Hey guys - just a fun prefishing report here,

 

Was invited to Prefish a pond that two buddies of mine are fishing for their big bass club next weekend. We hit the water around 06:30 a.m. and began throwing Senkos up near the bank along the edge from the boat ramp. About 15 or 20 minutes of this produced no bites so we shifted across the pond to another bank. I flipped over and started casting out towards the middle and had a serious thump  - set the hook..only to have empty line come flying back at me. Can only assume a Pickerel chomped it. 

 

After checking for any abrasion spots on the line I retied and got back out there. Failed to hook anything for awhile but the other two guys started getting small keepers on various green/green pumpkin colored senkos (had 4 in about 35 minutes). I switched to a jig and was tossing it out deeper. I started feeling some really nice grass down on the bottom (you know..the kind you just love to rip a crankbait through in the spring). No dice on the jig either...so I tried a chatterbait in green pumpkin with a few blue strands. 3rd cast with this and it felt like I hit a serious clump of grass...except my bait started to dive downwards - I sink the hookset and after a minor fight, land a 2lb 10 oz fish. He had absolutely choked the Chatterbait, I dehooked him, quickly weighed and got him back in the water because he was bleeding (no picture sadly, was more concerned with keeping him alive). 

 

Kept throwing the Chatterbait out, had a monster hit about 15 minutes later, but I set the hook and the line went slack - no dice. by this time we were out in the absolute middle of the pond, and one of the guys threw on an Xcalibur crankbait. 3 casts in he hooks and lands one 3lbs 3 oz (weighed, confirmed). 2 casts later he gets a small one I'd eyeball just shy of 2 lbs (didn't weigh). I decided to join in and tossed on my live target squarebill baitball. Took about 10 casts but I got a 2lber. We fished about another 90 minutes, but really it was just catching - every handful of casts someone had a fish on - all keepers. Turns out that grass was the place to be. 

 

Sadly I didn't get any pictures (the one guy asked not to be photographed with the big fish, and honestly I was having to much fun catching afterwards to really think about pulling out the phone for pictures). Anyhow, overall a great day. 

 

 

 

Above is the Chatterbait I was using. I have no idea what company makes this particular chatterbait, but I wish I did, it performs exceptionally well and I've used it for a long time now, so if anyone can tell from the pictures, please let me know.

 

As an aside/slight gear review, this was my first chance to use my Kistler Carbon Steel rod which came highly recommended for chatterbait use. It performed perfectly, could feel all the tiny vibrations throughout the rod, and it was readily apparent when something changed about the way the chatterbait was swimming. Had it paired with my Lews Tournament Pro 7.1:1 - an excellent combo that I think will remain paired for a long time. 

 

Thanks for reading!

 

 

I'd bet money it's a homemade bait. That's a bubbler blade you can buy from tackle supply stores and the lack of eyes on the jighead and the dimple from where the weedguard pin was are pretty sure signs it's not a bait you'd find in store. I make some of mine with the bubbler blades but not sure if there's any advantage to them over the regular blades, but they both work. This is one of my baits I made with the bubbler blade, and obviously they work