buzz baits

[Guest rich mc]

what do you prefer and for what conditions. plastic or metal blades ? rich

[Steve S.]

I've been throwing a white buzz with silver blades, and I like to throw them anytime! I was catching bass early this season on them (Apr/May?).

 

Anyway, topwaters and buzzbaits are usually associated with warmer waters and summer patterns, but they work pretty much year round IMO. I've found they can work really well if you can sight fish bass holding over flats and/or the backside or frontside of eddys rather than just casting them blindly, but that works as well.

 

Plastics are probably the best, most consistent all-around producer, but I get great results with the wirebaits and topwaters, and you can't beat the thrill of it!

[Mark K]

Metal blades, but have not tried plastic. Squeeky is good. 1/8 oz. Non bulky mini buzz baits. White and chartreuse work and I've caught fish on black 'n' blue. I fish them on a medium action, 7 ft spinning rod, with no stretch line for good long distance hooksets. Most of the good fish I have caught were on really long casts. That goes for any topwater.

[Steve S.]

Most of the good fish I have caught were on really long casts.

 

True dat!

 

Especially when the water clears up.

 

I throw a bigger buzz than 1/8 oz, though I used to have good results on some small ones I bought at Gander a while back. The bigger ones cast further, make more noise and seem to run true (the small ones tend to twist - unless thats because their "cheap").

 

When I fish the northern WI River (which I leave for tomorrow, ) I cast as far as I can to target some shallows up above and towards the shore from a good set of riffles at the back end of a major eddy (wow, thats a run-on sentence). If I wade in for a closer cast, the bass spook and that's that. Good line, freshly spooled helps a lot. They are usually gone from this particular area by 8am. My daughter will be with me, and I hope to post some pics come Sunday.

[jude]

I buy the cheap Strike King 1/8 oz, usually black. One trick that metal blades allows is changing the direction that the lure pulls. Off the shelf, these lures pull to the left as you retrieve them.

 

That's great if you have a rip rap bank to your left and want it to bang on the rocks.

 

That's not great if the rip rap is to your right.

 

To get it to bounce off the rocks to your right, bend the metal blades in the opposite direction and it will now pull to the right. It won't be as pretty as the factory bent blade, but it works.

[Guest rich mc]

the plastic ones can be retrieved slower which can be a good thing . metal ones cast alittle farther. if you add some plastic trailer it will cast more too . rich

[Rick D.]

I like Metal when I'm offering a fast retreive and want a polished flash. Great a situation for presenting a BIG target. These shake, rattle & slap the water.

 

I prefer Plastic for three and four blade baits where I can slow may presentations. These offer a longer time in the potential strike zones. These sort of squeak and sputter in the water with the slower retreive.

 

Rick D.

[Will V.]

My son Matthew and I got together for our annual trip to Quetico in June. My oldest son David was unable to attend this year. Matt and I fished lakes and rivers north of Crooked and for 8 days, he never took off his 1/8 ounce buzzbait. (actually, he did go through a number of them but always replaced it with another one) I modify my baits by attatching a treble stinger with something tied to it (crystal flash, bucktail, flashabou, ect). I also tie the front attatchment section closed so that we can use snaps without the snap moving back on the bait. Where there were pike (every lake we fished but Argo), we also used a small wire leader made with a Berkely crosslok snap and Tyger wire. He kept track of how many smallmouth he landed on two of the days and each day the count was over 50, with many over 18" and his largest almost 21". I know that he lost as many as he landed but he wouldn't use another bait. I'm pretty sure that other baits would have worked as well for him and might of had a better hookup ratio, but I don't think he would have enjoyed himself more with any other bait. My brother Jim also uses a 1/8 ounce buzzbait in small streams for Smallies. The last two times we went out, that was the only bait HE used.

 

Speaking of Quetico, if anyone is planning a trip there in the future, PM me and I will try to help you with your routing, campsite choices, etc. I have been there almost every year since 1981. My only condition is that you promise to obey all regulations and, although legal, not to kill any Smallies.