimes baits with really big paddles aren’t ideal, because the action can be too flamboyant. Although, baits that have a lot of flapping tentacles could be the game changer for drawing strikes. Let the bass tell you what they want, and experiment a little bit. You never know what could make a big difference.

Fishing Chatterbaits for Bass
Fishing Chatterbaits for Bass can produce great results. Knowing what trailer to use will help give your bait more appeal to those big bass.

 

Best Chatterbait Trailers

Included here is a list of some of the best Chatterbait trailers you can find success with. In addition,  below are some details about these trailers and why they work so well. This list, along with the details, will give you the tools you need to start catching more bass on chatterbaits. Make sure you continue down this post to see the video of these chatterbait trailers catching bass. It’s always nice to have some video proof with what you are reading, so you know I’m not trying to blow smoke up your shorts.

Strike King Blade Minnow

The strike king blade minnow is an excellent chatterbait trailer for a few different reasons. This softplastic trailer has a nice slim profile, so it looks realistic in the water on the back of a chatterbait. The other sweet thing about the blade minnow is it’s a more durable plastic. It tends to stay on the back of your chatterbait easier without sliding down. Plus, it comes in a variety of solid colors to meet any of the situations you might encounter. Overall, the blade minnow creates a more finesse presentation, and draws more strikes then some of your bigger bodied softplastic trailers.

Yamamoto Zako

The Yamamoto Zako was designed specifically to be a chatterbait trailer, and has a lot of great characteristics. First, is the zako has a thicker body profile, to draw out those bigger sized bass. The tail on the bait kicks really well, and provides a nice natural action to draw some strikes. This thing helps push the water, to draw attention to it in both stained and dirty water conditions. I’ve found a lot of success using a black and blue zako at night to get some good bass because of the bigger profile. The zako is overall a great all-around trailer, and seems to entice bigger bass to come out and play.

Big Bite Baits Real Deal Shad

The big bite baits real deal shad wasn’t necessarily designed to be a chatterbait trailer, but it gets the job done beautifully. The tail action on this bait is awesome fluttering behind the chatterbait. Plus, the realistic coloring can really add to enticement for the bass. It’s not a super small profile, and it’s not a giant beefy profile. The real deal shad just fits right in the middle to provide a lot of bites, and great action to catch bass.

best chatterbait fishing trailers
Here are three of the best chatterbait fishing trailers. The Strike King Blade Minnow, Yamamoto Zako, and Big Bite Baits Real Deal Shad.

 

Additional Trailers to Consider

Here’s a bullet list of 10 other potential options for softplastic baits to use for a trailer on your chatterbait outside of the three chatterbait trailers mentioned above. Sometimes a creative approach can create some cool combinations the bass have never seen before.

 

Choosing Chatterbait Trailers Video Demonstration

Here’s a quick video thrown together from several different outings of using the chatterbait trailers mentioned in this post. This video will give you a better idea of what makes a good chatterbait trailer, and show you how effective a good trailer can be to help you catch some bass. Don’t forget to subscribe to the YouTube Channel while you watch so you can stay on top of other great video’s to help keep you “Kraken” bass!

 

 

Additional Thoughts on Chatterbaits

A chatterbait is a great tool for catching bass all across the country. I’ve used it everywhere with a lot of success. It works well all year long, but really seems to outperform other baits in colder water conditions. Early Spring, and late fall have proven to be good times for fishing a chatterbait. For more chatterbait tips check out my post on the The Best Chatterbait Set Up. Hopefully, with this past post, and what you have learned here will help you be  successful in catching more bass.

Lastly, The links above and below in this post are affiliate links were you can pick up baits, rod’s, reels, line, and anything else I use to “Krak” some bass on chatterbaits. Krakenbass receives a small percentage of the sales through these links. I only use links to baits, and gear I personally trust and know work. These links are supposed to be helpful for you, and not for the small amount I make for the sale of the products. I hope these products can help you “krak” some bass like they have for me. Thank you for your support!

As always,

Stay Stoked!

One Response

  1. Nice job, Jabe. You caught one on each chatter trailer. Looks like it was a beautiful day for fishing. I like your weigh scale. Awesone work!!

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