Chubby Darter

[fire-in-the-hole]

Just returned from the annual LOW fishing trip. 18th year and had a blast as always. It wasn't "hot and heavy" by any means, but after three days, all four of us managed a limit of quality sized fish with a meal at the cabin to boot. The sauger seemed to be running just a bit bigger this year.

Anyhow, I heard a few talking about a lure called a "chubby darter." I also saw a guy using it on a fishing video and he managed to pull in a 32lb. walleye with it (you know, like they always do when they are trying to promote a lure). Anyhow, has anyone used it? I ponied up the $7 to buy one and am already looking forward to next year. How fast do they sink? Do you put a minnow head on it or use it "as is?" We've always used a swedish pimple glow jig and a minnow and have had respectable results. My dad just uses a plain hook and a minnow and usually does just as well with that. Always looking to try something different. Any insights? Thanks.

[mnhunter 3815]

i use the #4 gold with orange stripe on the back sometimes i put a minnow head on the back treble hook.sometimes i dont bother with any bait.if the fish are argessive i do not use bait.1st ice when fishing was great on zipple bay i used mine all the time.i have 4 of the chubby darters i have caught fish on all of them but i had better luck with the gold 1

[motorcoach doug]

Just returned from the north end, both sand and reefs. Used the # 4 ~ Real Roach (looks like a fathead)without any goodies. They smacked it. could not get a hit on the gold one

[zachp]

If the 'eyes on LOTW are aggressive i'll usually switch over to the darter either in gold orange or copper gold and they seem to interest the bigger fish a little more(15" to 18", i've yet to catch one over 18" on the darter). Usually it's only when the action is good on anything you put down there but there has been days when the fishing is slow and a aggressively jigged darter was all I could get them on. Don't give up on the fish that come up and look at it and start giong back down, most often these fish will keep coming back after the darter 2 or 3 times and sometimes i've had to get them to come up 8' off bottom before they'd hit it.

[Matt Breuer]

Darters catch fish!

I too love the GMO size 4, Gold Metallic Orange, especially on LOW.

[icefishingdude]

Like everyone else I bought one of the darters. However, the fish have been hitting small glow demons/red hooks/gemini's for me at least. I'm in 29' of water off Adrian's road. Haven't even had the darter in the water...like posts before said, if they are aggressive maybe I will drop it down, but for now I'm sticking w/ small stuff.

[fiskyknut]

 Originally Posted By: fire-in-the-hole

he managed to pull in a 32lb. walleye with it

WOW a 32 pound Walleye, for sure that one had to be caught on the Legendary Chubby Darter...Musta been someone from ND eh IFF? j\k

f-i-t-h....These are a very hyped lure for sure. Alot of the hype I see on the web is from the same folks over and over and year after year. Salmo has a very vocal crew of compensated endorsers who are at the mere mention of the words chubby darter very quick to jump on any post at any fishing site with a 'pitch'....My guess is the company must be passing out alot of free product to them. This could be why they cost so darn much at the consumer level?

Zachp hit the nail on the head with his saying "usually its only when the action is good with anything you put down there". That is what I've found to be true here on the LOTW and I fish the pond fairly often. Every now and then you get that rare day when you're setting a bobber line at the beginning of the day and a kamikaze fish smacks the depth bomb attached to your rig. These are the right days to break out the Chubby Darter but then again you may catch just as many on the depth bomb on those kind of days.

I've caught some fish with them now and then and it's certainly not for lack of trying. They cost so much a guy has got to drop em down there now and then. I even caught a Walleye on one this past weekend on a #4 yellow and silver one, they were snappin a yellow white silver backed AE jr really good so I figured I'd give that spendy little CD a whirl. Well I got 1 fish on that lure now anyhow, did'nt take long to go back to the spoon though as it again and as usual outpreformed the CD by a w-i-d-e margin.

