By Dave Brown

Tune-Up Tuesday: Fishing The Buzzbait

In this weeks Tune-Up Tuesday, we will discuss the Buzzbait.  As the water cools and the big bass come up to the surface, this really effective technique might just bring you some big strikes.

What is a Buzzbait

A buzzbait is an old school top water bait that can be extremely effective to entice big strikes from hungry bass.  They are a relatively weedless bait as they stay along the surface on retrieve, but different then most top water baits as they actually sink if you stop reeling.

The name buzzbait came from the noise and action it creates as you work it along the surface.  It consists of a wire that is attached to your hook with a skirt or other trailer, then bending around to the portion that gives it the "buzzbait" name, the spinner.  The spinner on a buzzbait can come in multiple configurations itself with double, triple or quadruple blades. 

The image above is of a standard, single bladed buzzbait by Strike King.  You can find them in an inline configuration where the buzz blade is in line with the hook, as well as the multi blade configurations.

The Gear

Fishing a buzzbait is a lot of fun.  It doesn't take special gear to have success at fishing the buzzbait.  A nice medium heavy rod like the Okuma Serrano 7'3" Medium Heavy rod matched up with an Epixor 7.1:1 Baitcast reel.  A lot of anglers like to go straight braid when fishing the buzzbait, but you can also use monofilament line or fluorocarbon.  Of course, if your go to set up is a spinning set up, you can definitely use that as well.  As long as you are on the water and having fun.

Where and When Do I Fish a Buzzbait?

As the Buzzbait is a top water bait, you can virtually fish it anywhere.  From shore or boat, they can be deadly effective.  From a boat, a great area to target are flats areas.  That is, areas that are relatively flat with some structure for fish to hide.  The the buzzbait does its thing up above, the hungry bass come up and explode on the bait.  From the shore, make long fan casts and vary your retrieves.  Spring and Fall seem to be the two best times to fish a buzzbait, though they can be effective all year long. 

How Do I Fish A Buzzbait?

As far as actually fishing the bait, there isn't a lot to it.  In general, make long casts and work the bait back to you whether on a boat or from shore.  Before you give up on an area, be sure that you are fan casting from your spot.  That is, make several casts from left to right, or right to left to cover all of the area in front of you.  

On the retrieve, you want to vary your speeds.  Speed up, slow down and even give your rod a twitch once in a while.  This will give the bait a different appearance and action.  Sometimes as soon as you change something, you will get bit.  

Here is a video on fishing the Buzzbait from Okuma Pro - Byron Chaves who is a guide on Lake Fork in Texas.

Again, its all about getting out on the water, having fun, and doing a little experimenting. 

I hope this gives you a little insight into fishing the Buzzbait. 

Dave Brown- Okuma Fishing Tackle