Rattle Trap or Bust

Rattle Trap or Bust

Grass can scare many away from fishing a trap on a lake like Guntersville in the fall of the year. It’s a bait that catches fish in the fall as well as it does in the spring. Guntersville being the grass lake, as it forces many of us to stay away from one of the best fall presentations used all over the country this time of year. We are shy about it because it gets caught up in grass and I contend that the grass can be your friend if you work your bait correctly.

Regardless of hanging up in the grass, a rattle bait can be a fish catching machine in the fall just like the springtime. In fact, the hang ups of the grass can work to your advantage, you just need to understand the dynamics of rattle bait. When you’re pulling it over and through grass you’re popping and pulling the bait and it is making erratic movements every time it grabs the grass, and this causes reaction bites from bass.

The other presentation that is even more dynamic than snapping it out of grass is letting it drop; this bait is a killer along the river channel edges working it at 45-degree angles off the river ledge and letting it drop as you move off the edge is a killer. No bait catches more fish in the fall while it’s dropping a fluttering rattle bait causes some vicious bites and with some proper paralleling presentations off and around the river ledge you will catch some big fall bass. The bass will absolutely slam it, and you will have a blast.

This presentation is very simple give yourself enough distance off the river ledge to make a long 45-degree cast and let it just catch the edge of the grass, rip it up and let it drop the rattle bait will do the rest. It drops erratically, it is noisy because it has BB’s, and it is flashy as it drops! Repeat your drop several times as you retrieve it, and you will get slammed with some big fish! A fun bait for fall fishing and you need to try it this fall especially if you have avoided it in grassy lakes.