Most of my chatter lures are trash. I am having trouble replicating the rock solid action of an original chatterbait. An original chatterbait you can basically burn and it dosen't blow out. Now my homemades, I cast out and yeah they hunt, and this and that, but if I try for a faster retrieve the dang things blow out. Most of my baits I have to run deep and slow or they blow out. Does anyone have the physics and geometry of the blade bend figured out by now? The original chatter bait has just a very slight bend. I want to make baits I can fish slow and high, like a big colorado spinnerbait. Maybe I should just throw an unbent blade and start over.  

While I don’t make my own lures or chatter baits, I do use them fairly regularly. When I want them to stay down and run deeper, I do one of two things, or both:

 

1) reel slower, or

2) use a heavier weighted lure

 

Cant comment on the blades or bending them.

I put a slight bend in my bladed jigs and haven’t had trouble with them.  I fish them on 7 and 8:1 reels.

It's all feel for me. I have a mark on my pliers of how far back the blade is supposed to go into the pliers to be bent and then I just kind of have done it so many times I know how far it's supposed to bend.

 

If you want one like a big colorado bladed spinnerbait, try one of the magnum shaker blades with a 3/4oz head, it'll shake your fillings loose.

What wieght is the jig?

I make one size for 1/8 oz to a 1/4 oz and a larger blade for 3/8 oz to 1/2 oz.

5 hours ago, PaulVE64 said:

What wieght is the jig?

I make one size for 1/8 oz to a 1/4 oz and a larger blade for 3/8 oz to 1/2 oz.

Yeah I think that is the problem with my baits that blow out on the hunt. 1/4 oz jig head with a blade that is probably too big. 

How do baits swim with an unbent blade? Why are we bending the blade and what are the tradeoffs? Anyone have hydrodynamic analyses? For example we know on a crankbait about the lip angle and potential max diving depth, there must be something similar in the chatter lure. My chatter bait mini has a very subtle blade bend, I would think it would be negligible at best. I bought a modern chatter bait mainly to study it and it has a substantial bend (also they stopped using clips in favor of twisted wire for the eye tie). I have been in on the chatterbait 'gimmick' since the beginning and there is still a lot to learn about these contraptions. This chatterbait craze must have been what it was like when the spinnerbait was invented.        

I'm really bad at explaining the difference, but I'll take a stab at it.

 

Unbent blades have a wilder, more erratic action imo, while the bent blades have a more consistent wobble but still occasionally kick out (hunt), when bent correctly.

 

The water hits a flat blade and flows around all edges evenly, but with a bent blade it flows over the bend and creates a vortex around the back of the top of the blade, which I think helps to stabilize it, creating the more consistent thump.

 

That's just my theory as I can't really prove any of it.

 

I think the bubbler blades might be somewhat of a trade off of the two, but I've not experimented with them enough to comment on them.

On 10/22/2020 at 12:08 AM, Bluebasser86 said:

I'm really bad at explaining the difference, but I'll take a stab at it.

 

Unbent blades have a wilder, more erratic action imo, while the bent blades have a more consistent wobble but still occasionally kick out (hunt), when bent correctly.

 

The water hits a flat blade and flows around all edges evenly, but with a bent blade it flows over the bend and creates a vortex around the back of the top of the blade, which I think helps to stabilize it, creating the more consistent thump.

 

That's just my theory as I can't really prove any of it.

 

I think the bubbler blades might be somewhat of a trade off of the two, but I've not experimented with them enough to comment on them.

Could you post a picture of one of your chatter blades that you have bent ? 

4 minutes ago, Mbirdsley said:

Could you post a picture of one of your chatter blades that you have bent ? 

This is one bent to run shallow.

 

This is a more standard bend.

Thanks. That’s more than I would have thought to bend the Blaid back 

11 hours ago, Mbirdsley said:

Thanks. That’s more than I would have thought to bend the Blaid back 

It's been a lot of trial and error. You can get the bait to act differently based on how sharply you bend it, how far back you bend it, and how straight the bend is.