Buzzbaits (Warning: Longwinded)

[RoLo]

(I should preface by saying, yeah fellows I'm still on the map)

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Central Florida is currently in the early post-spawn period, which is to say, the boys to the north have a lot to look forward to.

Post-spawn-&-Buzzbaits are like Bread-&-Butter:

..............................................................................................BUZZBAITS

For sheer numbers of bass, Twitchbaits & Poppers probably lead the topwater division. With regard to trophy bass however,

the Buzzbait is the clear winner. The Lunker Lure Buzzbait introduced in 1976 is touted as the first buzzbait, but wasn't even close.

The earliest buzzbait was the "Arbogast Hawaiian Wiggler", a lure-class originally called "buzzspins" that employed a delivery known as "skittering". When I was a kid in the 1950s, I fished the Hawaiian Wiggler and now wish I had saved a few of those vintage spinners. It was an elongate lure

with a forward prop and trailing rubber skirt. The main difference between vintage buzzers and modern buzzers is the spinner-shaft.

In the early versions, the spinner was mounted on a straight shaft but today the prop is normally mounted on a safety-pin shaft (over-spinner). Hawaiian culture was popular during that era, when Arthur Godfrey and ukuleles were in vogue (some of the old timers may recall).

The word "Wiggler" alluded to a hula dancer and in 1938 Fred Arbogast patented the wiggler's "Hawaiian Skirt".

Although the word "Hawaiian" got lost in the shuffle, the word "Skirt" persists to this day. During that same era, Al Foss produced two buzzbaits using bucktail skirts instead of rubber skirts, namely: Al Foss Dixie Wiggler and Al Foss Shimmy Wiggler.

Based on historic recordkeeping, buzzspins were trophy killers right from the get-go. In this case, the term "killer" is not a hyperbole,

as that was the era of "catch & keep". In fact, if you were caught releasing a bass, you'd probably be chased by men in white coats.

The statistics below are based on bass citations awarded by Field and Stream magazine between 1943 to 1953. The stats represent

the 50 heaviest certified largemouth bass taken from the Southern Division during that 10-year period. The "Southern Division"

extended from Lake Bedford, Tennessee, southward to the southern border of the United States:

LURE................HARVEST

Plugs................37,,,,,(74%)

Buzzspins.........6,,,,,,,(12%)

Live Minnows,,,,6,,,,,.,(12%)

Spoons..............1.......(2%)

When I was a youngster there were only 3 basic classes of bass lures: Spinners, Spoons & Plugs. During that time,

Plugs and Live Bait clearly dominated the field. The term "plug" however included any wooden or hard plastic lure

which ran the gamut from topwater Jitterbugs to deep-diving Bombers. Then during the 1970s, I heard Rick Clunn

refer to his cedar Poe plug as a "crankbait" (say what?). All my life the term "bait" alluded to minnows, worms, crickets

and hellgrammites. From that day forth, natural bait and artificial lures would all be lumped together as "BAIT" (and so it goes).

In an age dominated by plugs and bait, it's not surprising that plugs had an obscene lead. The real surprise however

is the powerful showing by buzzspins (buzzbaits). remarkably they ran abreast with live bait! Some things never change.

Fast-Forward to the Present

Incepted by Don Wirth, the "Day On The Lake" series is comprised of leading bass pros who fish 7 hours on a small waterbody

they've never fished before. To qualify as a lunker, a largemouth bass must weigh at least 6 pounds and a smallmouth must weigh

at least 4 pounds. Throughout the 13-year period from 1998 to 2011, pro anglers boated 44 eligible bass consisting of 38 largemouth bass

and 6 smallmouth bass. Among the 38 largemouth bass entries, only 3 weighed over 10 pounds, while the largest during that 13-yr stint

went 11-lb 14-oz. (Once again, we see that stubborn "12-lb ceiling").

Standalone trailers yielded 3 out of the 38 largemouth lunkers, which I generically lumped together as "Creatures"

(1 flappin hog, 1 chickenfoot worm, 1 plastic craw). Unfortunately the trailer used in the "Jig & Trailer" category was rarely specified:

LURE..................HARVEST

Plugs..................12.....(32%)

Jigs & Trailers,,,,,10,,,,(26%)

Buzzbaits,,,,,,,,,,,,,5,,,,,,(13%)

Jerkbaits,,,,,,,,,,,,,,4,,,,,,(10.5%)

Tubes.................,4......(10.5%)

Creatures..........,.3,,,,,,(8%)

Swimbaits...........0......(0%)

Worms,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,0,,,,,,(0%)

Senkos,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,0,,,,,,(0%)

Spinnerbaits,,,,,,,0,,,,,,(0%)

The breakdown reveals a few surprises, but bear two facts in mind:

>>> The pros were fishing unknown waters so search lures were popular.

>>> The results do not echo lure productivity, but pertain only to trophy production

Back on topic: "Buzzbaits" snatched third-place as a lunker producer, not unlike their historic performance during the 1940s.

Ironically, a 'Buzzbait' is nothing more than a topwater spinnerbait, yet 'Spinnerbaits' drew a blank.

If I may, I'd like to touch on buzzbait features, modifications and delivery in a subsequent post.

