Chubbie Darters?

[sunkinboat]

HAs anybody tried these new lures yet. I was watching a video on them at Dennis Kirk and it looks like they are the hot ticket for walleye and northern? I was just making sure they are wirth the 7 bucks a piece.

Thanks

[AQUAJOE]

I heard some chat today about people using them on Lake of the Woods this past weekend and they were crushing the EYES with them.

Actually bought 3 today myself.

[Borch]

If you do a search on the site here you'll find lots of info about folks using them. They were the talk of the forum late last winter for eyes, pike and crappies.

[stick]

Thorne Bros had a great special at the Ice Fishing show. Buy 3 (for $4 each) and get a cool Salmo baseball cap. Their rep was there, and he gave great advice. They had a video playing and it showed the different methods to jig them. I had tried them periodically for a few years now with no success, but the video taught me some stuff and now I'm sure I'll just clean up on the eyes. I won't hold my breath...

[BradB]

I've tried them, but haven't developed the confidence yet to use them regularly. They look great on the camera.

[SuddenlySummer]

This will be my fourth winter using Chubbies. I own probably 20 or so in different colors and sizes. It out fishes everything from the Angel Eye to the Buckshot Rattle spoon. They even work in open water. I always switch out the trebles to red ones. A minnow head on the bottom of it's belly is all you need.

They say that the bigger the crankbait the better when it comes to late fall fishing. I believe that the fish are still looking for a big fat easy meal well into Jan.

I didn't get to LOW last year but the year before the Gold Chubbie with orange belly out produced everything!

Be sure to fish a plain dead stick within 3 feet of your Chubbie. It does call them in but sometimes the deadstick is what gets them to bite.

[LMITOUT]

I have to echo what BradB said....no confidence in them to this point. Does anybody place a minnow head on the bottom treble or just jig them plain? I've never had much luck with jigging lures like the Salmo or Rapala. The bad thing is that when you get into a rut about a certain lure it sits in your box because you are reluctant to use it and never give it a good, honest try again.

[ironman]

Believe the hype!! I was reluctant at first too, particularly with the big price tag. When the fish in an positive mood they absolutly crush these things! Like all lures..there is no one magic lure. This one does call em in. Two sundays ago I used mine to limit out on eyes and slimers. I was outfishing the other three guys with me who were using jigging spoons...so I borrowed out my other two. They started catching more fish...until I lost the one I was using to a really, really large northern. What was I to do.....get a borrowed one back obviously!!

I was able to catch a pike that went 35" on 6lb test. He made a big run that got tangled in a buddies tip up a good 60 feet away! That made life interesting. But I digress, Chubbie darters are my starting and go to lure. Gold and orange...my personal fave. Good luck.

[Northlander]

They are great on LOW but watch out the Pike love them and often will rob ya. Without a leader they are expensive to use up there. I only use a cross snap for eyes so I lose a few every year up there.

[sunkinboat]

Thanks very much for the info guys. I will go to Gander tomorrow and stock up. I will need some more leaders it sounds like because I fish Pokegama in Pine City and get many monster pike there every year.

Thanks Again,

East Central

Travis Schloer

[iffwalleyes]

They are awesome they will catch all types of fish pretty much anywhere. They aren't new they have been around for about 4 or 5 year. Ed Carlson used to talk about these all the time and I could never find them till about 3 years ago and I have been using them ever since well worth the normal price of 5.99 ea. My favorite colors are Luminent Orange and Gold Orange Metallic. They are my go to lure usually. You can work it fast and hard or slow it down and play with it. They are really awesome lures. I KNOW that they are going to catch fish this weekend at LOW for me. Last year on early ice at LOW I bet I iced over 80-100 fish on just a chubby darter (Gold Metallic).

[ewirz]

I went out and bought a few and have tried them out. So far only caught one perch on them. I haven't given up on it yet, but am wondering how to work the lure. I've heard many say "it takes a little to learn how to use them." I always sit and play with them in the hole before fishing to make sure I'm giving it the action I want. Anyone one have any tips? I usually jig about 6" or less. Slow at first then pick up the pace.....Any thoughts??

