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Blowout Buzzbaits; thanks Jim!!


Kev-mo

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You mean me?

 

I specifically had that ticket in mind for you. Ha

 

Seriously, a couple of us really really like the honey buzz by vision lures.

 

Handmade by a guy down south that my buddy Randy found.

 

There are lots of buzzers but that one has some qualities that no one else has.

 

Once in June? You gotta give up that third job.....it's killin your fishing time...ha

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You mean me?

 

I specifically had that ticket in mind for you. Ha

 

Seriously, a couple of us really really like the honey buzz by vision lures.

 

Handmade by a guy down south that my buddy Randy found.

 

There are lots of buzzers but that one has some qualities that no one else has.

 

Once in June? You gotta give up that third job.....it's killin your fishing time...ha

 

Yes I mean you :lol:

 

I could use a new baitcasting pole... maybe you could set aside another golden ticket??

 

Yep, very nice lures!!

 

Yeah...all that family and work stuff is getting in the way of my fishing. It's all good though.

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I got to witness Jonn Graham in action with the Honey Buzz while we kayaked the Fox last autumn. That sucker was LOUD! I swear it echoed! About the fourth cast at dawn (we hadn't even left shore yet) it got pounded by a fiesty 16" smallmouth. Awesome. I was impressed.

 

Might have been the only thing I've ever heard loud enough to drown out Jonn's voice. LOL

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  • 2 years later...

If you're ordering the Honey Buzz and fish buzzbaits hard in the fall, order twice as many as you think you need. I've been fishing the heck out of mine, and worn out the hollow shaft that holds the blade to the wire on two of mine, rendering them useless. This is probably due to a few things:

 

1. The shear amount of time I'm using them.

2. Constantly tuning them for optimal noise.

3. Clacking them alongside concrete bridge pilings.

 

Simply put, they wear out and break after abuse. Mine lasted 1.5 months of hard fishing. They draw some great strikes. Fish do still miss them completely. I have yet to have a bass or northern throw the hook.

 

I've had people stop in their tracks looking around to see where the heck that "jackhammer" noise is coming from, only to figure out it's me and then stand there for 5-10 minutes watching me fish. It's comical to fish them around urban areas and see people's reactions.

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To add to the mix; they are great buzzbaits, the design is so simple yet functions awesomely! The owner is a nice guy too. I had an order mix-up last year and chatted a bit via email. He told me to just keep the wrong order (donated half to this years blowout). They have a couple sales each year including one around Black/Bronze Friday. Great time to stuff your own stocking...

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I, too, am a believer. I've been using the Honey Buzz throughout this season and without a doubt it's the best buzzbait I've ever fished. Fishing one on the Kish last weekend again scored the largest fish of the day. This fall, the majority of my fish 17" or over have come on the Honey Buzz. You'll definitely get some smaller fish on them, however, by and large, they tend to be "big fish" baits.

 

Eric's not kidding when he describes the sound they put off as a "jackhammer." The "CLACK CLACK" as the blade hits the head is LOUD! I also had the rusted rivet added on two of mine which creates a bit of a squeal along with the clacking (...along with the buzzing). The racket those two baits produce is crazy!

 

As Eric said, like all buzzbaits, fish will still completely miss the Honey Buzz on the strike occasionally. When we were out in his tandem a monster bass completely fanned on mine. However, I think we've all had the experience of a fish striking at the buzzing blade and not the body of the bait. The way the Honey Buzz is designed, it's almost impossible for a fish to strike at the blade without mouthing the body and hook as well.

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Just to be fair... even though Jonn and I have been throwing and advocating for years, my buddy Randy Dunlap first discovered them and wrote a product reveiw in the ISA magazine on them in 2006 That's how long we've been throwing them.

 

Here's the review he wrote 8 years ago.

Vision Lures Honey Buzz

Buzz baits are a favorite of many of our most successful ISA members. River smallmouth bass can be suckers for buzz baits in the warm water periods. As you can probably tell from my reviews, my favorite way to catch smallmouth bass is on the surface.

