Rattle Evaluation

[archeryrob]

Which one is better? Which one would the fish like, high tone or low tone, in your opinion?

 

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http://www.youtube.com/embed/Vk1g-NMNoTM

Edited December 15, 2013 by archeryrob

[BobP]

Personally, I think "different" stands a better chance of getting bit, so on the rare occasion when I put rattles in baits, I go with a single ball for that "One Knocker" thump.  How many lipless cranks filled with BB's do you think the average bass has heard?  Lots I bet.

[diemai]

Can't remember any details anymore , but years ago I've read in a local angling magazine , that different species would be attracted by different kind of sounds .

 

If my memory serves me right , it was written , that northern pike would rather go for a dull and deep sound at a low frequency ,whereas European perch and zander(European walleye) would prefer a higher pitch and a faster frequency of sound ., ......don't have no bass over here !

 

But if rattling lures are extensively used in a certain swim , it might be of advantage to tie on "quiet" lures , as fish might be aware of the noisy bites and neglect them entirely , ........too many variables , ...as most common with fishing .

 

greetz , diemai

[RayburnGuy]

Throwing 'traps in the early part of spring is just a given way of fishing these days. I can remember fishing on Sam Rayburn one year when everybody and his brother were throwing rattle baits. It was in the Black Forest area which is an extremely popular place to fish and there was so much vibration in the water that if you stood still you could actually feel it in the boat. I first thought something electrical might have been left on and that was causing the vibration. After checking to be sure everything was turned off I could still feel the vibration. It must have been driving the fish nuts.

 

Point is try to do something a bit different than the rest of the crowd. Bass have seen so many baits with rattles in them the last several decades that I'm not sure that rattles might turn off more fish than they help catch. If I were deadset on adding rattles I would go with the "one knocker" type. I think the bass have heard their fair share of BB's.

 

Ben

[woodieb8]

for us and muskies,rattles have done nothing.

 I do know in plastic lures rattles are influenced on the type of plastic their in.

[goolies]

I'm not sure if it's true but I have read in multiple places online that fish in general only hear frquencies less than 1000 Hz.  I only install large single ball rattles in my baits. My rattle chambers are capped with polycarbonate instead of metal.  I use a sound analyzer app on my phone to see the frequencies emitted by rattles.

[mark poulson]

I think rattles are really just attention getters, to get the bass to look at my lures, because of the vibration they put off.

My rule of thumb is the dirtier the water, the more rattles.

In clearer water, less is better.

For me, the bigger the bait, the larger, lower-frequency the rattle, because big prey like trout make much larger, lower frequency "noise" than smaller bait fish like threadfin shad.

I'm sure bass do get accustomed to baits they see more often, but they still eat spinner baits, cranks, jigs, spoons, and plastic worms, and more than once, so I don't think what frequency vibration a rattle gives off is as critical as we think it is. 

[RayburnGuy]

I don't know much about what frequencies a bass is supposed to be able to "hear", but if I can feel the vibration through the hull of a bass boat they should be able to pick it up with their lateral line if nothing else. And I could be wrong. Sure wouldn't be the first time.

[archeryrob]

I was never real sold on rattles, until two years ago. We where striper fishing the susquehanna flats on the chesapeake in April. I found some schoolies and went at them. ratt-l-traps worked the day before, but not this day. The fish were staged in the channel and feeding on the ebb tide as bait got washed out of the flats. I switched over to a Bomber Long A and reeled over the schoolies and nothing. I threw it into the flats and over them and flat out ripped it back, pause to reel and rip it agian. I could here the lure vibrate and the stripers went nuts and 2 to 3 fish would fight over the lure for which one I would reel to the kayak and release.

 

We did so well that day after an hour I looked up to my buddy and said where the hell did all these boats come from? Apperantly they carry binos on the bay to spot other people catching fish. Guys in 25' boats were asking us what we were using as they could not get a bite, but we were schreading them in our kayaks.

 

I am sure silent works best also, sometimes. I was working a school the day before this with a 3" ratt-l-trap. A guy on a hobie sees me catching fish while trolling two X-Raps. So he cruises over to talk. When he stops a 42" Cow inhales his X-Rap becuase, it stopped and started floating. So not rattling and dying fish was the trigger for that one.

Edited December 17, 2013 by archeryrob