TackleTour

Cracker wrote:Half price goes to Z Man, half goes to Evergreen, customers pay double.

Yup. That sounds about dead on for a jig with a chatterbait blade attached to it.
They can spin the quality thing all they want , but anybody with a Do-it mold and sensible choices in componants can make something just as nice, or better, for pennies on the dollar .

Mike and Pike wrote:

Cracker wrote:Half price goes to Z Man, half goes to Evergreen, customers pay double.

Yup. That sounds about dead on for a jig with a chatterbait blade attached to it.
They can spin the quality thing all they want , but anybody with a Do-it mold and sensible choices in componants can make something just as nice, or better, for pennies on the dollar .

Making one with a split ring is not hard, but do make one where the blade direct connects to the jighead is a little more challenging. I ordered one jackhammer just to check it out, It would be interesting to know the breakdown of how much of the price goes to Zman. The thing is, Zman just doesn't compete in the high end market and they have proved it over the years by continually putting out sub par product to a market that has been begging to see quality. It is probably a very smart move on Zmans part to A) make some money in a market that they just aren't playing in (high end baits) and B) get some market research done to see how well this jackhammer does. They may find that they didn't realize how far off the mark they are and improve their design.

Use a spinnerbait mould and twist a loop in the wire with the chatterblade attached and you have a better than original design. Super easy and cheap as chips. Two Evergreen Chatterbaits are about the same price as a do it mould. Bonkers.

Tim Kelly wrote:Use a spinnerbait mould and twist a loop in the wire with the chatterblade attached and you have a better than original design. Super easy and cheap as chips. Two Evergreen Chatterbaits are about the same price as a do it mould. Bonkers.

Yup. And bonkers is a nice way to put it.

Mike and Pike wrote:

Tim Kelly wrote:Use a spinnerbait mould and twist a loop in the wire with the chatterblade attached and you have a better than original design. Super easy and cheap as chips. Two Evergreen Chatterbaits are about the same price as a do it mould. Bonkers.

Yup. And bonkers is a nice way to put it.

You need thicker wire to hold the blade. I don't know if they make spinner bait wire thick enough to do the job. Most spinner bait wire is way too thin to last very long.
The early (before patent enforcement) heads that Barlow's and Lure Parts Online produced used a little clip that could be bent down once the blade is inserted. The benefit of this design is the eyelet where the blade is inserted has a bigger opening that allows the blade to ride up and the bait to search when you speed it up. The erratic baits do better in clear water/during the day because the erratic (jerkbait type) action is what often trigger the fish. Unfortunately, I have found a newer style baits with the split rings cause too much line twist.
The original Chatterbait has a real small eyelet that the blade rides in and it doesn't allow the blade to ride up, which enables the bait to search. This small eyelet makes the bait more predictable and this type of bait works better in dirty water/at night when the fish can't track the bait as easily and the fish need an easier target. The Jack Hammer looks like it has a bigger eyelet for the blade and this really intrigues me. The hook keeper looks nice also. I'm tired of adding hook keepers to my baits.
My baits take a long time to wear out and I get well over $16 worth of use out of a bait before I retire it, but $16 is a bit much for what it is. I fish a lot of rock and my baits have to be sharpened regularly. Eventually, you take enough material off of the hook that you start to lose fish. Hopefully, I've caught a few hundred fish before this happens!

toddmc wrote:

Mike and Pike wrote:

Tim Kelly wrote:Use a spinnerbait mould and twist a loop in the wire with the chatterblade attached and you have a better than original design. Super easy and cheap as chips. Two Evergreen Chatterbaits are about the same price as a do it mould. Bonkers.

Yup. And bonkers is a nice way to put it.

You need thicker wire to hold the blade. I don't know if they make spinner bait wire thick enough to do the job. Most spinner bait wire is way too thin to last very long...

I have and make spinnerbaits out of .051 . And I am quite sure a bass chatterbait blade needs nothing close to .051.

