Seeing a bass break the waters surface is always an amazing experience. It’s no surprise that bass fisherman rank topwater fishing as one of their favorite techniques. Even my grandmother gets down to the lake to fish the shallows during the spring spawn.
Buzzbait Fishing For Bass
Most people don’t think of buzzbaits when they picture a topwater lure. Buzzbaits seem to have more in common with spinnerbaits than other topwater lures, but that doesn’t make them any less effective.
I’ve brought in monster bass fishing my Strike King Premier Buzzbait a few inches below the surface will definitely get you the topwater action you need. You’ll be able to draw strikes from some of the largest bass around.
So What Exactly is a Buzzbait?
Buzzbaits look like any other “wire bait”, built on a J-shaped wire frame with small wings and a little propeller. Wings catch the water forcing the propeller to spin and lift the buzzbait up to the surface. It both lifts the buzzbait up in the water and splashes drawing in faraway bass.
On the other end of the lure you have a silicone rubber skirt, hook and lead weight for balance. The lead weight stabilizes the lure and makes it easier to cast. Balanced so that the blade stays just above the surface with the skirt below.
What’s The Best Buzzbait Color?
Buzzbait skirts come in so many different colors. That being said most anglers prefer the basic black, bream and white skirts. Use the darker colored skirts during overcast days and lighter skirts when the sun is out. Chartreuse and Neon Colors are great when the water looks dingy and muddy. The Booyah Buzz lineup gives anglers exactly what they want.
Unusual Buzzbait Styles
While most buzzbaits fit the above description some look a little bit differently. Strike King’s Double Take is built with two small blades instead of a single large blade. A lot of times one blade is larger than the other.
Buzzbaits Make Some Noise
Buzzbaits are designed to make a lot of noise drawing in far away bass. They get their name from the squeak and squeal they make as they’re retrieved. When the blade spins around its wire the friction causes the noise.
How To Fish a Buzzbait For Bass
Buzzbaits are one of the best lures for fishing along shallow shorelines. They both bring in a ton of bass and can be fished at a fast paced. Cast your buzzbait from your bass boat, shore, kayak or even a belly boat.
Nearly Weedless
Buzzbaits with their single hook protected by a skirt are almost entirely weedless. It’ll slip through grass and branches without snagging. That’s what makes it such a great shallow water fishing lure. Perfect for fishing around downed trees, docks and riprap etc.
How To Cast Your Buzzbait
To fish a buzzbait you’re going to want to make long sweeping casts. Buzzbaits can be cast a long distance thanks to their attached lead weight. As soon as the bait lands into the water you’ll have to retrieve the bait immediately. If you’re slow on the retrieve it’ll sink down below the surface.
As you reel the propeller and blade should bring the lure back up to the surface. Crank the reel rapidly bringing it up to the surface where you can slow down a bit. Simply cast it out bring it up to the surface and reel it in, it’s that easy.
Put a Different Spin on Your Buzzbait
Most anglers try to vary up their technique to get the most out of their lure. Buzzbaits are easy since there’s not much you can change up. Simply change up the speed you reel in playing with the baits movment. Buzz it around cover anywhere you see tall grass or a little shade.
- Vary Your Retrieve: Never cast and retrieve your buzzbait without varying your retrieve speed and direction. Raise your rod tip slightly to lift up the tip of your lure and lower it slowing down your reel to drop it slowly. Most of the time strikes will come right as the blade changes. A rise or fall of 1-3 inches will make a huge difference in the noise and pattern.
4 BuzzBait Modifications That Will Increase Your Success
- Break in The Lure: Right out of the box buzzbaits have a significantly different sound than their broken in brethren. The easiest way to break in a buzzbait is to fish it regularly. I love tossing in my Black Booyah Buzzbait whenever the early morning bait slows down during the summer. As you continue to throw it out the blade spins around and polishes the wire producing a more natural buzz.
- Change Your Profile: I like to customize some of my buzzbaits by changing up the skirt. You can replace it with a soft plastic lure that should keep your lure on the surface. Slight changes in the presentation will really change up the strikes.
- Replace The Hook: Fishing lures are only as good as the hook and the angler who uses it. Smart anglers like to change up their hooks to increase the hooking percentage. Unless you’re trying to fish the lure through thick grass you can add a cheap trailer hook to increase your hook percentage. A pack of Gamakatsu Trailer Hooks will really take your buzzbait to the next level
- Change The Angles: If your bait isn’t moving in a straight line you might need to slightly bend the wire arm. A slight bend to the right or left normally fixes any problems. Some professional fisherman even bend the wire to work their lure deep into riprap and under docks.