In my quest to find the “perfect” buzzbait for river smallmouth bass, I have come across a very unique buzz bait. It is made by Vision Lures of Republic, Missouri and is called the HoneyBuzz. The HoneyBuzz is a crawler style buzz bait with a double wing metal buzzer. The metal buzzer comes either painted or unpainted. The painted version is powder coated for durability. The brass weight of the lure is molded onto the premium Mustad Ultra Point hook that is part of the lure. The weighted hook combined with the hinge in the middle of the lure permits the skirt of the lure to hang at an angle in the water to increase hooksets. Most of us who have fished with buzz baits know that hooking percentages can be somewhat low on this family of lures. I have found that this angled hook has definitely increased my hooking percentage on a buzz bait. The hinged body of the bait is also designed to make the lure harder for fish to throw. Another unique feature of this bait is the “Squeaky Ol’ Rusty Rivet” which is designed to increase the sound that the lure produces. This bait also has a blade guard in front of the blade to help keep weeds from fouling the bait. The HoneyBuzz is made with very heavy gauge stainless steel wire to prevent bending. It is available in 4 sizes from 1/8 ounce to 1/2 ounce and 13 color combinations.

I have had great success with these baits. They crawl over cover well. They draw fish from a distance. Hooksets are effortless with the premium hooks on these baits. I took a beautiful 17 inch bass from the West Branch of the DuPage on this lure in August. I also put up some nice numbers of bass on a couple of outings on the Fox River using only these baits.

Vision Lures also produces spinner baits and rattle baits which are available on their website, www.fishingbuzzbaits.com.

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  • 1 month later...

Raptor makes a very unique topwater bait...not a true "Buzzbait" since it has a single Colorado blade instead of the traditional delta blade like other baits. We call it the Do-Wop. It's modelled after an old lure called the "Pomme Special" once made by the Mar-Lynn bait Co down in Missouri. The old timer that made them died years ago and so did the lure company. I used to fish the lure in bass tournaments when i first started competetive fishing some 30 years ago. You could out fish a guy from the back of the boat in his "dirty" water he already threw buzzbaits through. The lure has a very very loud "Gurgle" rather than a buzz and the fish have never heard or felt the lure like this before. Strikes are many time "Viscious" and although they take some learning to throw as the action is partly done by the fisherman and the way he manipultes the rod and retreive. Jonn Graham has thrown them and even he has been impressed by the action and sound. I'll have some of these at the Tinley park Show this year as well...

 

Bob

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  • 3 months later...

At the Blowout I had a nice gentleman come up to me to talk buzzbait fishing, specifically the Honey Buzz. He gave me a nice tip that really, would apply to any buzzbait. He said to fish it "naked" without the skirt, which alleviates skirt tangle and fouling the blade, increasing your number of "useful" casts. Makes sense, as this has always been an issue for me when fishing the Honey Buzz. He added that some folks will just fish a single twister tail on the hook to give it some more eye candy and action.

 

Thought those were good tips.

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  • 2 months later...

skirts

 

I always get white then ship them to Jonn and ties new skirts on in my confidence colors, adds some tinsel for flash etc.

 

He does them long and I trim to desired length.

 

Yes, occasional skirt tangle.

 

Also, they are inconsistent. Some work great and some need tuning and some you can never get just right.

 

I am willing to put up with the inconsistencies because it's the best I've found.

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  • 2 months later...

Vision Lures still sells spinnerbaits with the same swinging hook design. Wonder why he stopped the buzzbaits? Too much work, too good of deal from SK...? Too bad as I really liked all the options and really like a custom product.

 

Gotta love marketing ;) "the Strike King Swinging Sugar Buzz is another winning bait from the folks at Strike King"

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Vision Lures still sells spinnerbaits with the same swinging hook design. Wonder why he stopped the buzzbaits? Too much work, too good of deal from SK...? Too bad as I really liked all the options and really like a custom product.

 

Gotta love marketing ;) "the Strike King Swinging Sugar Buzz is another winning bait from the folks at Strike King"

 

I'm sure Strike King offered a hefty sum of money. I'll always opt for the custom product even if it's a bit more. You'll get exactly what you want, and the bait is going to made much better made than a mass produced product.

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