Buzzbait fishing

[A187]

I was out fishing the other day for Pike and nothing was working. The lake was having some serious algae bloom, but there was little wind and calm water, so I figured it'd be a good time for some topwater fishing. I went to a shallow weedy part of a bay on the lake and just threw the anchor in.

Put on a black Booya buzzbait and casted 'er out. first cast reelin, reelin, reelin BAM the water explodes, but I can't hook the fish. This ended up being the story of the day. For the next 2 hours I had at least 25 top water explosions on my buzzbait but I managed to hook and boat only 5 fish (pathetic). But my brand new buzzbait is on life support now lol

Is the hit to hookup ratio that bad when using a buzzbait or is it just me? On some casts the fish would hit the thing twice. Even so this has got to be the most exciting way to fish imo. Fellow buzzbait lovers please chime in, or share some of your buzzbait fishing stories (and hopefully they are better than mine

[LacLaBicheNS]

When you SEE a strike count to 2, then set the hook.

works wonders for bass on the surface.

I'm going to have to try pike on the top. DO you wait until it's dusk?

[A187]

I'll have to give your 2 second trick a try. I also fish for Largemouth Bass topwater and had the same results as I did with the Pike, plenty of hits but few hookups lol.

As for topwater fishing you can fish it anytime of day it doesn't just have to be early morning or dusk like some say. I was buzzbaitin' from 3-5pm the other day for Pike. and from 10am-2pm for LMB when I was in Arizona. The most important factor IMO is the calmness of the top of the water. If it looks like glass your golden, but if its really windy and wavy or white caps etc then don't even bother.

[LacLaBicheNS]

Originally Posted by A187

I'll have to give your 2 second trick a try. I also fish for Largemouth Bass topwater and had the same results as I did with the Pike, plenty of hits but few hookups lol.

As for topwater fishing you can fish it anytime of day it doesn't just have to be early morning or dusk like some say. I was buzzbaitin' from 3-5pm the other day for Pike. and from 10am-2pm for LMB when I was in Arizona. The most important factor IMO is the calmness of the top of the water. If it looks like glass your golden, but if its really windy and wavy or white caps etc then don't even bother.

see down in ontario where we surface fish for bass, the sun/heat keeps the bass in the shade. So to get them to hit on the surface can be hard unless it's dusk.

I'm going to have to go out this week and try buzz baits for some pike. I tried a big black Jitter bug and a big zara spook last week when the pike were swirling at the top. Had no luck though.

[WildCats]

Don't set until you feel the fish.

[tbosch]

usually when I get a strike on a buzzer I do a drawn out hook set. Basically I drop my rod right to the water and then do a smooth hook set straight up from where the fish is. It's hard to not yank the hook out of their mouth beacause the explosion usually gets the adrenaline pumping. I dont hook every pike but definitely get at least 80% of them. Also keep your hooks good and sharp. I find the sharper the better for single barbless hooks.

[Cal]

I've had way better hooking percentages buzzing regular spinner baits than with buzz baits. If the fish misses the spinner bait (for some reason this seems to happen way less often than with buzz baits) I just let it sink a little bit and retrieve it in a more regular fashion now that its got the fishes attention and more often than not that will get me a solid strike. Another trick is to use a trailer hook, a treble works best but if its weedy I'll use a weedless trailer, with spinner baits I dont often have to use them tho.

[outbackpat]

Does the 2 seconds rule apply to walleye's also? I was at Buck on the weekend and we ran into the same problem, plenty of hit's but few hooked fish.

[gonefishin]

Originally Posted by WildCats

Don't set until you feel the fish.

X2. When you see the fish take the buzzer... keep reeling as you were and once you feel the weight of the fish, then set the hook.