I'll be going fishing again soon and would like to know if a jig with rattles will be effective this time of year in Florida with cold water temperatures.

There is alot of debate over rattles.  Some will argue that in clear water situations they are not only unnecessary but will turn the fish off.

Personally I prefer rattles, but I'm curious to hear from some of the jigmeisters out there.  If FloridaBassKing352 doesn't mind, I would ask that swimming jigs be included in the replies.

If you throwing in heavy cover use a rattle always. You will be able to keep the bait in one place and call the fish to the bait that way. I don't use a rattle on a swim jig avid.

In my personal experience rattleless jigs work better 90% of the time. The only time I use rattles is in muddy water with a solid black jig.

Allen

If I use a flip/pitch or casting jig with a rattle, it's just because it came that way, not because I think they are necessary.  Actually, I've never convinced myself that they even rattle that much.  Hold it in your hand and see how much movement is required to get noise from it.  Are you moving it that much underwater?  I always thought the jig made more noise by landing on bottom (esp rocks,etc) and bumping into things.  I just don't give it much thought.  I know others feel very strongly in the other direction. That's cool because different thoughts give rise to different baits, techniques, etc.

As far as swim jigs, I usually use Brovarney's.  They don't have rattles.

One(there are several) of the reasons I prefer these jigs is because the rubber collar that holds the skirt on has two appendages that have a small hole in them. Those jigs come with two, color-matched, buck shot rattles that have a knob on one end that can be inserted in the collar's appendages. You have a choice between no rattles, one rattle, or two rattles.

I ususally put on two rattles. They lie under the jig and on a horozontal plane and act as short 'legs', helping to keep the jig upright on the bottom. They don't have to make much noise to mimic a crawdad's 'clicks'.

I don't use rattles when swimming a jig.

(In case you're unfamiliar with buck shot rattles)

Dan

They say use rattles in dingy to muddy water or in grass but, not in clear water. Like I said, they say. Personaly, I use them all the time. I even use rattles in my tube jigs for smallmouth. We make them out of Mickey Dees straws and bird shot up here.

Here is how I decide

Clear =  typically no rattle

Stained=  try it both ways

Muddy=  always

This is the way I fish them, this "standard" has had repeated over and over for me so I just stick with it.

I fish in clear water and dodn't use them, but ther is an acception in heavy cover.

from stained to muddy to absoutely brown, I always use them.