Late October Chatterbaits for Largemouths and Pickerel

One last go at it before cold comes. Late October and the weather is turning. We got on the lake before sun got on the water, temperature 56 degrees, water temperature 58 degrees. The water temp quickly rose to 59 and then 60 at about the time we got off the water at 11:54.

I wanted to feel a big bass absolutely slam my Chatterbait. I've felt it before, and of course Brian has. I never forget him saying, "They hit like they want to kill it." 

Kill it right there and then.

A Chatterbait is a vibrating jig. 

That's the key concept, vibration, which provokes those savage attacks. I have no trouble feeling the bait chatter while using an IM6 rod, because the braid I also use transmits the vibration tightly. I distinctly feel each motion back and forth. Chat-ter, chat-ter, chat-ter and so on. The rod tip bounces just enough, the tip light enough to sway with each chat and ter, but strong enough to resist any sagging.   

I caught a pickerel of 22 inches or so that gave two big thuds when it took the lure, and I thought that was a bass. But never mind, catching a pickerel is fine with me, and when I did end up with a bass, it gave a hard pull, though it hadn't slammed the lure. No matter really. The morning is what it was, and both of us appreciated it. Leave that killer impulse for another day to come. 

I measured the bass. Or tried to. Definitely over 18 inches, it might be 18 1/2 or even 18 3/4. Whatever it is exactly, it's back in the lake. Chunky fish over three pounds. 

I did try a Yum Dinger around algae matts and shoreline brush, but I got hit only once, 

from either a small pickerel or a perch, I believe. Two decisive jabs. Not the tittle sunfish transmit, but no grab when I yanked back. It was a morning for Chatterbaits. In depths of four feet and as much as seven or eight. Maximum depth in the lake is nine feet, but there's a lot of eight-foot water, though more of it is four. Using the portable sonar graph was a really good idea, and I won't forget it next time, either.

Brian's good at Chatterbaits. His favorite. He's good with jerk baits, too, but he models himself as a Chatterbait bassman. He caught a nice largemouth of at least 17 inches, I believe, three pickerel, and three or four yellow perch. He also lost a bass on the leap that was a lot bigger. Bassman regardless, he enjoys pickerel and perch. One of the perch is 13 1/2 inches, the biggest pickerel 24 3/4. I measured those fish, too, and Brian wanted a photograph of the tape measure against the pickerel, also, which hadn't been difficult for the perch, except that it's rusty. For a NJ Skillful Angler Award. If you commit to that program, buy a bump board and always carry it with you. To compromise the slime on a pickerel just for an award is no bargain. I gave up trying to arrange a photo before I would have been certain that pickerel wouldn't survive.

I had hoped to get the post you're reading finished by mid-afternoon, but I got tired, even though I had slept nine hours last night. 

Never got tired on the lake. Tomorrow I have another day of work, and then I have a week off. I groan at facing the job tomorrow but soon I'll retire. I make the best of the work anyhow. It is physical, though, and I'm happy to report that fishing Chatterbaits all morning didn't pain my upper back as the job does. Besides, Brian has invested in Trika rods made of a carbon fiber that results in rods so light I need to look into how they balance with reels. I use a Lew's Speed Stick, and the rod is heavy by comparison, so if I make some money selling photographs online, a Trika will be a treat I can't refuse, even though I managed just fine with the Speed Stick today. So long as Trika makes a medium-heavy power rod. 

I'll try to get out and fish next week. At least once. The Fisherman magazine's editor, Jim Hutchinson, told me he'll let me know if the stripers are in the surf, and if so and all else lines up, we'll fish together. An invitation from someone I've deeply respected for years working with him. If it doesn't work out this year, it might next. I'll be available for more than a week next year. 

Otherwise, I have to transfer data from my current laptop to a new one, so I won't be fishing as much as might have. Regardless, Trish and I plan on dinner at the Walpack Inn inside Delaware Watergap National Recreation Area. I'll bring a rod. 

Red Evo Chatterbait with a big paddletail trailer.

20 Inches