Imagine being a big ole bass lying down in the weeds waiting to ambush your next meal. Suddenly this gurgling, squealing, fast moving object skitters over your head. You'll have two choices. One, leave it alone. Two, inhale it for fear of letting that meal get away. I don't really have a good explanation of what a bass sees in a buzz bait other than this. But one thing I can share with you is that they work.

Here again is one of those crazy contraptions utilizing a wire form with a jig head molded to it. Upon your first look at a buzzer you'll have to agree it doesn't look like any natural forage at all! In reality I believe a buzz bait has two looks. 1. to us humans, and 2. to the bass.

To our eye we see a streamline jig head with hook molded to on one end of the wire form.. This is then fitted with a color coordinated skirt. Above the jig head on the other end of the wire the buzzer is fitted with a propeller style blade. Most buzzer props have two blades, and usually are made of aluminum. However three and four blade props are available as well as other materials such as lexan and other plastics.

Buzz Baits are designed to run on the surface and make a lot of racket when retrieved. Some manufacturers will even offer a tandem prop model that makes more noise. The more prop surface a buzzer has more noise it will make. The gurgling and squeaking of the prop rotation is what attracts fish. Buzz Baits with large and or more blades also tend to come up on plane easier allowing them to be retrieved slower than baits with less blade surface. However keep mind that sometimes too much noise may be a negative factor.

As for colors, stick to the basics black, white and chartreuse. I favor black in the twilight hours and on dark overcast days. White on sunny days in clear water. And chartreuse on sunny days in murky colored water. If I had to narrow it down to two colors, black and white is all a fisherman really needs.

Recently we had a chance to fish with the Roseburg Veterans Bass Masters. An FLW affiliated club centered out of the areas National Guard headquarters. Staff Sergeant Brian Wheaton shared with us his methods of modifying an inexpensive buzz bait he buys at Wal Mart for one dollar. He takes his pliers and straightens the bend that keeps the thrust bushing and prop in place, then slides both pieces off the wire. Next he will make the hole in the propeller slightly larger to allow it to rotate easier and make more noise. On re assembly he places a small bead on the wire shaft ahead of the prop followed by the prop then the thrust bushing. Next he'll re bend the end of the wire to keep everything in place. The final touch he expresses is adding a trailer hook.

Surprisingly the Wal Mart Buzz Bait is actually a good design. They feature a well shaped head that has a wide bottom like a miniature water ski to help bring it on plane easier, and a sharp hook. Three basic colors are available, white, black and chartreuse. The one thing that's missing is the bead up front. Without that bead the propeller tends to slide forward on hitting the water when casting thus jamming the prop against the R bend where your tie your line. Wheaton's modification of adding the bead prevents this from taking place.

Wheaton claims to have won one of his clubs tournaments with his customized baits. With that we had to try it our self. With the proper tools on our bench it took less than two minuets to modify one of these modest priced buzzers.

Now with several in hand we headed out to Ben Irving for a test. From the shore I threw a black buzzer next to the grass, engaged my reel on the splash down, the buzzer came up on plane quickly and within several more cranks, fish on a nice 2 pounder. A few days later we returned with the boat and headed out to fish some logs. It was late evening. I threw past the target, brought the buzzer up on plane and ran it over the end of the wood. Slam! Fish on! We were quite pleased with the tip from Sergeant Wheaton and we thank him very much for his contribution to this story.

See the videos
Modifying a Buzzbait
National Guard Member fishing a Buzzbait