Whatever happened to the big Chatterbait craze?

No one paid much attention to this style of lure for several years.....

Then a few pros started winning big tournaments with them, the manufacturer couldn't make them fast enough to keep up with the demand and, for a few weeks there, Chatterbaits were selling on eBay for $100 each.

Soon afterwards, however, posts like this starting showing up on various bass fishing forums:

"I bought 2 chatterbaits several weeks ago. One of them separated on my first cast so that only the blade remained. The other one broke on my first fish (the eye on the jighead broke). Fortunately the lure did not separate until after I landed the fish. I wrote to (the manufacturer) and they promptly sent me replacements. However, the eye on the jighead of one of my replacements bent after just one fish. I may be able to straighten it but i fear that it will soon bend again or break...." "I've had these come part on every brand I've tried."

Knockoffs soon followed, of course, but they too were plagued with the same problems... cheap materials, poor design and breakage problems.

"I've had these come apart on every brand I've tried."

Do Chatterbait type lures still catch fish?  Of course they do.

In fact, they will out-fish a conventional spinnerbait 3 to 1 most days.

People just got fed up with them breaking.  (What's the point of hooking a big bass, only to have the lure break?)

There is a solution to the problem, however:

Custom made, pro tuned Chatterbait style lures are available in over 100 natural color combinations, made with the highest quality components by Bass Tournament Lures will not  break under normal usage AND they sell for less money than the cheaply made originals and all of the knockoffs.