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Posts: 74
Location: MIlton Ontario Canada | Hey everyone
Just wondering what everyones opinions are on using rattles when fishing for muskies. I fish both clear and stained water and tend to stay away from rattles as much as possible when it comes to fishing clear water. I know that Muskies can still be caught fishing rattle baits on clear water but I think that the muskies feed more on sight in clear water then anything else. I am just trying to put the odds in my favour as much as possible. I use rattles a lot when fishing stained water and while night fishing on both types of water. For me I have noticed that rattleless baits out perform baits with rattles in clear water but that could just be cause I dont fish rattle baits a whole lot in clear water. I have had some heated conversations with other Muskie fisherman about this topic and was just wondering if anyone has any stats on rattle vs. no rattles on clear water. Or if anyone could just give there opinions on this subject that would be great. thanks
Matt
http://www3.sympatico.ca/maobrien1 |
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Posts: 148
Location: DES MOINES, IOWA | Matt, I agree on the rattles in stained water, and most Musky fisherman don,t seem to think it,s that important in clear water.Fishing Sabaskong, I think anything as far as noise or vibration helps to get fish to locate your lures. |
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Posts: 1137
Location: Holly, MI | If they like (or don't mind) the rattles in stained water why would you think they would shy away from them in clear water. Lots of people out there using rattle baits for all kinds of fish in all kinds of waters. Give them a little more chance in clear water and I'll bet you change your mind. Lets them use more senses to locate the lure. Doesn't the rattle give off an injured type of vibe also? |
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Posts: 20281
Location: oswego, il | Interesting topic and I was going to get a winter debate going over it. I am starting to wonder about ratles and if they are really necessary. I troll alot and I am starting to find that baits with more thumping vibration get more attention than baits with less thump and more rattle. |
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Posts: 1335
Location: Chicago, Beverly | Rattles work for me in both clear and stained water. If you think about it baits with a lot of wiggle or thump to them will have some rattle from the hooks. Think about it, pick up a reef hawg and shake it...hear those hooks? I also feel type of rattle makes some difference. For Musky I've had way more luck with Musky baits with BB type ratles then big rattles. On the other hand I have also had luck for Musky with Mann's baits that rattle, however the Mann's baits were either Bass or Walleye cranks... |
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Posts: 1137
Location: Holly, MI | Good point Todd. I troll a fair bit too. Most of the effective lures are wood with no rattles and a lot of 'thump'. I troll a Crane 208 in perch that will barely stay in the water at 5mph. Every once in a while it pops to the surface then dives back down. They seem to love this crazy erratic bait. Must look like a very scared fleeing psycho baitfish. It took three this summer between 42 and 46 inches. |
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Posts: 74
Location: MIlton Ontario Canada | Interesting Opinions... I thought that I would have more replys on this subect forsure. Has anyone ever taken down stats on this subect. I am starting to as of this year. It would be interesting to see some stats though. I am sure that someone out there has some. |
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Posts: 378
Location: In the slop! | Matt, I was going to reply but since I almost never fish clear water I didn't. In the dark water I fish, I love rattles but could not prove one way or the other if they actualy help. It's alot like color, if you have good luck, you tend to stay with what you are doing.
If I get a chance to fish some trout water in the future, I will use rattling baits because of past success. All baits give off some amount of noise as they come through the water. The question is, do the fish respond to the sound or is their lateral line picking up the vibration? This would be a good topic for the research board. |
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Posts: 20281
Location: oswego, il | One thing I can tell you about my experiences trolling. I do not catch fish on narrow lipped deep diving baits. I pretty much short line deep diving baits and the wider the wobble the better. It has to thump. I probably have caught the most of my fish trolling depth raiders but I think it's thump over rattle that does it. I have also trolled very murky water and have had monster shads and slammer deep divers outfish the depth raiders. |
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Posts: 35
Location: Cudahy, WI | I think that every bait rattles just because the hooks are pounding against the body.. Internal rattles or not, that lure is making noise.
Cap'n |
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Posts: 1939
Location: Black Creek, WI | I think Sledge51 posed the right question.... "are the fish responding to the sound or the vibration" of the rattles? I honestly have no clue.... but I most certainly have an opinion.
In clear water I feel that vision is the LONG RANGE sense that predominates. Thus, you don't need to get your lure as close to the fish in comparison to "dark" water. In these situations, I put more emphasis on producing flash and some erratic (lateral) moves with the lure than I do "noise".... hoping to trigger strikes from a distance.
In stained, turbid, or algae bloom type situations you most likely need to get your lure closer to the fish. The fish may actually detect the vibes of your bait before making visual contact. In these sitations the "feel" of your bait may be the most important. Do rattles increase a lures vibe? I think so.... so it probably can't hurt.
I'd like to see some "stats" as well.... but considering we are talking about muskies... I'm not sure anyone can produce enough emperical data to be statistically sound. Thus... all we can do is GUESS and do what we have more confidence in. That's what makes musky fishing so awesome.
jlong |
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Rattles