Although most people believe that fishing rattle baits is a technique that is easy and takes very little concentration, I beg to differ! Yes any one can throw and reel but getting a bass to hit your rattle bait isn't necessarily that easy. I believe there are difference makers in presentation and unless you concentrate on your retrieve you will be watching others catch fish on the same rattle bait, same color but they are focused and you are just reeling. This time of year when the fishing pressure is as high as it is that little difference in presentation is the key to getting hit. First of all you want to get as much wobble and noise out of you rattle bait as possible, I believe rigging has a lot to do with that. A medium light tip rod with braided line and a high-speed reel is a difference maker. I strongly believe that a soft tip rod causes your rattle bait to have more action; it just naturally moves and bounces more.
Retrieve is the key, you have to try and do many different things with your retrieve. Pausing your retrieve for a split second during a retrieve I believe is fish catcher. This constantly has the bait dropping and popping the grass and making erratic moves as it pulls through the grass. In deep water I stop it for sometimes a count of 3 so it drops to the bottom. Popping your rod tip up also moves that bait in an erratic motion, let it drop pop it again and reel, this gives the bait a lot of movement.
There are many different ways to add action to a retrieve so try them, don't do the same thing all the time especially if you're not getting hit. Experiment with action and retrieve until you find one that works, the truth is rattle baits must be moved in a variety of ways to get bites. Your job is to continue to find unique ways to fish it, because if you do you will catch fish while others are wondering how.