Fish detect sound through pulses in the water and use this sense to help hone in on potential prey.  There are many lures designed to take advantage of a fish's sense of sound.  Some of these lures vibrate to produce flash and pulses in the water.  I find that there are times when fish seem to hone in on these lures better than the typical lead head jig.  Dirty water conditions are a good time to use one of these baits, because fish rely more on their other senses because vision is limited.  Another time that I like using flashy, vibrating lures is while live chumming.  I often live chum with 3-4" menhaden, aka bunker, caught in a cast net and kept in a livewell.  A couple handfuls of live bunker tossed over a likely spot will let you know if gamefish are around is short order.  Cast your lure to the boils and explosions of feeding fish that have lost their inhibitions due to the candy that just rained from the sky.  The Spinner Bait and Chatter Bait described below work great when live chumming because the flash and vibration of the lures elicit a reaction strike from these excited gamefish.  Live chumming is a great way to turn on a slow bite as well as concentrate your fishing to areas that are holding fish instead of blind casting to lifeless water. 

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While the spinner bait is a lure popularized by freshwater bass fisherman, the design has its place in the saltwater fisherman's arsenal, as well.  The wire arm protects the hook point from hang ups and the shiny blade sends out flash and vibration as it thumps through the water.  There are several spinner baits designed specifically for saltwater that have hit the market in the last couple years.  The above lure is the Bass Assassin Red Daddy.

 A new light tackle lure that is proving its worth in the salt is ChatterBait’s Gold Coast Series .  The chatter bait can be described as a jig, spinnerbait, spoon and crankbait melded into one lure with amazing action and vibration.  The lure comes on a 1/4oz jig head with a 4” soft plastic body.  Attached to the eye of the jig head is a hexagonal metal plate which gives off flash, vibration and erratic action as the lure is retrieved.