A few ,all with .051.
These average about 4.5 oz.
It is also a bit of a joke to me when I read how much time and though goes into such and such silicone skirt pattern thoughts.

Mike and Pike wrote:

toddmc wrote:

Mike and Pike wrote:

Tim Kelly wrote:Use a spinnerbait mould and twist a loop in the wire with the chatterblade attached and you have a better than original design. Super easy and cheap as chips. Two Evergreen Chatterbaits are about the same price as a do it mould. Bonkers.

Yup. And bonkers is a nice way to put it.

You need thicker wire to hold the blade. I don't know if they make spinner bait wire thick enough to do the job. Most spinner bait wire is way too thin to last very long...

I have and make spinnerbaits out of .051 . And I am quite sure a bass chatterbait blade needs nothing close to .051.

I was thinking more along the lines of .04 wire as a minimum. You may be right in that the .o5 wire is enough, but I've bent out a lot of spinner bait wire under .04 when a fish grabs the swivel. The old style clips are closer to the diameter of the hook. I have never bent one of the clips out and had a blade detach. Catfish love to roll, and I have had them open a lot of the cross lock snaps, but never the eyelet. The new style snap on the Jack Hammer is supposed to be a big improvement. This snap is probably a $.50 upgrade, along with a $.50 paintjob upgrade, a $.50 hook upgrade, a hand tied skirt $.50 upgrade, and $.50 keeper upgrade. I think an $8-9 dollar retail is about right.

toddmc wrote:

Mike and Pike wrote:

toddmc wrote:

Mike and Pike wrote:

Tim Kelly wrote:Use a spinnerbait mould and twist a loop in the wire with the chatterblade attached and you have a better than original design. Super easy and cheap as chips. Two Evergreen Chatterbaits are about the same price as a do it mould. Bonkers.

Yup. And bonkers is a nice way to put it.

You need thicker wire to hold the blade. I don't know if they make spinner bait wire thick enough to do the job. Most spinner bait wire is way too thin to last very long...

I have and make spinnerbaits out of .051 . And I am quite sure a bass chatterbait blade needs nothing close to .051.

I was thinking more along the lines of .04 wire as a minimum. You may be right in that the .o5 wire is enough, but I've bent out a lot of spinner bait wire under .04. ...8-9 dollar retail is about right.

I may be misunderstanding you. Are you saying that .o4 > .051? If so, It's not . I guarantee you .051 is plenty big enough for this use. And I would bet just about anything that the chatterbait we are talking about is not thicker than .051 and most likely a bit less. Also, with a single tight wrap of wire under .051, as ppposed to simply a closed eye ( .04 as an example) you turn the chances of pull outs to virtually zero.
I am with you on a $8-9 retail price point .

360 degree twist.

Choose your snap.
I shrink tube as much as I can as far as ends that may snag/fray lines.

Mike and Pike wrote:360 degree twist.

What diameter wire is this one?

toddmc wrote:

Mike and Pike wrote:360 degree twist.

What diameter wire is this one?

.051 and the bait's total weight is 1.48 oz.
The lightest wire I use would be on what start out at 3/8 oz. before dressing or blade and those are .04.
There is nobody using line stronger than a .04 360 twist.

Mike and Pike wrote:

toddmc wrote:

Mike and Pike wrote:360 degree twist.

What diameter wire is this one?

.051 and the bait's total weight is 1.48 oz.
The lightest wire I use would be on what start out at 3/8 oz. before dressing or blade and those are .04.
There is nobody using line stronger than a .04 360 twist.

Thanks for sharing. That .051 wire looks like it is the right size. I have some of the 3/4 and 1oz. bladed jigs with the larger blade that Barlow's sold the pieces to many years ago. They are closer to your pike baits. They crush it in saltwater for inshore species like calico and sand bass. We don't get to fish for pike out here in SoCal, otherwise they would be getting used even more often.

Here is a chart showing the tests of different diameter snaps. You will notice that one end is twisted and the other is simply bent .
So, the test of a full twist on a bait will be higher than the tests stated here.