Buzzzzzzzzzz Bait

For many years now Paul has instructed me in the fine art of bait selection.

First it was the White Roostertail - that little spinner has caught more fish - and different kinds of fish - than any other.

Then it was the Big Green Senko Worm. When we were chasing some largemouth bass in east Texas, I was taken to school by big brother on the seductive and productive BGW.

Up next was the curly tail white grub. Not your everyday go-to bait, but mighty effective when for some reason the BGW isn't getting the job done.

And finally last year Paul told me about his success with a small buzz bait. I had some moderate success in Evans Lake with this little noisemaker but up until today my best day on the water was always a result of working the BGW slowly through the weeds.

This being February, I wasn't thinking that the bass would be bedding up for at least a month or so but since it turned out to be sunny and 75 degrees, I thought I would give the buzz bait a try. I only had a couple of hours to fish in the afternoon and I didn't want to waste too much time changing baits. I stuck a pack of BGWs and an Eagle Claw snelled #1 bait holder hook in my shirt pocket and two new Booyah Pond Magic Buzz Baits in my pants pocket.

These 1/8 oz beauties are sized perfectly for the size bass in Evans Lake. When I arrived, I reached into my pocket and let chance decide if I was going to throw a white or chartreuse.

The white won out and on my third cast I had a huge wake and a vicious strike and I realized this was "game on".

In the next hour and a half, I landed at least 25 bass ranging in size from 10" and 1/2 lb to 18 inches and almost 3 lbs. It was a aerial display not soon to be forgotten.

I had one fish come on so strong that he completely missed the lure - twice - and did a Flipper move by jumping completely over the sputtering bait. On the third cast he grabbed the buzzing tormentor and took me deep.

I couldn't tell whether the spawn was actually underway but some of the fish looked as if they had been getting ready. There were telltale signs of mating activity with a few missing scales here and there on the sides of some fish and an agressive behavior indicitave of the territorial habits of springtime bass.

I'm going to include some pictures and I don't want to hear about "photoshop" or taking a picture of the same fish. These were all different fish and caught on one bait!

My wrist got a good workout from both casting and reeling in!

OK Paul - what other tricks do you have up your sleeve?