Afternoon,

Situation: lost 2 on a chatterbait (all brown w/black trailer). 1 was on the small side, lost close enough to the boat that I eyeballed it(I attribute that to me, week hookset, hook not sharp enough, all the above). In the same area, a few minutes later lost what felt and looked like a nice fish (broke water), spit it out on the jump. That one I would have definately liked to follow up with something but was clueless as to what. I only had 2 rods with me and at the time, the other was rigged with a weedless/weightless senko. Thought ya'll might be able to give me some options to put away for the furture. Thanks.

I would follow up with better hooksets. An x-fast taper on the rod helps you get into backbone real quick on a hookset with a chatterbait.

Once it's hooked I don't know how much there is to follow up. If it swipes a the bait it's one thing, but to fight it for a little, I don't think it would bite again that fast.

Once they taste the steel they are usually pretty much gone - follow-ups are usually for top water lures (spooks, pop-r's, etc.) - but if you have a worm or Senko rigged up it is okay to throw it out - I landed one of my PB's by throwing back a worm after the fish came off in the weeds as I was reeling it in on crank bait.

Original Chatterbait? Not known for having sharp hooks out of the box.

I like to follow up fish with a zoom finesse worm if they bump the bait or miss on a strike, but when they spit the hook I usually just toss back in one more time and then move on.

Once they taste the steel they are usually pretty much gone - follow-ups are usually for top water lures (spooks, pop-r's, etc.) - but if you have a worm or Senko rigged up it is okay to throw it out - I landed one of my PB's by throwing back a worm after the fish came off in the weeds as I was reeling it in on crank bait.

Thanks folks, another bit of good info to put away for future referance. Will also work on the hook set and on the hooks (i.e. file/sharpener).

senko, best follow up lure for any bait that moves.

My PB came on the second BR RT @ Lake Fork. My pardner was fishing a bed fish and I was fishing standing timber and stumps. I make a cast toa stump with a wacky senko type bait and got a hit. I set the hook and the fish broke off about half way to the boat. I knew it was a big fish and was devastated at the loss of the fish. I sat down a couple minutes, composed my self and tied on another hook, put on another Sticko on wacky, cast to the same stump, got a bite, set the hook and landed my PB(8lb 9oz). I unhooked my Sticko and looked into the mouth of the fish and there was the Sticko I just broke off. Don't ever think that a fish won't bite the same bait again that it was lost on. You can See pictures of fish if you search posts on the second Lake Fork RT.

Kelley