My Favorite Buzzbait Bass Fishing Tricks
Most pros use buzzbaits sparingly, but your average weekend warrior has a tendency to forget about buzzbaits. That really is a shame because with a few tricks they’ll really dominate the top water bite.
Experiment a Little Bit:
Most fisherman throw out their buzzbait one or two times at the beginning of the season and then toss it to the bottom of their tackle box. It isn’t like most other top water lures, if you want to have success you’ll have to experiment a bit. Change up your retrieve speed which changes up the lures sound. After a few days changing things up you should be able to pinpoint what works and what doesn’t. Tweaking the blades a bit will further change the vibration and movement through the water.
Fish Through The Night
We love throwing buzzbaits when the clouds turn black bringing in rain, so why don’t more people fish buzzbaits during the night? They’re made for low visibility fishing so it makes sense that they work really well during the night. You might not catch the same numbers as you will with other lures, but they bring in bigger more confident bass.
You don’t even need to throw it in the same places you do during the day. You won’t need cover, anywhere that fish move up to feed will work well. At night I like reeling a little bit slower so the bait drops down in the water.
Go Shallow in The Mornings
During the extreme heat and cold where bass flock to the deep water, you can still fish the shallows during the morning hours. Early morning bass invade the shallows looking for a easy meal. That’s when you need to strike with your buzzbait.
Target anywhere with a little bit of natural cover for the most success. Slower retrieves that dip into the water work best in early mornings. You can also work the shallows just before dusk.
Not Only For Cloudy Water
Most people picture throwing buzzbaits into shallow stained water, but that’s not the only time they work. When the water looks clear leave your big noisy lure in the tackle box and swap it out for a small streamlined version.
Booyah’s 1/8 Ounce Pond Magic Buzz are perfect for clear water. It works especially well when the suns out and the sky is clear. The small size reduces the overall sound making it less likely to spook fish. You can run it faster next to cover drawing out more reactionary strikes. Faster speeds make it hard for bass to see exactly what they’re going after.
To further reduce the commotion you can trim down the skirt. I’m not just talking about shortening the overall length. Completely cut out some of the strands to shrink the overall size. Your skirt should be completely white, maybe even leaning towards translucent.
How To Cast Into The Wind
Buzzbaits are notoriously tricky to throw on especially windy days. A light breeze probably won’t be a problem, but when it’s really whipping around it’ll get carried off in the wind.
Increase your casting accuracy by removing the lures skirt. Just like umbrellas getting blown inside out, the wind will catch the skirt carrying it off. Honestly the skirt doesn’t do all that much anyway in murky water. You’d be surprised at just how many strikes you’ll get without a skirt.
If you don’t like the way things are going without the skirt it can be replaced with a soft plastic body. Berkley’s Soft Plastic Minnows are just about perfect for most buzz baits.
Increase Your Hookup Percentage Fishing With Buzzbaits
Thankfully buzzbaits have a extremely high hookup percentage, they rarely miss their mark. However most of the time you can improve the presentation to get more bites. Here’s how to improve your hookup percentage.
- Use a Trailer: Trailer hooks are a must when fishing docks and next to riprap. It’s really a shame that manufacturers don’t just throw in a package of Gamakatsu trailer hooks with their lure. The only time you wouldn’t want to use a trailer is in heavy weeds.
- Change Your Color: When the water is clear or the sun is high in the sky you’ll have to switch to lighter color schemes and smaller lures. On cloudy days or the water is stained, you’ll want to use darker colored lures. Stick to your blacks and browns.
- Change Up Your Equipment in Thick Cover: When fishing thick cover rig your lure on a spinning rod with a strong braided line. The extra line strength will give you enough weight to rip bass out of heavy cover.
Follow Up With A Plastic Worm
Whenever a bass strikes your bait and misses you’ll need to follow up with something different. Throw a one-two punch and take that bass out with a plastic worm. The buzzbait triggered a surface strike and missed, but he’s still hanging out.
Follow up the missed strike with a soft plastic worm rigged weightless and wacky style. It will produce a vibrating fall that slowly hovers in front of the bass. A pissed off bass just isn’t going to be able to resist a worm hovering in his face.