I'm constantly fooling around with gear trying to make any improvements I can think of. Recently, during a trip down to Costa Rica one of the Marlin U students asked me if lures with rattles in them would work better than ones without. Since I'm not a billfish scientist I didn't have an answer for him, but I decided right then and there to try to build a rattling teaser as soon as I got home to check it out. I've caught a lot of fish on trolled, rattling plugs, including a couple of blue marlin, so I thought it couldn't hurt.

Since I needed a hollow chamber for the rattle, I started building the teaser around a small waterproof container made to carry matches. The 2 1/2-inch tube was the perfect size, and the screw-on cap allowed me to make a skirt arrangement that I can change out easily.
 
I start by threading my leader material — 200-pound mono — through an 1/8-ounce sinker, a 1-inch diameter stainless-steel washer with a small center hole that won't let the sinker pass through and another 1/8-ounce sinker on top. A small crimp and loop secures the sinker and washer combo.
 
Next, thread the tag end through a foam gimbal cover; I used a Pac Bay model for this rig. Pull the sinkers and washer up into the cover so the top weight just peeks through the hole in the foam cover. 
 
Now apply some 5200 marine sealant to the inside of the foam cover and push it all the way down over the non-opening end of the match tube until it stops.
 
To put on the skirts, carefully glue them to the small removable cap at the end of the match tube — this allows you to change them out by simply unscrewing the cap and replacing it with another cap already skirted with a different color.
 
To create the rattle, insert several small weights into the match tube and screw on the lid with the skirts. The resulting teaser pops and smokes with the best of them, while providing a rattle that just might make a billfish hang around your teaser a little bit longer.

Walker Holcomb
Maitland, Florida