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The Bubblebass (Guest Article)
The object in question was a 1/8 ounce buzzbait with a triple lexan blade. A few days after purchase, Butch Murphy and I found ourselves drifting down a shady Shenandoah bank on a remorselessly hot July midday, immersed in one of those legendary fishing experiences that resist exaggeration because they are so fundamentally important. This day the fish had been tough--sulking in the cooler runs, piling up in the low clear hot water . The deepest pools and the bubbliest riffles were good for a few fish each, in the typical skinny 'doah ten-inch mold of those days, but otherwise it was hot work. Until about 3pm when the declining sun made a cool strip of shade under the solid wall of cottonwoods and sycamores along the east bank. Somebody (we still argue over who) tied on one of the low-expectation buzzbaits and the fun began.
The lures were struck every cast; that went without saying. Once they'd started their smooth purr, so long as they were in the shade, they were doomed. Many of the hits were light and hesitant, and less than half led to hookups--until we figured out a treble-hook trailer with the downward point snipped off. So many hits! The fish would often pop at the lure four or five times. And every so often it would be annihilated by a larger fish, including a 17 incher later and a three pound largemouth at dusk, with a good number of 12 to 15's in the meantime. We were hooked. For ridiculous stretches we were firing casts through tiny chinks in the tree branches, settling them softly on the water inches from rootballs, and taking hit after hit. We were unconscious.
I'm sure that many people were catching smallmouth on buzzbaits before the mid-80's, but I know many more have been catching them since. I was so affected by the experience (and another on the Rappahannock the next year) that when I needed to name a newsletter for a smallmouth bass club that fall it was a no-brainer, and that newsletter remains "The Buzz" to this day. And I have this to say: if you don't have a bunch of buzzbaits --or even one-- in your tackle bag, then you're guilty of the worst sin an angler can commit: being under-equipped.
Buzzbait preferences haven't changed much. In my view, the best river smallie buzzbait is a longish-shanked 1/8 ounce white lure with a sparse white or blue-white skirt. I carry six variations and fish one 90% of the time. It's also the simplest and the hardest to come by. I prefer the metal blade now, though on low-light or night bites or in very soft or slow water I'll go back to the lexan tri-blade model. These baits are hard to find; we build our own to get just the right sparse skirt and squeaky metal blade. Most buzzbaits available in stores now have too short a shank, too heavy a head, too large a blade, and too bushy a skirt, though the skirt is easily mended with a razor or a pair of scissors. The variations: a chartreuse head is occasionally useful, though I stick with the white or pearl-blue skirt most of the time. I like a black lure for full-dark fishing. A few of those and a few of the same colors with the tri-blade and you're ready to buzz.
The buzzbait is the first lure my son Calvin really liked. He was fascinated by the blade. I told him how it works and now he thinks the lure's called a "bubblebass." I haven't corrected him; his name is every bit as good as mine.
Fishing the buzz is also a straight-forward affair. I've found that on a substantial number of days, even in the high summer, fish can be provoked into taking buzzbaits all day long and consistently enough to make them the most productive choice. That takes into account a fishing style that is less than reflective, and which covers water at a fearsome rate. While another angler might be fishing thoughtful, high-intensity contact lures or dead-drifting perfectly rigged finesse baits through precisely calculated ambush zones, I might just hammer out cast after cast with my buzzbait and outfish him by sheer energy and distance.
There are angles and techniques to fishing a buzzbait, but the primary one is recognizing that you're using a provoking lure and it is most effective when it crosses the path of as many fish as possible. That means long casts, steady retrieves, and not a lot of decision making. "Keep it in the water, keep it buzzing," is the motto of the buzzbait. A good caster will cross several likely spots in a well-aimed cast, but just as many hits come in surprising areas as the most lit-up fish vector on the lure and meet it well away from where they started. For this reason, a fast retrieve is best, and that's one reason for the long shank--it will track better in current and stay running with the blade on the top of the water and the jig below. Keep the boat on a drift, cast far, crank fast.
