Buzzbait vs WPlopper

[PaulVE64]

First off this may be species dependent as I fish for river smallies 90% of my time.

 

I have found the buzzbait to be a waste of my time if i have the Plopper. 

I will admit to having no confidence in my BuzzB, whereas when i started throwing the plopper i was getting hit. 

Ive fished and  lost a half dozen BuzzBover the years and now i just have one left.

 

When is the best season, time and westher to throw one? Id like to catch at least one smallie with a Buzzbait.

Maybe i need to spend time throwing at LMB?

[HaydenS]

Are you throwing it on a spinning rod or baitcaster?

Buzzbaits seem to work better in tougher conditions, or in the middle of the day.   I wouldn't ever think to throw a WP in the middle of the day, but I would pick up a buzzbait.  If your river smallies aren't that big, you might have trouble hooking up.  You'll probably have better luck with LMB. 

55 degrees seem to be the water temp people look for when they start fishing buzzbaits in the spring, and when they put them away in the fall.  Spring, summer and fall is when I throw mine.  

If you want to catch at least one, throw it until you run into a better sized fish that can get the hook and trailer in its mouth.

[Cody28]

I am generalizing a lot here, but buzzbaits are used when the fish are super aggressive where as ploppers work better when a slower presentation is required because they can stop and float. I think of ploppers as a finesse buzzbait. Very similar baits, but imo the buzzbait is much more niche. It shines during a very small period of time because the fish must be hyper aggressive to chase it down. I personally see this right around 60-65 deg water temp in my area (Ohio), but the plopper will work then too. Working either of these baits fast can be used to pick off the aggressive fish of the bunch whenever its topwater season, but that tactic is not always the most effective. The dumbest fish in the bunch will typically bite first in most cases. 

[Sphynx]

I generally don't have a ton of success with buzzbaits, but then again a 3lb smallmouth counts as a noteworthy fish in these parts, and most of the fish much smaller than that don't have a great time finding the hook, now when I go to places where catching a larger (4-5lb not being uncommon) bucketmouth I find them to be much more useful in more places, don't get me wrong, river smallmouth with destroy a buzzbait (or any other lure if we are being honest) but I just don't have a very large number of conditions that one works well out here in, sure is fun when they do though, teckel sprinkers and whopper ploppers are sorta like finesse versions of a buzzbait for me, and I select one or the other based on how weedless I need the presentation to be, I generally have the best overall luck and hookup ratio with the plopper, but when it's super sloppy or lots of vegetation the sprinker frog puts in some pretty serious work.

[Cody28]

2 minutes ago, Sphynx said:

I generally don't have a ton of success with buzzbaits, but then again a 3lb smallmouth counts as a noteworthy fish in these parts, and most of the fish much smaller than that don't have a great time finding the hook, now when I go to places where catching a larger (4-5lb not being uncommon) bucketmouth I find them to be much more useful in more places, don't get me wrong, river smallmouth with destroy a buzzbait (or any other lure if we are being honest) but I just don't have a very large number of conditions that one works well out here in, sure is fun when they do though, teckel sprinkers and whopper ploppers are sorta like finesse versions of a buzzbait for me, and I select one or the other based on how weedless I need the presentation to be, I generally have the best overall luck and hookup ratio with the plopper, but when it's super sloppy or lots of vegetation the sprinker frog puts in some pretty serious work.

I second this, the buzz is typically my third option after the plopper and sprinker frog when looking for this style of bait. 

[Skunkmaster-k]

The buzztoad is pretty cool too. 

[scaleface]

Whopper Poppers cant even  be fished  in the same places I toss a buzzbait . 

[J Francho]

A buzzbait is a just that, a Plopper is a tail prop bait.  Two different things altogether.  I don't think I've ever caught a smallmouth on a buzzbait.  I don't throw a Plopper very often, and not in smallie territory.

[Spankey]

I will throw a buzzbait or buzz toad. But I throw on the lighter side. Have never thrown a heavier one or a double blade. The buzz I have a certain amount of confidence in. Both for river Smallies or lake Greenies. I can’t say that about the Whopper Plopper. 

