What's the best brand and color of chatterbait? I fish mostly clear to stained water in Illinois, Wisconsin, and Michigan

White and sexy shad.

white silver flake.

Black and the TNT baits claymore jig is what i throw.

C&C- baby gill, crappie, kicker shad, code black... Etc

I have a few made by Gambler, that admittedly are a few years old now, that very closely resemble bluegills, which in my neighborhood are a very common forage.  A cut down Zoom fluke with a painted chartreuse tail completes the illusion, as far as I'm concerned.  I will continue using this style of chatter bait until I lose them all, at which point I will have to get a new favorite.   What I like most about this particular style is that while they don't present a particularly large profile, they do weigh half an ounce.  They are a football style jig head.   They have a fiber brush guard.  They have what I would call a medium size blade. i.e. I have chatter bait style lures with both larger and smaller coffin style blades.  I have no clue as to if these baits are still available or not.  I know that they are all gone at the store I bought them at.

Green Pumpkin, shad color, black blue.

I have two favorites. Contact Bluebasser86 via PM or e-mail for information on his blades:

http://www.bassresource.com/bass-fishing-forums/user/29919-bluebasser86/

 

The other is for a slower presentation: Rage Blade  https://www.google.com/search?q=rage+blade&biw=1450&bih=817&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=RdyuVOfEBoOdNs2igIAJ&sqi=2&ved=0CEQQsAQ&dpr=1

 

I fish a white skirt or no skirt.

 

 

 

Also fish Wisconsin and I use Booyah ( spelled wrong? ) And I like a dark bait because I yah ally fish them in bad weather

Another wisconsinite and by far my best color i would say is white, even in the clear water.

A ton of good colors on the market, but these happen to be my favorite and I prefer to match them with a 4" ring worm.  Big bite baits and lucky strike both make good ringworms that color match pretty well.  With the black/blue I like to use a big bite baits swimming craw.  I think it looks more like a blue gill with the larger profile. 

 

 

Clean water

 

Dirty water

 

Spring time

I'll agree with some of the other guys on this one, I think you can fish these fairly effectively with just three colors: black/blue, white (with or without flake), and green pumpkin. My favorite brand right now is D&M.

I like greens and variations of greens.   Never tried black/blue and can't catch a cold with white, and I have tried a bunch in all sorts of conditions

A ton of good colors on the market, but these happen to be my favorite and I prefer to match them with a 4" ring worm.  Big bite baits and lucky strike both make good ringworms that color match pretty well.  With the black/blue I like to use a big bite baits swimming craw.  I think it looks more like a blue gill with the larger profile. 

 

 

Clean water

 

Dirty water

 

Spring time

 

Vibrashocks my favorite. 

 

IF you only made a blue craw color /w 4 orange strands I would stop having to make my own on your heads.

My favorite is the same bluegill color skirt I use on my swimjigs with a green pumpkin trailer. I have caught a few on  black/blue too. Like wnybassman....white hauled water for me, or attracted pike. Which, is also the case with swimjigs.....I catch bass and pike on the bluegill, and black/blue, and just pike on the white. I will not stock white of either anymore LOL.

I always stick to white, and blue gill/ bass colors.

Never hurts to stick to natural occurring species. So shad, sucker, bluegill, perch, and so on.

I like a shad and bluegill pattern skirt, But in most clear water I take the skirt off and use a swim bait trailer only.

I have to pick?? 

That top one looks like it would kill it in dirty water, hope you don't mind but I am going to be stealing that color combo.

That top one looks like it would kill it in dirty water, hope you don't mind but I am going to be stealing that color combo.

The top two and the last one are all great in dirty water. 

My favorites are Green Pumpkin, White, and Black and Blue. My favorite of the three is green pumpkin especially around the time when the Bluegill begin to spawn!

The top two and the last one are all great in dirty water. 

 

Smallmouth???... or have you been able to determine any species preferences?

 

 

oe

Smallmouth???... or have you been able to determine any species preferences?

 

 

oe

Smallmouth seem to really like the baitfish colors in clear water and the green pumpkin or black in stained water. I do a color that is similar to Lucky Craft's chartreuse shad that they like and then the second one from the bottom in my first post that's similar to War Eagle's Cole Slaw color that they really seem to like. 

By far my most successful is black and blue with a summer craw trailer