Roger

[Catt]

One must keep in mind that statistics can be misleading

Texas Sharelunker Program has 536 entries of bass over 13# covering 25 years and only a single entry was caught on a buzzbait.

[Goose52]

Hey Roger - I like the reminders to our fishing lexicon from years past. I started fishing as a kid in the '50s and indeed remember the terms used back then. I use the term "bait" today to fit in with the current terminology but I have to change the term to "plug" when I talk with my Dad who is 89...otherwise he thinks I'm fishing with natural bait...

On the topic of buzzbaits and big bass - I can't remember the details but someone here probably will about the guy that has caught over 100 (or at least a lot) of 10+ pound bass on a single bait - a buzzbait. He fishes only in the middle of the night and has been cleaning up for years with them. I think they're a proven big-bass lure - perhaps not at the 13-pound level that Catt quoted, but certainly for the 10 pound range.

For me, I like topwater in general and buzzbaits in particular since I'm a "crankin'" kinda guy. I fish from the bank a lot and like a "bait" that covers a lot of water. I fish them during the traditional times like early morning and late evening...but also during the day anytime I think the fish are either shallow or up in the water column - especially when there's some wind and a light chop on the water. It's still early this year so I've only caught 8 bass so far on buzzbaits but that includes a 5.11 and a 4.80 - both caught at mid-day. I tend to use smaller buzzbaits than most and my favorite is actually the Strike King 1/8 ounce Mini-Buzz.

Here's the 5.11 and 4.80 - both caught on the 1/8 oz SK:

5.11 - caught from the bank:

4.80 - caught from the boat:

[RoLo]

One must keep in mind that statistics can be misleading

Texas Sharelunker Program has 536 entries of bass over 13# covering 25 years and only a single entry was caught on a buzzbait.

Tom, if the statistics provided are accurate, I'm not sure how they might be "misleading".

For instance, I find the ShareLunker statistics a little unusual,

but would hesitate to call them misleading.

The historic records I cited from 1943 to 1953 were submitted by the late

A.J. McClane, editor-in-chief for Field and Stream for over 40 years.

Neither McClane nor Field & Stream had a buzzbait agenda,

which is a relationship I disclosed on my own.

A summary of the "Day On The Lake" series is currently available in the March edition

of Bass Master magazine. Here as well, the article has no buzzbait agenda,

but was simply an observation I made.

ShareLunker Program:

Bass in the ShareLunker program are all Florida-strain bass transplanted in Texan waters.

In their native range, the majority of Florida-stain bass live in "natural lakes".

However, the majority of transplanted Florida-strain bass live in "manmade reservoirs".

Natural lakes are characterized by bountiful vegetation and shallow water, often no deeper than 6 ft.

In stark contrast, bass in manmade impoundments may or may not have access

to dense vegetation and are therefore forced into water depths of 18 feet or more.

Buzzbaits are at their best in heavy vegetation and in water depths between 1 & 5 feet.

In addition, the ShareLunker program is not dealing with lunker-class bass (6+)

nor trophy-class bass (9+), but deals strictly in record-class Florida bass weighing 13 lbs or more.

Hopefully, that may shed some light on the broad disparity in statistics

Direct quote from Kevin VanDam:

"When conditions are right, the buzzbait can produce the catch of a lifetime."

Roger

[Skeet22]

I dont know the exact numbers but a very high percentage of every fish I have caught over 4 lbs has been on a frog or buzzbait.

[RoLo]

Hey Roger - I like the reminders to our fishing lexicon from years past. I started fishing as a kid in the '50s and indeed remember the terms used back then. I use the term "bait" today to fit in with the current terminology but I have to change the term to "plug" when I talk with my Dad who is 89...otherwise he thinks I'm fishing with natural bait...

On the topic of buzzbaits and big bass - I can't remember the details but someone here probably will about the guy that has caught over 100 (or at least a lot) of 10+ pound bass on a single bait - a buzzbait. He fishes only in the middle of the night and has been cleaning up for years with them. I think they're a proven big-bass lure - perhaps not at the 13-pound level that Catt quoted, but certainly for the 10 pound range.

For me, I like topwater in general and buzzbaits in particular since I'm a "crankin'" kinda guy. I fish from the bank a lot and like a "bait" that covers a lot of water. I fish them during the traditional times like early morning and late evening...but also during the day anytime I think the fish are either shallow or up in the water column - especially when there's some wind and a light chop on the water. It's still early this year so I've only caught 8 bass so far on buzzbaits but that includes a 5.11 and a 4.80 - both caught at mid-day. I tend to use smaller buzzbaits than most and my favorite is actually the Strike King 1/8 ounce Mini-Buzz.

Here's the 5.11 and 4.80 - both caught on the 1/8 oz SK:

5.11 - caught from the bank:

4.80 - caught from the boat:

Goose52, those are two fine buzzbait sows AND on spinning tackle. WTG

Kudos to your dad, I hope he's still fishing. Homer Circle is 97, and Still Fishing.

Roger

[Dwight Hottle]

As usual a very informative post Roger. Glad to see your back!

[RoLo]

As usual a very informative post Roger. Glad to see your back!

Thank you buddy.

I read your jerkbait report, and guess who was taking notes?

Roger