Thx, ERW

[iffwalleyes]

You want to jig it much more than 6". The lure needs lots of room to work right. I usually jig it about 3' and let it fall back to the bottom. The 6" will work great to trigger a strike when you have a fish on the locator looking at it. But you want to jig it like I say up to 3' isn't ridiculous now you can really rip it hard or slow it down but still work it that much. That is why these lures work so good for me because that is how I always fish so I never have really had to change how I fish to make it work. Hope this helps.

[Green&Gold]

I love them, especially with all of the new colors this year. They also eliminate the need for tipping with live bait. I think they are the real deal.

Having said this, I have to comment about the price. Do a little searching and you may find them for more around the $4 to $5 dollar range. IMO shops are really jacking them up because of the demand. I know its only a couple of bucks, but its annoying when stores jack up the price to $7 or more, then discount them down to $4 or $5 just so it looks like they are a good deal. I saw this at the ice fishing expo as well (I won't mention any names) and it made me purposely steer my business away from the particular retailer. Then again, I guess they were selling for the "normal" price, just leading consumers to believe they were getting a bargain, when they weren't. Sorry, I'll stop venting now. JH

[kwkfsh]

I think if you can find them for $4 or $5 that would be a good deal. Cabelas sells them for $6.99 and $7.99 depending on the size. So that is probably the normal price for them. I have also seen them go for under $2.00 each on hsolist.

There are times the eyes will just crush a Chubby when they will not look at a jigging spoon or bait. Also a great open water jigging lure as well. Having a few in the tackle box is money well spent.

[Green&Gold]

I probably should mention that I saw them for under $7 more last year than I have this year. I guess that's what happens when a good product gains popularity and catches fish.

[Mr Special]

If your in a house and have one rod as a dead stick. How far apart should the holes be? Say in 20' of water? I notice sometimes that when jigged it goes out of my flasher cone and has had some pretty nasty tangled lines.

Thanks

[JWB475]

Chubby Darters are worthless, they don't work at all.

In fact, everyone please stop using them. If you own one, save yourself the embarassment of using it, and just send it to me, I will take care of it for you...

[iffwalleyes]

I fish holes about 3-4 feet away. Now I will be the first to say you will get snags on your dead stick when using a chubby. A chubby can really move around that is part of what makes thems so effective. As fars as loosing it in on the Flasher I really haven't had too much problems with that other than in high current areas. I fish them in 31 fow on LOW all the time and haven't had problems with that. Maybe you just need to adjust your gain a little bit. Otherwise reel up and redeploy the chubby.

[ironman]

You really need to see it in action and how it responds to different jigging techniques. Just watching it in your hole doesn't really do it justice. If you have access to an underwater camera try it in a lake with good visibility. Set the camera a few feet away and jig jig and jig somemore. This way you can see exactly what happens when you pull hard, soft, short, long, etc. For instance I've seen fish come storming in and stop just short of striking with a little lift and drop...as the chubby is decending a short, quick jerk makes it do a quick 180 and glides....hopefull...right back at the fish...this really ticks the fish off and will usually grab it at that point. At least thats been my experience. Every fish reacts slightly different so just like everything else with this sport you must experiment and let the fish dictate what and when you do something. Good luck Chubbin'!

[maj330]

They are less than 6 bucks at FF and the smallest size is less than 5. They were 4 apiece at the ice show. Maybe Thorne Bros still has them on sale. Haven't tried em yet though but the St. Croix sales guy was going on and on about them.

[crappieseeker]

Has anyone used these to catch crappies? If so, what size do you recommend? Has anyone used them on upper red lake?

Thanks.

[cybermuskie]

I just looked at Salmo's web page and was shocked. Even the smallest sized was $8.49, largest $8.99!

[Borch]

Quote:

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Has anyone used these to catch crappies? If so, what size do you recommend? Has anyone used them on upper red lake?

Thanks.

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Our own Matt Breuer with a big slab on a Salmo Chubby Darter.

Sure do!

Chubby Darter Crappies

I picked up a few of the small ones just for URL!