[Jared]

Well I got my chatterbait ripoffs a couple days ago. They are made by Cyclone and are sold by AlabamaLakes.com (they actually sell two different brands of chatterbait copies)
Today I fished it in my pool a bit to see. the action they make and sadly they do not have the same action of the chatterbaits. Im not sure if its just a flaw in the specific bait I have or if its a design flaw in cyclones attempt at the chatterbait. One thing I notice that is different is that the cyclone has a split ring holding the blade to the jig head and the chatterbait doesnt. Also the cyclone uses a very cheap snap on the blade where as the chatterbait uses a very good quality rounded snap on the blade. I believe this makes a difference as to how smoothly the blade is able to swivel and vibrate on the snap while being retrieved.
All in all I was sadly disappointed to see that the cyclone had barely any of the serpentine action that the original chatterbait I used last summer had. I am going to try the other copies next...

Gambler http://shopping.netsuite.com/s.nl/c.415372/sc.2/category.75/.f

Vibra Jig http://www.alabamalakes.com/site/Scripts/prodView.asp?idproduct=810

 

[fish4funinfl]

May sound silly Jared, BUT make sure you got it rigged right. I have rigged it upside down and as soon as I started the retreave I KNEW I rigged it upside down. ( I know you probably did it right, but just had to throw that info out )

 

[Jared]

Ive been experimenting and what not today...
my conclusion is that the split ring takes away from the action of the chatterbait dupes because of the extra play it adds between the line and the bait.
I actually used thread and glue to take away from the split rings freedom so the ring was attached firmly to the jig head and the only play was where the ring went through the blade. The serpentine action increased ten fold. Of course my temporary fix of glue and thread was for experiment only and would never stand up to actually being fished but it has shown me one thing... so far none of the dupes are worth purchasing because they ALL have the split ring. That really scucks too because, now, the only chatterbaits worth getting are the orginals and they are back ordered for a good 6 to 8 weeks.