Chubby Darters

[kayl]

I noticed in the "What's the worst ice fishing item you ever bought and the best and why?" thread that someone posted Chubby Darters as the worse and Seamonkey84 and Drifter_016 disagreed. I've never caught a thing on a Chubby Darter myself, what's the secret?

[winterbuddy]

Helps if you send it (whatever) down the hole first everytime.  I recall a few solid strikes on the lead depth bombs back before electronics became commonplace.   

[ICEHOLE]

5.6oz is my best dater fish.. really good lure imo

[kayl]

5.6oz is my best dater fish.. really good lure imo

How do you like to work it?

[ICEHOLE]

How do you like to work it?

Easy lure to work. it swims nice tight  circles with small quick twitches...dont bother eyeballing competitors darter knock offs, my experience they dont swim as well.. good luck

[slipperybob]

When fish are biting, even a plain hook gets bitten, even the lead weight gets, bitten, even in open water my floating bobber gets bitten...had a northern swiped at my transducer down the ice hole.

There were tough times when fish were selective.  The only two fish I caught that day one was on a Chubby Darter dead sticked, the other fish bit down on a Northland Mimic Minnow paddle tail also dead sticked at the time.  Nothing was biting on waxes, minnows - crappie minnow and fatheads - pieces of heads or tails.  I've already thrown all sorts of spoons and other jigs down there, also all variety of plastics tried already from nuggies to wedgees.   Already tried all my jigging rap styles too.  That day, it was more of a fish curiosity that bit, but only on a dead stick lure.  Any action and they ignore it.  Probably pressured fish on community fishing location.  It also had to be a lure very different than most other lures. 

So it goes, that for certain regions or lakes/rivers system certain lure just produces while others wont.  Chubby darters works for me, far better than most other lipless cranks.  Which lipless cranks would wobble on the fall?  Only a few.  The Salmo Chubby Darter has earned a spot in tackle box, I always have one or two.  Will it be the first lure I toss in, no.  There are other more simple methods that works as well.

The best way to learn a lure is to use it every time when fish are biting, when they're not biting.  If all fails, you bait it.  Then again if you bait anything, chances are you will get a bite.

[PikeKing23]

This is a very interesting topic as some swear by them and others call them the worst lure ever.  What gives?  It seems to be a very polarizing lure for whatever reason.  Some tips from the guys who do well may help the others?  Just very strange to have such opposing views.

[DR.SPECKLER]

I bought a bunch when they first came out.i try them every year in the smallest size and it seems to scare specks away.in 6 years i have caught absolutely nothing on them,not even a scraggly bass.

[Chute82]

According to the Chubby darter infomercial “ there is no wrong way to fish a Chubby darter”.   

I had one good day with them but it’s not my go to lure.  Don’t think I have tried one in a number of yrs

[stripernut]

This is from a post I did back in 2013 and I still fish them hard and do well with them;


I have been jigging since I was a kid, filling buckets of yellow perch and I would hook and land a nice fish from time to time, but I always felt like I wanted to be landing bigger fish on the jigging rod with more consistency. I remember clearly years ago, fishing a lake that we were slaying the small mouth on tip ups and I would only get a few fish (and most of them small) on jigs... I thru everything I had at them, with little luck. I knew that a horizontal presentation was one of the keys, but the jigging rapalas and sonic just wasn't doing it. With the first hole I dropped a Chubby Darter down, I started pulling a better quality fish. Not having to worry about having bait to tip the jig was an added bonus. This winter I went back to that lake with the smallies and the fishing was still hot and now I get them on the jigging rod! I have not sold all my other jigs (except the lead ones) and won't, if the fish are very passive it is not the right lure, but I am at a point in my fishing were most days I am looking for quality over numbers... Like the guys fishing 12" baits for pike, I have even increase the size of the Chubby Darter that I am starting out with and best of all, it is paying off!

This is how I most often fish them;
Drop to the bottom, then I start with a cadence of 2 big arm sweeps (2-4ft), short pause (3-4 sec.)(in this pause the Darter turns and "swims" back to the "center" of the hole), 5-6 "jerks" of about 4-6 inches, pause, then a short "vibration", then repeat. If in 2 or 3 cycles I don't mark fish or hook up, I move to the next hole, all in about 3-4 minutes. This is about what I start out with each trip out.

I keep a second rod rigged with a smaller jig and the few times that I could get it down to the fish that the Darter has "Called" in, the fish I hooked were small.

