Just about every angler has used them, and most use them often when it comes to topwater bassing. The buzzbait. It’s the loudest most annoying topwater sound that is in existence. You can hear them from three sloughs down and if they’re tuned right, and other anglers can hear the cinder block like sound each time a huge bass comes up to inhale these bladed wonders.

If you look close, a buzzbait is nothing but a piece of wire that has a bent, funny looking blade that moves the water a bit once it reeled along the top of the water. But, there’s way more to these topwater lunker catchers than meets the eye. First off, I’ve never seen a buzzbait that will make just the right sound straight off the rack. It has to be tuned just right to get that one little squeaking sound that will attract the most consistent bite.

Whether it’s holding the bait out the window on the ride home or dragging it behind the bumper of your truck to get that beat up sound to it, there are several different ways to get the sound that is just right. Some anglers swear that a buzzbait isn’t any good until it’s been fished about a dozen trips or so. Others say that they don’t really start catching fish until just before the bait is worn out. That’s when the bait will get the best sound it will ever have.

Some anglers spend the better part of the day just trying to get that right clacking, squeaking, chopping sound that the bait if supposed to make. Make a cast, adjust the blades. Make another cast, yet another adjustment and so on and so on. Then, that final squeak, that final blade rubbing sound is achieved and finally the bass begin blow up and inhale the bait. Of course after that first catch, it begins all over again because that lunker just changed the sound of your buzzbait by twisting up the blades and wire. 

Speaking of sound. Just what is it that makes a big lunker bass come up to the top and take a ferocious bite at a buzzbait? Is it the sound of the bait as it chops up the water or is it just that the water is being displaced? Personally, I’ve never seen anything natural go across the top of the water as a buzzbait does. But, I have seen many a buzzbait that just wouldn’t catch fish simply because the right sound wasn’t there.

Anglers have their choice when it comes to using buzzbaits for bassing. There are many on the market that have more than one blade and have different looks and sounds. There are some with as many as three blades and range in size from 1/16 ounce up to ¾ of an ounce. Personal preference goes a long way in making sure the confidence is there when it comes to topwater fishing. For me, if that blade isn’t hitting the lead on the head of the bait on each and every turn of that huge blade, it just isn’t doing the job. If other anglers aren’t looking over their shoulders trying to see just what is making that gosh awful sound, then I’ll throw that buzzbait away and try to tune another one. As far as the bass go, well, as long it sounds good, they’ll hit it.