There seems to be times year round where they eat it good or none will touch it.

When the Chatterbait bite is really good the best bite is when the thump stops and your line moves sideways but you can’t feel the fish take the bait. They can swim a while with it before you set the hook.

Caught a 6# a few weeks back on one. Thought my line broke because it went slack and I couldn't reel it in fast enough. Dang bass can swim faster than I can crank a 6.3 ratio.

Used to throw it all year except in the hottest months. But, my best day with one was on a miserably hot August day and the lake had a terrible algae bloom….thick, green water with particles suspended in it…zero visibility. I figured if the bass can’t see anything; I’ll throw something that vibrates a lot. Tied on a chatterbait with a LFMS on the back and it was nearly every three or four casts….and violent.

What size trailer - 3.5 or 4.5? V-tail?

Last January on a frigid day on Palestine while prefishing it started sleeting a little. Water was high and stained to muddy and in the 40-45 degree range. It was a little windy too. Chatterbait was all i could get bit on.

I build and fish them year around we have several spotted bass lakes here in Ca. They eat them no matter what time of year it is in 10 to 35 feet of water.

Your definition of "cold water"???... Dan

35-45

I always either fish solid white or white head with a chartreuse skirt with LFT Magic shad as a trailer.
Won a couple of tournaments on Ivie using it. Had a 10.10 for big fish in one of them.

4.5 V-tail. It was also the only thing they would bite that day…..and they wanted it bad….think it was the only thing they could track down and eat….prior to throwing it; I had tried every black and blue flappy plastic, bright crank bait, and spinner bait I had brought with me.

I don't know if this coorelates with other people, but throwing this out there to see if the data can be verified. I fish a lake (Grapevine lake) which doesn't have vegetation. It's rocks, with an occasional piece of submerged (brush, log,or concrete block). I have used it during the daytime, and prob caught one fish since I have had them. 99% of my fish are caught at night slowly bumping the bait on hard structure. I have many light colors which i have used on other lakes, which have grass/moss. But it's black/blue, a perch, or pumpkin color scheme at night that connects with fish. When the lake has dropped pretty low below pool, it really does good on rip-rap as I think the crawfish burrowed deep below the rocks get pushed out of their homes. If I see the snakes on the banks, it's on like donkey kong at night. With that said, daytime fishing is a head scratcher for me. I throw it, but i can pull out the spinnerbait and it kicks the chatterbait in the ding ding during the day. I fish both as slow as i can, making sure i am making contact with the nottom with an added (erratic speed change, or pop of the rod while reeling). In the daytime the spinnerbait wins hands down, at night it's 50/50 between the spinnerbait/chatterbait. I tried several inexpensive chatterbaits, and didn't think it would make any difference on the manufacturer. If i get hung up, i will pull up whatever Im hung up on if it's small. Well i found a chatterbait in a orange color scheme, with a yamamoto trailer one day. I started using the damn thing and it flat feickin caught fish, and when it finally was lost I tracked down the manufacturer. It was a thunder cricket chatterbait, and i was shocked at the price. Bought several, and still using them today. Don't know why they seem to work better, and it might all be in my head. Anyhoo, for lakes without grass do any of you have the same results during the daytime? My fishing mentor catches fish all the time with a white chatterbait with a long white trailer during the daytime, but i might just be holding my mouth wrong.

Prosise

After this cold spell blows through next week the lakes around here will be in the mid to high 30*'s... Crystal clear water... I'll probably start with Tightlining, move to a football jig, followed up with a RkCrawler and then the A-rig... Maybe I'll sling a Chatterbait also... I fish it most other times of the year, so why not give it a fling... Dan

Just a thought, but try fishing one during the day a little faster, even if your not always bumping structure. You might be fishing it way to slow, because it should catch fish even with no grass. I remember reading an article by Bret Hite, saying to many people fish it like a jig, instead fish it like a crankbait.

I was fishing Ray Roberts several years ago, when there wasn't a lot of grass and it was a bright sunny day with a nice breeze and I started with a white chatterbait. I fished an hour without a bite and I came upon another fisherman as our paths were crossing from different directions and we stopped and chatted for a minute and I told him I hadn't caught anything yet and he said he started with the same white chatterbait with no luck and switched to a black/blue and picked up 3 fish. He said it didn't make any sense to him, but it was working. I really appreciated whoever he was in his beautiful red Ranger, because I switched to a purple chatterbait and caught a 5 pounder within 30 minutes of making the switch. I always seem to do best with a straight retrieve and have caught nice fish with a chatterbait that way, but I wish I could get one to bite when I was trying to fish it more erratic. Hope that helps.

Years ago, Maybe 2008 or so, I saw a someone fishing a chatterbait for the first time. There was a man, in a little jon boat, tied up to tree next to a creek channel that was covered in grass on either side of it. Dead of winter. I was fishing all over catching a few fish her or there on a trap. Nearly everytime i looked over at that man, he was hooked up or dealing with a fish in his boat. It was cold out, and he was absolutely clobbering them.

Appreciate the info. I am a firm believer in "It's not the arrow, it's the indian" which is prob the issue. Will give it a try....