 
Some examples;

[POk3s]

The chubby darter and the perch talker seem to be the most polarizing lures as of late. I laugh when people say the perch talker is nothing but tangled garbage and we kill the perch and walleye on them. However I’m of the variety that a chubby darter has been “garbage.” I tried it a couple times and never got anything to bite it. I never tried it again. Just not a bait I’m confident in I guess.

[Luckydog]

I'm one of those "on the fence" chubby darter guys.  I bought several when they first came out and I think I did catch one fish on them. I've carried them around for a few years but rarely use them. They're so expensive I'm afraid the pike will bite them off when fishing for crappie    I think I'll try them again this year and take my chances. Now that I've bought a few Ripping Raps the Chubby Darters don't seem so expensive.

[Fry Flier]

90% 0f a good bait is your confidence in it, make it work for you and it will be the best bait in the world. I use baits that I feel confident in and catch fish after fish, other's will go and say that this bait use to work but now they use "****"> Well, If I am still catching fish with it and I am happy where does the phrase " use to work" fit in. A lot of bait (lures)will catch a fisherman easier than the fish itself. Look at it this way the bait Deadly Dick you do not hear of it much any more. Funny how close the Acme Castmaster, the Mr. Champ and the Macho minnow resemble it. Find a bait style and make it work for you, you own it and now you need to teach it or be trained by it to catch fish.

[Seamonkey84]

The chubby darter is my 2nd choice when I’m figuring out what they want for the day, but my go to is a VMC/buckshot rattle spoon. I got some rippin and slab raps to try still.
The darters don’t always produce the most fish, but they get the bigger and more aggressive. They’re a good call lure too, There are days that the spoon doesn’t seem to get any attention, but drop the darter down and the marks start showing up from all sides (seen on panoptix). They are designed to be used without bait, but a small waxworm or spike on one hook will get finicky or smaller fish to bite. When a school of perch are moving though, I don’t bother putting more bait back on. I also tend to catch more bass with the chubby darter than with my go to spoon.

[eyeflyer]

I have good days on the chubby and some days not so good..............like any lure I guess. I have an auto jigger made from a BBQ rotisserie. It has about a 6" rise then drop with about a 6-8 second pause.  The chubby has worked pretty good with this presentation.

[Tip Up Spy]

2-3' jigs both slow and fast. The chubby darter will circle and wobble. Most my bites are when the bait is sinking. If I can't get them to bite I will slow down to a dead stick or shiver. If the bite is really slow you can tip them too.

Check out my instagram for tons of chubby darter pics.
https://www.instagram.com/jiggingaddicts/

[Doeslayer]

Only ever caught pike on chubby darters... I prefer rattle traps and do t catxh much on those either lol

[Seamonkey84]

Practice your jig strokes just under the hole or in a bucket, you’ll really what it does with the type of action your give it. I like it give a  slowish rise and fall to let it kick and dance, it’ll swim in circles and figure eights if you do it right. As I said earlier, bait actually dampens then jigging action of these a bit.

[Knife2sharp]

I think some people jig these like a jigging rap, they're completely different. If you watch them with a a cam, you'll see you can give them very short quick rips and they wobble on the rise and fall in really tight circles.

I also have a few of the giant Chubby Darters for musky fishing. To be honest, I've never tried vertical jigging for muskies, and it was at the time when I bought at least one of every Salmo musky lure because I like their natural patterns; plus, I'm not a fan of plastic lures.

Back to the giant Chubby Darters, I was spear fishing on Mille Lacs and I brought them with as decoys. I removed the rear and center hooks, then put a snap/swivel on the rear, with a small willow blade for a flashy tail. What I liked about them over a standard decoy, is the ability to drop them to the bottom and kick up sediment. I did not attract any northerns that day, with anything, including a live sucker. If anyone has fished Mille Lacs and not caught a thing, imagine a day or two looking down a hole and not seeing anything, except a minnow size perch or two.

[slipperybob]

Okay, I'll break my secret.

You can fish the Chubby darter like a jigging spoon.  Just remove the tail hook and tie line to that.  Maybe do a 2" dropper set up on the belly hook.

[Seamonkey84]

Okay, I'll break my secret.

You can fish the Chubby darter like a jigging spoon.  Just remove the tail hook and tie line to that.  Maybe do a 2" dropper set up on the belly hook.

