While a lot of the basic lures and techniques we use in bass fishing have been around for decades, the vibrating jig is the new kid on the block. Also known as chatterbaits, these bladed lures throw off a lot of flash, pulse, and wiggle—all of which absolutely trigger fish. In this video, we got to watch big smallmouth crushing this big, white bait in shallow, clear water on a fast retrieve. Doesn’t get much better than that.
This is a great searching bait for covering water quickly because it performs so well at high speeds. To accomplish that, I like to use a longer rod, in this instance a 7-foot 5-inch medium-heavy baitcast rod. I paired that with a super-fast 8:1 gear ratio reel loaded with 50-pound braid to a 20-pound fluorocarbon leader. Not only does that speedy reel allow me to move the bait quickly, but it also helps with my hookup ratio. With a fast retrieve like this, wind fast when you feel a strike instead of swinging the rod and introducing slack into the line. This has the secondary effect of giving fish another chance to eat the bait if they miss the fish time.
Like many great jighead-style baits, these vibrating jigs leave a lot of room for creativity with your trailer. I used a 4-inch swimbait in this video, but you can use a number of other options so long as they don’t spin under tension. It always helps to add a little dab of super glue to the hook shank when you thread on that plastic to keep it in place longer when those big bass try to rip it off.
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