Scott Patton Fishing
11-22-10
Rattling them up!
There are a lot of baits that are great baits to cover water in search for schooling largemouth bass. The one I prefer and have the most success with is rattling bait such as a Rattle Trap. The Rattle Trap is compact flat sided bait filled with BB’S type rattles inside its hollow body. With it being compact it’s easy to cast even on windy days during the fall, you can make long cast and cover a lot of water with it in a day’s fishing. I like to fish it on long points, flats that drop of into a river or creek channel, and I will even yoyo it on flats as well, this will imitate a dying shad. Look for schools of shad on these pints that may have stumps or brush on them. Also lakes that have grass on them this bait will really shine in the grass. You want to fish the bait over the grass letting it tip the grass momentarily snagging the grass, then ripping it free. This is what will trigger the bass into striking. So I always purposely want the bait to snag into the grass. Also I will let if fall into the holes in the grass let it hit the bottom wait a couple seconds then rip the bait in a upward motion to get any bass they may be looking at the bait as it is laying on the bottom. The bass thinks it’s a dying shad and when you rip it up the bass can’t stand it then reacts on the rattle trap.
Line size is very important with this bait. I will usually start out with 14lb BPS fluorocarbon line, but by using heavier line or lighter line I can adjust how deep the bait will go. The heavier the line of course the shallower the bait will go, due to the thickness of the line making the bait more buoyant. And the smaller diameter line sizes the less drag on the line so it will run deeper. So keep this in mind when fishing this bait. There are several times when I will have 10, 14 and 17 lb line on different rods, so that I can fish different depths during the day. Also the bait comes in many sizes and you can also match the bait to the present size bait that the bass are feeding on.
Scott Patton Fishes the ESPN Bass master tour and is a guide on Kentucky Lake. He is sponsored by Nitro Boats, Tracker Marine, Bass Pro Shops, Mercury, ZOOM, Costa, and Bluegrass Lures
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