I’m trying to imagine what that would do as far as action and how to use it. Since  I have a darter or two with broken hook I might as well give this a try one day.

[cwavs1982]

Thought about this thread over the weekend during my trip for crappies.  After being bit constantly by the smaller perch, and getting tired of them picking off my worms - I put on the chubby darter to try and call in the crappies.  After jigging the darter for a bit - a northern and came in and smoked it. 

First fish ever by me taken on the darter.  Pesky little perch even bit the bare trebles.  The darter will stay in my box for another season.

[Doeslayer]

How we worked darters and rattle traps was would have them between where we were jiggin and dead sticking.... Use that rattle ans commotion to draw stuff in... Rarwly caught it on the attractor but increases bites on deadsticks for sure

[DR.SPECKLER]

Best idea i got from this is using them as a attracter/decoy for pike spearing.they call fish in but i dont catch anything  on them.

[Doeslayer]

Best idea i got from this is using them as a attracter/decoy for pike spearing.they call fish in but i dont catch anything  on them.

They probably catch fish in those loaded canada lakes but round here where they see artificials so much i think they are just hip to that game now.... Idk tho maybe im just no good lol

[Ice_Fly_Guy]

I agree with the notion that these and other larger baits are great for calling in curious fish, but most of the time I am not lucky enough to get them to hit them.  However, if you have a live minnow down, they often come over and whack that.

[Roccus]

This is from a post I did back in 2013 and I still fish them hard and do well with them;


I have been jigging since I was a kid, filling buckets of yellow perch and I would hook and land a nice fish from time to time, but I always felt like I wanted to be landing bigger fish on the jigging rod with more consistency. I remember clearly years ago, fishing a lake that we were slaying the small mouth on tip ups and I would only get a few fish (and most of them small) on jigs... I thru everything I had at them, with little luck. I knew that a horizontal presentation was one of the keys, but the jigging rapalas and sonic just wasn't doing it. With the first hole I dropped a Chubby Darter down, I started pulling a better quality fish. Not having to worry about having bait to tip the jig was an added bonus. This winter I went back to that lake with the smallies and the fishing was still hot and now I get them on the jigging rod! I have not sold all my other jigs (except the lead ones) and won't, if the fish are very passive it is not the right lure, but I am at a point in my fishing were most days I am looking for quality over numbers... Like the guys fishing 12" baits for pike, I have even increase the size of the Chubby Darter that I am starting out with and best of all, it is paying off!

This is how I most often fish them;
Drop to the bottom, then I start with a cadence of 2 big arm sweeps (2-4ft), short pause (3-4 sec.)(in this pause the Darter turns and "swims" back to the "center" of the hole), 5-6 "jerks" of about 4-6 inches, pause, then a short "vibration", then repeat. If in 2 or 3 cycles I don't mark fish or hook up, I move to the next hole, all in about 3-4 minutes. This is about what I start out with each trip out.

I keep a second rod rigged with a smaller jig and the few times that I could get it down to the fish that the Darter has "Called" in, the fish I hooked were small.

I am a die hard Swedish pimple tipped with bait fisherman when I jig, but knowing Allen swore bye the chubby darter I bought a few in different sizes ( you can teach an old horse new tricks).. I've caught more and bigger crappie on them since  I tried them.. caught some big whiteys on them too.
 
Some examples;
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[Royalwapiti]

The chubby darter is my 2nd choice when I’m figuring out what they want for the day, but my go to is a VMC/buckshot rattle spoon. I got some rippin and slab raps to try still.
The darters don’t always produce the most fish, but they get the bigger and more aggressive. They’re a good call lure too, There are days that the spoon doesn’t seem to get any attention, but drop the darter down and the marks start showing up from all sides (seen on panoptix). They are designed to be used without bait, but a small waxworm or spike on one hook will get finicky or smaller fish to bite. When a school of perch are moving though, I don’t bother putting more bait back on. I also tend to catch more bass with the chubby darter than with my go to spoon.
 

Thanks Sea Monkey, I learned from watching that.  I was working my raps too hard.  Can't wait to go out and slow it down.

[kayl]

I'm heading out tomorrow morning for a couple hours and plan to throw a chubby darter in a lake that's more known for bass than it's panfish, so hopefully I'll put some of these tips to good use!

[captain54]

Bought 3 when they first came out......2 went bye bye in a pikes mouth.....after that is was afraid to use my last one.....lol