The optimum noise for smallie buzzing comes from a steady, unvarying retrieve right up to the edge of the boat. In faster water, the two-bladed metal lure gives you perfect noise without riding too high out of the water; if you're fishing slower water a tri-blade bait rides well at a good smallie pace. In my experience with largemouths (admittedly limited) a slower retrieve is best. The key is that the jig part of the lure should run well below the surface and at the proper angle to the surface. Just a bit of extra speed can make a big difference with the buzzbait, so be alert to the nuances. I have not witnessed a single instance where a varied retrieve, spurts, stops, wobbles, veers, or hops have made a damn bit of difference to river smallies, but that may because I don't believe such tactics work so I never try them. Steady. Chunk and crank.
For that matter the metal blade may have another advantage: a tinny, tuned quality to the noise. It seems to work though the enhanced noisemaker types, like the clackers, don't help. And another note on rhythm: by steady, I mean steady. Many novice spin anglers have trouble holding the rod still while they reel, and in a buzzbait any rod tip movement is translated to a halting motion on the lure. It hurts your chances.
Make your cast and hold the rod in an extended position about as parallel to the water as is comfortable. Novice buzzbaiters should be encouraged to point the rod away from the lure--more shock absorption--but good spin anglers can get away with a tip-down position with the rod aimed at the lure, which makes for a better hookset. Reel the lure right up to within 18 inches of the rod tip and fire out another cast. It was buzzbaits that made me love the "fastcast" feature that Shimano pioneered, but that some anglers hate. Like I said, not reflective. And when you run your lure into obstructions--sticks, rocks, grass--keep it cranking. A steady retrieve will usually allow the lure to ride over an object, while stopping or yanking will hang it up. And that steady retrieve keeps them coming from far away. Two years ago a 14" smallmouth charged a client's buzzbait right up onto a flat rock and we had to row over to the rock to "release" the fish before the local osprey got him.
When a fish strikes, keep cranking until you feel the change, then set hard in an upward direction to get an angle change. A very sophisticated buzzbaiter will actually "go with" the fish for a beat before the hookset--that takes steely nerves, especially with the bigger fish. Novice anglers often cheat with rod movement to keep the lure running--resist the temptation because it changes the lure action and makes you spend the space you need to set the hook. There are two good reasons to wait for the feel of the fish before striking. Fish often miss the bait completely then take it a second later; if you set before the feel you'll remove the lure from the strike zone. This is also the reason for using a strip-set rather than a rod-lift when setting the hook with a fly rod. Also, like many topwater lures, the buzzbait will take flight with an overlusty hookset and its flight path tends to be along the lines of force--that is, toward your eye.
It's hard to explain the appeal of the buzzbait strike. It's nothing special when compared to any other topwater hit and I don't ascribe any particular extra savagery to the attitude of the bass toward the buzzbait; it's just another topwater hit and topwater hits from smallies tend toward the "awesome" end of the spectrum. Part of it is confidence; I have had many heavy hits on buzzbaits and so my expectations are attuned to the lure. Also, I think the suddenness of the hit is accentuated by the monotony of the lure when properly worked, and the difference between a strike on a steadily moving lure and a stationary one like a Tiny Torpedo or a Pop-R. There's definitely a multimedia aspect to it, too. Sound, feel, and visual, all wrapped up in one. I've noticed that a particularly explosive strike doesn't have any feel--not because it doesn't, but because the angler's attention is completely occupied by the visual spectacle. I remember a memorable buzzbait hit last summer in full darkness below Knoxville Falls; I had set the hook and felt the weight of a good fish before I had any sense of a strike, then realized a moment later that the impossibly large splash I'd heard was associated with my lure.
What it boils down to is a very important category of lure, with a particular and valuable application. And a very large splash, which can't be bad if it's anywhere near your lure.
by Dave Motes
My first smallmouth buzzbait came with a warning. The proprietor of a local tackle shop was happy to get rid of them, I think. He said, "They're no damn good. And if you break one on a rock don't come crying back to me." And he sold them to me for a light fraction of their ticket price. And I've never looked at the river in quite the same way.
"A very sophisticated buzzbaiter will actually "go with" the fish for a beat before the hookset--that takes steely nerves, especially with the bigger fish."
Published on River Smallies.com with permission
Dave Motes is a frequent contributor to River Smallies.com and can be contacted at dcmdcm8@aol.com.