Only place to get the shame shaped blade is from Ebay... All the tackle websites will only sell the rounded blades...

Not sure if it's the blade or head or both but the jackhammer makes a Much more distinct sound in water I Believe there is a you tube video about them.

Trust me. I throw chatter baits often. I don't see a huge production level in jackhammer vs good ole chatter bait. $16.95 is steep. $5/6 is just fine.

I'll continue to use the couple I have but unless production of quantity of fish improves I won't be buying new ones.

So a bait that costs $3 to make and sells for $16 comes with cheap components? Yep, that’s ZMan!

Buda, the Decoy stuff is not cheap. I am sure Brett Hite & Evergreen spent countless hours selecting the Jackhammer components piece by piece to ensure the bait would hunt like no other bladed jig, and that it does. The issue I see is that after you catch 40-50 fish or one really big fish on one the Decoy Egg Snap gives way.

Will the other Chatterbaits catch fish right outta the package? Absolutely! Do they hunt like the Jackhammer? No sir.

Will I buy a $16 bait & change the snap on it because I feel it gives me a slight edge? In a heartbeat!

You throwing them on braid?

Depends. When I go to Camelot Bell I do. I know braid is much less forgiving on terminal equipment like snaps & hooks. That contributed to the failure of the snap in this pic but it was a big fish on a heavy action rod.

Normally I throw them on 20# flo. However even on flo after a bunch of fish the Decoy snap will fail. I was on Indian Cave Lake, part of the PWF portfolio last Oct that was full of 2-4# fish that were chomping the bait. Two of the 3 of us in my boat had the snap fail on new baits after catching 30+ fish on them around vegetation.

To be clear, I do not think it is a bad design. I am sure Zman & Evergreen spent a TON of time working with every snap possible and settled on the Decoy Egg Snap because it made the bait more erratic. I am just stating my experience.

I changed all of my chatterbait clips ( as suggested by someone on this site several months ago) to the Mustad Fastach Clips #2 (rated for 50 lbs). Mustad makes sizes from 0 to 5 for these clips. I doubt I will ever have a failure with these. A little help from a youtube video for connecting to the chatterbait was very helpful with some needle nose pliers.

Ken, do you have a part # for that replacement snap you use. I looked at the Hyperwire products, and don't see one that is 70#. I do see a size 1 79# snap, link provided. Is that it?

Hyper Crosslock Snap

Good tip

Yes that is it. I also just noticed the Hog farmer 80# snaps that look like they may be easier to install. Getting the Owner snaps on the Jackhammer is a pain!

Wait for context we are talking about fishing a bait 4-5 days a week for 3-4 months and not getting your $20 out of it? I have lost that in football jigs on Fayette in a day. It makes me mad, but it's fishing, you lose stuff.