I am late to the game trying a chatter bait for river smallmouth. I have tried it the past two trips but no luck. 
 

I am throwing a 1/4 oz and a trailer that extends slightly beyond the skirt.

 

any tips or suggestions such as trailer options and retrieves?

It sounds like your skirt length may be disguising your trailer and affecting its action.  I think it is important that the flippers, claws, or tail of the trailer be conspicuous and free to flutter, wave, or wiggle.  It is not uncommon for me to trim the length of the skirt to free up the trailer.

Here the SM like white, even white spinnerbaits.

In the river I throw 1/4 oz with a 3" Zako trailer, retrieving just fast enough to feel the thump.

1 hour ago, OldManLure said:

It sounds like your skirt length may be disguising your trailer and affecting its action.  I think it is important that the flippers, claws, or tail of the trailer be conspicuous and free to flutter, wave, or wiggle.  It is not uncommon for me to trim the length of the skirt to free up the trailer.

That’s a great idea. I’ll give that a try in my next trip.

1 hour ago, Bird said:

Here the SM like white, even white spinnerbaits.

In the river I throw 1/4 oz with a 3" Zako trailer, retrieving just fast enough to feel the thump.

That’s a nice looking rig

Definitely make sure the trailer you’re pairing with your CB isn’t restricting the function of the blade. For smallmouth I like to downsize to the bladed jig mini max but I noticed when I had a trailer that was too big I wasn’t getting the chatter on the retrieve. You should be able to feel the constant vibration from the blade as you reel or rip the bait. For that specific lure I like to pair it with one of the smaller hog farmer spunk shads (a pin tail style trailer) and that works really well. Had a nice smallmouth almost rip the rod out of my hand using it which is proof enough for me. 
 

I also only use either the Zman bladed jig or strike king thunder cricket. Those are the only two I know for certain start vibrating immediately upon initiating the return either with the reel or hopping it like a jig. A lot of other varieties have a reputation for lagging before they start vibrating which is a show stopper for me. It needs to start working immediately and I stick with what I know works. I’m sure by now there are others that work well too but I’m not going to play around with a bunch to find out. 

I like to fish it three ways:

1. Big pintail or fintail swimbait trailer and slow rolled with gentle rod twitches in colder waters

2. Smaller pintail or fintail trailer and fished fast over grass with some pauses and aggressive snaps in warmer waters and in fall

3. Crawfish trailer rigged horizontal fished slow over grass with some aggressive pops in the fall and during the bluegill spawn in summer. The craw trailer keeps the bait up in the water column so I either go heavier or fish it slower to compensate.

 

White and baitfish colors are great but where I live I have more success using black and blue and bluegill/perch colors. 

I have been using a Rage menace or a stick worm cut down like a Dinger or a Senko . Retrieve yo yo it or slow and steady 

I through the stealthblade and usually pair it with a 3" paddle-tail swimbait or sometimes a twin tail paddle-tail like the baby goat. I carry several colors but almost always throw a white-ish color. I keep thinking I should try a more crayfish looking color but somehow always end up with a white one tied on.