[WRB]

Buzzbait is weedless, ploppers are not. 

Smallmouth a waked spinnerbait works better.

Tom

[Spankey]

Just now, WRB said:

Buzzbait is weedless, ploppers are not. 

Smallmouth a waked spinnerbait works better.

Tom

That’s why I’m not a big fan of the WP. Floating cut river grass is not a friend of them. 

[the reel ess]

I'm not big on buzzbaits. But, as with WPs, they seem to get fewer but better quality bites. I enjoy fishing a WP much more.

[DitchPanda]

I haven't thrown a whopper plopper a ton but have given it a fair shake and I'm not super impressed. A buzz bait however is my favorite top water next to a popper. I've caught hundreds of bass on a buzzbait. I would like to know how you list so many buzzbaits. I've wore them out from catching fish but don't think ive ever lost one.

[LrgmouthShad]

37 minutes ago, DitchPanda said:

don't think ive ever lost one.

I confess, I lost one to a lilypadzilla. Tried in vain to get it free. Pulled the line with my hands and it finally snapped. 15lb big game. Those pads are brutes man. 

 

Anyways, I won't hate on whopper ploppers I just don't like em. But buzzbaits are just really cool. Seems like you can have one that catches em really good and the more you use it, the better it gets. They just get that really eerie squeaking and squealing sound to em. Music to my ears.

[Bluebasser86]

I fish both of them a bunch. In general, the buzzbait is king for largemouth, whereas the plopper shines for smallies. 

 

Buzzbaits work great around shallow cover where the plopper is constantly fouling or hanging up. Neither is a great option around stringy grass. Buzzbaits work earlier in the year and later in the year for me, starting in March when the water temps hit the high 40's, and ending in late November/early December with water temps around the same mark. 

[Bankbeater]

I don't fish with ploppers very much, but buzzbaits seem to work better when there is some rain in the area.

[Hammer 4]

I don't even own a WP, so there...haha

[Sphynx]

17 hours ago, J Francho said:

A buzzbait is a just that, a Plopper is a tail prop bait.  Two different things altogether.  I don't think I've ever caught a smallmouth on a buzzbait.  I don't throw a Plopper very often, and not in smallie territory.

And here I catch a fair few fish on a WP, do you just not catch many smallmouth on them or is it just a matter of any time you've had workable conditions for one something else works better? 

[J Francho]

There's only a few times when smallies are in water less than 20'. There are times when they will shoot up for a topwater, but I prefer a Sammy or Popmax for that. Anytime they are more shallow - spring and fall - contact baits seem to work best. I've done a fair amount of cranking for them in current, and I bet a plopper would work there, but I'm probably not going to throw it. My resistance is a little unfounded, considering the number of northern I catch on larger tail spinners. 

[KCFinesse]

Open water- plopper. Buzzbaits go on straight braid in the nastiest stuff I can get one through. I think I catch bigger fish on a buzz for that reason... I will say that I don't fish a buzzbait with a trailer hook nearly as much when a plopper is available. 

[Bankc]

I tend to catch more and bigger fish off of a buzzbait.  But they're an aggressive, reaction style lure.  And they're no good when you need to slow it down a little, which is when the Whopper Plopper comes in.  

 

The trick to a buzzbait that I've found is to bend the wire so the blade just ticks the jig head as it spins in the water.  Not enough to stop it, but enough to give it some extra sound.  

[PaulVE64]

The buzzbait is harder to cast especially in a breeze. And i throw for river smallies who've displayed an aggressive passion for a WP75 in bone/white.

[MickD]

It is my opinion that the difference between the whopper plopper and a buzz bait are minimal.  Fish bite from instinct.  I expect both of these lures and the old Jitterbug are all the same thing to the fish.  But what do I know?  I'm not a fish.

 

I expect if one has not taken a smallie any of these lures it's because the lure wasn't used when fish were hitting surface and the fisherman didn't think the lure would work.  So he did not try it.