Big Indiana Bass

Yesterday I mentioned that I used a buzzbait as my "power" lure in the fishing experiment Friday. I thought I'd build on that a little today and share a few thoughts/comments as relates to using buzzbaits, since they've been a favorite of mine for a long time. Here are 10 secrets/tips to pass along that you might consider next time you're chunking one.

1. Trailer or no trailer: Doesn't specifically matter to me. A trailer adds bulk and length which can be a good thing if you're trying to move water or slow the bait down, both of which would be the case in muddy water. Trailerless would get the nod if you're in clear water, or when you want a faster retrieve speed without rolling. Let the fish or the conditions determine this.
2. Torque left/torque right: Most all single bladed buzzbaits will tend to run toward one direction/side or the other, either left or right. This is caused by the blade rotation, and is a normal function of the bait. Don't try and bend your wires and arms to get it to run staight thinking there's something wrong with your buzzer. If you want dead straight, buy a double-bladed version with opposing blades, or one of those two-armed single buzzes.
3. Use torque to your advantage: Ideally you'd have two buzzers rigged up all the time, one that torques left, and the other torquing right. There are numerous reasons why, but they all stem from a more efficient presentation. This way no matter which direction you're headed, or which side of a cover object you're on, you could always pick up and throw the one that will veer into and/or under the object. Buzzbaits are no different than crankbaits, and a collision can be a key trigger in getting bit. Also, when paralleling the shoreline or long stretches of cover (grasslines, etc.), most times you'll want to be throwing the bait that runs toward the bank or the cover, not away from it.
4. Rivets: If your buzzbait comes with a rivet, take a pair of crimps and clamp it down so it won't rotate with the spinning blade. The best squeeling comes from metal on metal, and stationary metal against rotating metal gets that done best. I've even upgraded the size of the rivets on some baits to increase the surface area for more metal to metal contact.
5. Blades: Along a similar line, my favorite blades are anodized for that same reason. If you have a bait with painted blades, scrape the paint off the area where the bait meets the rivet to increase that metal contact area.
6. How bass strike: Even if you don't use a trailer, you should use a short piece of plastic worm or similar on the shank of your hook (see pic). This is because most bass strike buzzbaits just like they do other baits, by opening their mouth and trying to suck in the object. With that extra bulk around the hook shank, the odds of the hook being sucked into the basses mouth go up compared to just a thin shaft of metal and some skinny skirt strands.
7. Skirt-less: Nothing says you have to use a skirt on a buzzbait, or that rubber skirts are the only way to go. In really clear water like Wawasee and the other natural lakes, we've used no skirts, or thin soft plastics like tubes or small swimbaits/shad bodies for a smaller but realistic profile. Likewise, in muddy water or around heavy grass, put on a fat piece of plastic like a toad or a beaver-style bait.
8. Arm angle: With the advent of thin wire R-bend baits, it's not uncommon for a buzzbait to either be sold where the gap angle between the hook arm and the blade arm is more open, or after catching a fish, having the same open angle occur. The wider this gap, the slower you'll have to retrieve the bait to keep it vertical on a retrieve. If your bait rotates and runs on it's side, you either have to slow the bait down, add weight to the hook shank, or close the gap in arm angle to where it is perfectly parallel or even slightly negative relative to the hook shaft/arm.
9. The extremes of distance: Sometimes just a regular cast and retrieve isn't the most effective technique. I've seen cases where a pitched buzzbait far out-produced a normal long cast and retrieve because of the precision with which you could hit small holes or lanes in cover. Likewise, but on the opposite end of things, I've seen where launching a buzzbait using a spinning rod with braided line was killer, allowing you to cast much farther than you could with any normal baitcast setup, and getting the bait in front of fish long before they might ever be spoooked by a boat or boat noise.
10. Go tiny: It's surprising how many times dropping down to a 1/8- or 3/16-oz. buzzer has turned some good fish. This is especially true when bass first start feeding on small schools of shad in late summer. They also work wonders in clear water and on smaller pits and ponds. If all you've got are 3/8 and 1/2-oz baits, you might need to branch out a bit.