If you’ve ever been at the dock, half sunburned, and just staring at your stationary line like it said something bad about your mother, you’ll know what I mean here! That feeling of creeping frustration that starts with a pang and kind of blossoms—you start to wonder if you brought the wrong bait, or if the fish are sleeping in a weird way, or if this is just karmic payback for something you said in 2009. I had reached that point on a warm afternoon, slumped over my tackle box like a bereaved man, when this older fella—seriously, he looked like he was born on the water—glanced over at me and said, “You try glass rattles”

I thought he was messing with me, so I laughed. “Glass what?” And he held out his hand like he had a sacred artifact—just this little capsule, like the size of a jelly bean, clear, with little metal balls in it. To me, it looked like something you would find in a vending machine, not something you would trust with a fish. But I was desperate. And it turns out, those things work ridiculously well.

So… What Are Glass Rattles?

In simple terms, these are just sealed tubes, usually clear glass, sometimes acrylic, containing a few metal bearings. You shake these things, and they rattle lightly. That’s the whole sales pitch. And sure, it sounds ludicrous in an explanation, but once this is underwater, that tiny click or rattle mimics the sound of a struggling baitfish or maybe something injured and thrashing. Fish are curious creatures, and when they hear something strange, they come check it out.

You just jam these rattles into soft plastics, or onto hard lures that don’t already have integrated noise. Some lures already have noise, but if you’re working with older, quieter stuff, this might give you that little extra… hmm, chaos? Subtle chaos, maybe?

Anyway, it’s kind of like if a lure is the bulk of a dinner plate, this is the pinch of salt that wakes the whole thing up. Or maybe that is a dumb analogy. You get it.

What Do They Look Like?

So think of a grain of rice. But it is clear. And there are a couple mini ball bearings rattling around inside when it is shaken. That’s it. That’s the whole look.

Some are shaped like little tubes, some are a little more rounded or tapered, and it just depends on how you want to stuff them into your lures. These are small enough to lose to the grass if you drop them (ask me how I know), so find something to keep them in—pill bottle, mint tin, whatever.

They come in packs. Size varies. I mainly use ones that are about 10mm long or so, have two or three little metal balls inside, and will work with soft plastics like worms and can also be applied to retrofit crankbaits and other hard lures.

They aren’t flashy gear. They aren’t going to wow anyone down at the bait shop. But they work, in this understated way.

How the Heck Do You Use Them?

So, now that you have your little rattles, there are a number of ways you can insert them into your rigging without destroying your bait totally. Here’s how I generally do it, but as a disclaimer, I have stabbed my thumb a number of times doing this.

For soft plastics:
Worms, lizards, creature baits—anything squishy. You can use a bait needle if you feel fancy, or just poke it with a thin nail or pin to create a channel. Then insert the rattle in the back end first. Do not insert it too deep, or it will not vibrate right. I like to put it somewhere near the tail so it has more wiggle.

For hard lures:
If you have a silent crankbait, you can always glue a rattle to the outside, but that really looks bad. Some lures have a special hollow section for mods—pop one there if you can. I have also been known to use a cheap hard bait and open it up to place a rattle inside. Yeah, not pretty, but it worked. Mostly.

Tubes and craws:
This is the best and easiest bait to rig a rattle. You just slide the rattle up through the bottom—easy peasy. When the bait bumps up against rocks or structure, the rattle clicks in a subtle manner, like as if the bait is tapping SOS to the fish. It’s sort of satisfying actually.

Benefits of Rattles (No, Really!)

Now, onto the science stuff. Well, sort of.

Fish like bass or pike have a lateral line, a sensory system that picks up vibrations in the water, which gives fish a means to follow movement when visibility is poor. If you are fishing in muddy water, or it is dusk, that little “click click click” might be the only way they can locate your lure.

I have fished right beside someone using the exact same bait as me—same color, same rig, same everything—but I had a rattle and they did not. And I was catching fish while they were still waiting on their first bite. Not to brag, but that cannot be coincidence.

It is not loud. It is not obnoxious. It just provides enough disturbance to spark curiosity (or irritation, apparently). Either way, they bite.

Weird Little Tips That Actually Work

A couple of things I have learned after fumbling with these for too long:

Don’t go nuts. If the water is very clear, and very still, then the noise from a loud rattle might actually scare fish away. In these cases I will either use a smaller rattle, or entirely skip the rattle.

Try more rattle. Sometimes I will stuff in two smaller rattles instead of one bigger one. Higher pitched sound, different frequency—whatever—even if it works in specific lakes, not sure why.

Try different places. Like, try putting the rattle in different parts of the bait and see if it makes a difference. Ideally, using a rattle in different places produces different sound and movement. All trial and error. Mostly error.

Scent still matters! Rattles do not replace scent! You still want a garlic or crawfish scent or whatever works in your local waters. Sound plus scent plus motion, I think that is the ultimate combination when formatting the ultimate lure.

Well, Definitely Try Using Them

Glass rattles are not flashy. They are not new. They are not a talked-about topic. But for me, they have salvaged so many otherwise boring days on the water. I can throw a couple of rattles in some soft bait, and all of a sudden I am not sitting there like a statue waiting for a nibble. I am catching. Not always, not guaranteed, but enough that I keep a stash available.

If you are out there and nothing is happening—no bites, no strikes, sitting on the couch in shame—you might want to give one a try. The cost is negligible, and it takes five seconds to add. Worst case scenario, you add a rattle and it does nothing. Best case scenario, no one catches anything, but you outfish the guy beside you and pretend you are calm and not about to dump the tackle box in frustration.

Anyway. That is all I got.

Tight lines or whatever!