I have been having trouble hooking up with the freedom chatterbait and was wondering if anyone else is having this problem

 

I only fish the chatterbait original because they're way cheaper. Wish I could help though 

I've never been too successful with a chatterbait. It's more than likely the user not the product. I've caught many, many big fish on Spinnerbaits, Buzzbaits, and even Jigs but just no confidence yet in a chatterbait. It's not my first go to bait. 

My experiences with that bait have all been positive and have made be a believer and a fan.

 

Hook up ratios with most any bait can & usually are improved with the right set up.

Which in many cases, is a personal preference, especially with this style of bait.

However, because of the hook size on these, (often fairly stout wire) an under-sized set up (rod & line) could contribute to poor hook penetration which no one (except perhaps the bass) likes.

A-Jay

 

What A-Jay posted is my experence as well.  I tied to use the Freedoms on the same MH rod I fish normal chatterbaits on and had hookset issues and found the lures were far far heavier than their listed weights.  

Is this something where you're using a chatterbait for the first time and it's a Chatterbait Freedom, or, where you've fished other chatterbaits before without hookup issues but started having issues once you switched over to a Chatterbait Freedom?

You need to use the same tackle and hook set you'd use for a Texas rigged bait.  a MH power and X-fast taper is your best bet.

You could try changing the hook to see if that makes a difference. That is one of the advantages of the freedom baits.

I first tried them with a heavy xfast rod and missed a lot of fish (managed to get a 6.5 lber tho)

 

Since then i switched to a modfast medium heavy and never miss a fish.  They really get a chance to swallow it and the head/blade doesnt pop lure out of their mouth.

I use a glass crankbait rod and have never had an issue with hookups, which is why I'm wondering if there's something about the bait itself.

On 2/20/2017 at 1:23 PM, blckshirt98 said:

Is this something where you're using a chatterbait for the first time and it's a Chatterbait Freedom, or, where you've fished other chatterbaits before without hookup issues but started having issues once you switched over to a Chatterbait Freedom?

 

I normally use zman custom chatterbaits from tw. but i tried the new freedoms and my hookup ratio is 0 percent compared to about 60 percent like normal  i use a mh moderate fast g loomis e6x.  I really want to take my ratio to 90 % but i have trouble keeping fish on the hook.

 

On 2/20/2017 at 11:38 PM, blckshirt98 said:

I use a glass crankbait rod and have never had an issue with hookups, which is why I'm wondering if there's something about the bait itself.

 

what kind of glass crank rod do you use. What action and power

 

 

I use a Phenix XG3 glass rod, which is also moderate action (not sure about power since it's not listed anywhere).  The chatterbaits I use are either the original Z-Mans or the older D&M Piranhas.  Could it be the design of the Freedom with the free-swinging hook?