alas, ive been waiting for your tip of the month!

i agree with not using rattles in shallow clear water situations unless its a tiny bead with a gentle noise on a suspending lure (read: husky jerk).

im not really fan of rattles on lures that i cast. granted, i have a small armory of rattle traps, but i dont use them often and with little success. mostly they are my scouting new water crank because you can work they very quickly and they do pick up active fish.

for trolling though, i hardly ever will be caught using a lure without a rattle. i think it really helps fish zone in on your bait. from a distance the rattle is soft and lets the fish know something is coming, then they are alert and move after it. i feel a silent lure may slip by a fish unnoticed if it doesnt displace enough water.

with that though, the water you fish matters too. highly pressured waters i go with quiet subtle lures, but up in the Q where the fishing pressure is minimal, i go with rattles. i do tend to use smaller lures though, so the rattles arent that loud. 15' taildancers and shad x raps are my main lures with 20' taildancers being my largest.