3 seasons back I had about twenty of these highly touted beauties, as they are so unproductive for the most part come season 2 of ownership I did some horse trading and was able to dump a half dozen or so. One of my goals for this hardwater season was to carry less stuff on the ice. Thanks to all the hype I was able to dump all but 5 which is plenty for me to carry along onto the LOTW ice sheet. This was the only time I have ever 'pitched' them as a hot lure and I actually felt a little guilty!

The majority of folks I know up around here that have used them would tell you that they do scare the fish pretty darn well. Outside of those rare days I'd say it's a so so lure for catching fish, but they are probably the #1 lure out there catching the icefisherman these days.

Gotta have a few in the bag though and by golly I may just have one of those days where the CD shines bright. Try a rattle trap and save some ka-ching. Action and profile quite close at less then half the price.

f-i-t-h....Give that lure a whirl for sure and see how it works for ya. My bet is you will have that Swedish Pimple back on within an hour, unless they're biting the depthbombs that day.

fiskyknut

[mnhunter 3815]

wow i miss read that thing.you mean a 32 incher?????? lol i dont think lake of the woods has 32lb walleyes hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

[fire-in-the-hole]

My apologies. I don't think it was a 32 pounder as that would be a wee bit of an exaggeration of what I saw on the video. It was more like 28 lbs.

Either way it was big enough for me to buy the lure.

[Kyle Sandberg]

I got my first CD this year and I've yet to catch anything on it. Don't get me wrong, I've tried it but other lures always seem to work better. I can only imagine that when these lures work, thats the time other lures work as well.

[iffwalleyes]

 Originally Posted By: fiskyknut

 Originally Posted By: fire-in-the-hole

he managed to pull in a 32lb. walleye with it

WOW a 32 pound Walleye, for sure that one had to be caught on the Legendary Chubby Darter...Musta been someone from ND eh IFF? j\k

fiskyknut

Oh oh what did I do. Picken on the ND guy huh . 32 lbs huh I haven't heard of a new record. Maybe I should start a thread with the Tobin Lake walleye from 2 or 3 years ago and say it came from Devils Lake or something. I total agree with you fisky on this one. I know I didn't used to and I wished I would have realized that before owning as many as I do. But at LOW I have caught far more fish on the different types of jigging spoons. Loven the rattlen varmits and glow red has been good to me this year. Of course angel eye jr. I love the pink and white I believe this is your fav to fisky isn't it. Glow red in those are darn good to. And JR crusher spoons have always produce a better number of fish. I am kind of adopting your method this year for carrying less tackle because you really just don't need that much to be sucessful throught the ice. I have caught all my fish on about 4 different types of lures and probably of those about 3 different colors. It has been working really well for me this year.

[chris63]

I second the rattle trap.Jig,pause,pow,hang on the fish hit these lures with a vengence.Can't wait to get up to low again!cyac63

[icemiester71]

They catch alotta those pesky jacks in feb. The ones that tell ya to move your fishouse.

[Fichinforfun]

I just got one for my LOW trip this last week. It worked great on monday. I would stir up the bottom and watch the eyes come up and grab it. I still prefer rapalla.

[fiskyknut]

I knew you'd pick that out from last years funnies Iff !!

Last year was the P and W, this year that perchie one so far, but it's kind of an E and W thing know what I mean.

Mmmmm mmm good, fullsize Crusher in sunfish!

Hope to see you at the big shin dig this spring.

[iffwalleyes]

Ya fiskey I know I used to brag them up pretty good. But you have helped me to see the light man. They have there place as do most but they aren't a magic lure like they market. I don't think I have even put one on this year.

I will be there this spring but not the weekend everyone else is. I will be a week late on the Sturgeon got a conflict the "offical" weekend.

Summer get together who knows at this time. That is a long ways off for me. I hope so but I proably will have a few to many irons in the fire this summer.

[icemiester71]

They do have pretty good fluttery action on the upstroke. Good lure to add variety, attract fish over, search lure whatever. However, doesnt do anything that the Banjo-Minnow wont!!!

[anyfishwilldo]

Ive caught fish here and there, not very impressed. They dont work as well as a buckshot with a shiner head.