James RickardMaking a Chatterbait
August 19th 2008 00:49
Here’s a Chatterbait knock off I made. I had a little time to kill and this is what I came up with. I don’t think anyone at Rad Lures is going to get too upset if they see this. I’ll share this with you and if you get a slow Saturday afternoon you can give it a try.
Good, strong wire provides a place to tie your line.
I started out with a size 1/0 Matzuo Aberdeen hook. I don’t have any reason for the brand. They were on sale so…The biggest thing I looked for was an Aberdeen hook. I wanted something that has a long shank.
Following that I used a blade that I purchased online from Jann's Netcraft. My advice is DON’T use a soda can! They’re too flimsy, the edges are sharp and the blades end up being too weak. Most of the cans you find today use thinner metal than you think and they usually don't work. I used some stick-on reflective tape for a design on the blade rather than trying to paint it.
After that, I secured the blade to the hook using a piece of strong wire. A VERY short piece is needed for this. It MUST be strong. A piece of guitar string would suffice. The wire in the picture is a little on the heavy side but, I wanted to illustrate the idea. You may notice that things don’t look very neat. This is for a reason. The wire or hook may pull loose if things are neat. Leaving some loose ends gives the jig material something to grab.
Next, you’ll want to form the jig head. You could use lead for this purpose but I wanted to stay environmentally friendly so I used Fixit two-part epoxy. This stuff is super strong and can be sanded, or drilled, takes paint well, and is water resistant. One of the qualities I needed was something fairly heavy for its size and Fixit once again came through. I included a link so you can check out this miracle product for yourself.
After forming the jig, I painted it, let the paint dry and then added a skirt from a lure I had sitting around.
The very last thing I did was add a snap lock to tie my line to and then, I had it.
After that, I secured the blade to the hook using a piece of strong wire. A VERY short piece is needed for this. It MUST be strong. A piece of guitar string would suffice. The wire in the picture is a little on the heavy side but, I wanted to illustrate the idea. You may notice that things don’t look very neat. This is for a reason. The wire or hook may pull loose if things are neat. Leaving some loose ends gives the jig material something to grab.
Next, you’ll want to form the jig head. You could use lead for this purpose but I wanted to stay environmentally friendly so I used Fixit two-part epoxy. This stuff is super strong and can be sanded, or drilled, takes paint well, and is water resistant. One of the qualities I needed was something fairly heavy for its size and Fixit once again came through. I included a link so you can check out this miracle product for yourself.
After forming the jig, I painted it, let the paint dry and then added a skirt from a lure I had sitting around.
The very last thing I did was add a snap lock to tie my line to and then, I had it.
Until next time--watch yourself and watch your line!
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