BASS AND BUZZBAIT - 3 QUESTIONS FOR THE BASS GURUS

[Bass_Akwards]

Question #1 How far under water is to far, for a LARGEMOUTH bass to be caught on a buzzbait?

I fish in lakes in Boulder Colorado, that I can't imagine get much deeper that maybe 15-20 feet( I could be wrong)  Can a bass be in 20 feet of water and still be attracted to the sound/vibration/look  of a buzzbait?  

Question #2 If 20 feet is too deep, how close to the surface does a hungry LARGEMOUTH bass have to be to be attracted to a buzzbait?

Question #3 -  What are a largemouths tendancies in terms of when it will go to deeper water?  Is it a weather thing?(sunny days/cold fronts/windy days) or is it a time of day thing? (they go to deeper water during the daytime?)

Thanks so much for your help fellas!

[ILfisherman]

Not sure about the first 2 ?'s but I think #3's answer is that on hot days, bass, especially bigger bass, seek deeper water and move away from shore.

[Bass_Akwards]

Thanks.  If anyone knows anything else that would be great.

[Triton21]

I have caught Bass on a Buzzbait in water up to 40ft deep. I'm not saying the Bass were that deep, they may have be suspended.

To up your odds on a buzzbait in deep water make repeted cast to same area. I have made as many a 50 casts on a point that I knew held bass before I caught a fish. Some of my larger bass have come from 20 plus casts to a point after dark with a black buzzbait. I have also caught schooling bass in 100 plus ft of water on topwater baits.

Kelley

[moby bass]

This is only an educated guess on my part, and based on a recent experience/experiment on my part.

I would say that a bass could be attracted to a buzzbait in twenty feet of water.  Sound carries extremely well in water and I have often wondered just how well the rattles, in say a Rattletrap, carried sound and vibration.  I was swimming in my pool recently, and as I was underwater, someone ripped apart a piece of velcro.  I was astonished at how loud that was and even when above water and someone ripped the velcro underwater, I could feel the vibration on the back of my neck.  I had my son get a Rattletrap and he was at one end of a 32 foot pool and shook the trap while I was underwater, 32' away.  I was amazed at how loud the rattles were. Granted, this was in a body of water, limited in size and enclosed by metal, but I'm sure that a bass' lateral line is much more sensitive to vibration than I am.  So, in my opinion, and that's all it really is, I would say they can be attracted at 20' to a buzzbait or spinner, or rattle.  Based on my little "experiment"  I think I am going to try to use traps more frequently than I have in the past.  

[the ohh face]

I think you could probably catch fish on a buzzbait in 20ft of water with enough effort.  But why would you?  It has to be tough to keep that buzzbait down, nevermind attract a bite, due to the design of the lure.  It is made to be a surface lure.  Not that you cant catch bass with unconventional techniques but I think that may be a little unwieldy.            

       As far as how far away from the bait the bass must be, that mostly depends on how aggressive the fish are that day.  There have been days I would see the fish come from 20-30 feet away for a buzz.  Other times I would need to be within a foot or two of where he was hanging out.

 

[RoLo]

Like me, I'll bet you've read several articles stating that bass will rise 15 feet or more to a surface lure.

Okay, I've caught smallmouth bass in the Delaware River that blasted topwater lures in 15 to 20-foot deep pools.

Now ask me how often that happens...once every 30 minutes or once every 30 days.

There's little doubt that the lure will indeed be perceptible to bass, but 15 feet is a long sprint for a bass,

even without any change in depth (lateral run). More important than the depth of the water is the depth of the open corridor

between the weed tops & water surface. As the open-water corridor exceeds 5 ft or so, my confidence in surface lures wanes sharply

Roger

[Sam]

A bass is a sight hunter.

Vibrations, sound and flash stimulate the skin and vision senses and tell the fish that something is out there that needs to be investigated.

But the bass has to see the object to close in on it although blind bass can survive by using their other senses to capture prey.

Depending on water clarity and light (even moon light at night) I would suspect a bass can see a buzzbait from about 10 to 15 feet.

Bass's eyes look upwards from 20 to 40 degrees so that is another part of the formula to consider.

I don't think the overall depth of the water column is that important; I think the depth of the bass is the critical part of the equation.  

I have only caught bass in shallow water, 5 feet or less, on buzzbaits.  Of course, I don't throw buzzbaits in deep water as I beleive most bass like to feed in the shallow waters in the early morning and late evening.

I have caught 6 + pound bass early AM (5:50 AM today) and in the evening (after 9 PM at night) on a buzzbait thrown close to the shore.

This is a great post and I am very interested in everyone's response.

[dink]

I have to mostly agree with what has been stated in relation to depth and buzzbaits.  Yet, question #2 addresses "feeding fish" and use of a buzzbait.  I will generally NOT use a buzzbait for feeding fish and will opt for a surface plug instead (i.e. Spook, Bow Howdy, Spittin' Image etc.).  I believe a buzzbait pattern is more geared towards reaction strikes from fish else in the shallows or suspended shallow.  I also like to use a buzzer as a search bait and then clean up with some sort of soft plastic.

[Bass_Akwards]

Wow guys great stuff.  Thanks.  

Hey dink, please explain what you mean by search bait, and using soft plastic to clean up.  I assume you throw the buzzbait out to a point a few times to get the bass riled up, then just throw a nice worm where you were casting the buzzer and  work it from there?

If so, have you noticed you get bigger bass that way?  I seem to keep getting little bass on my plastic worms.  4 pounds seems huge for Boulder Colorado, and Ive only caught 1 in the short time I've been fishing here, so if I can use the "Search and clean up" method to somehow, god for bid, catch a 5 pounder, I'd love to try it.

[Guest avid]

Man, this heat is definitly scrambling my brains.

I thought he was fishing the buzzbait under the water.

Imagine catching a nice while buzzing the 40 foot depths?

Now THAT would be something.

I've actually tried letting it sink pretty deep and then ripping it up to the surface, but I never caught anything.

[Triton21]

Avid, you should take a trip to Lake Cumberland in Ky in the summer.  The water is so clear you can see if a dime is heads or tails in 15ft of water.  Great Smallmouth, Spots, Largemouth, and Rockfish(Stripers) lake.  Lake also has Walleye, Trout, White Bass, Crappie, and Bluiegill.  When the lake is at full pool the water near the dam is well over 100 ft.

Kelley

[Randall]

It depends on species of fish as to how far a bass can move in a vertical line to strike a bait. Smallmouth and spots have been shown to be able to make moves of fifteen feet to feed while some  largemouths have been shown to lose their equalibrium in a vertical movement of more than three feet. I have seen hybrids and spots follow a hooked fish on a jigging spoon on my depthfinder about fifteen feet before they stop chase and head back down while I have never seen a largemouth do this more than five feet. For a largemouth to get a consistant strike you really need the bait to be no more then three feet over where the bass is suspended in deep water. You can get strikes from a largemouth five feet down but most of these bass will usually be smaller fish since larger bass usually will not make large vertical moves to feed.

[Ky_Lake_Dude]

Not sure about the first two, but #3 I don't believe that all big bass move deep when it gets hot because of the 4 biggest bass I've ever caught have all but 1 were in water less than 8ft deep.

[Low_Budget_Hooker]

Heddon claims the excalibur spook will pull fish from 30 ft of water.  It does.  Proven.  

[Bass_Akwards]

Wow!  30 feet?  Very nice and very interesting.  The fact that a bass would take the energy to make a 30 foot vertical strike says a hell of a lot for that particular lure.  Especially if it was a big bass..