Buzz Baits

Question
I was fishing today with a buzzbait on a river near a dam, and got nothing, do you know any special tactics that will get the bass to strike, and should i move upriver?

Answer
Jon; Fishing a buzz bait can be done in several ways to help entice bass to strike, but no method can guarantee strikes every time the bait is used.  I have not found any bait or lure that will always bring strikes.  I have been skunked many times when fishing for bass.  This is part of the game.

Let me see if I can suggest some things that you might do in the river below a dam.  To begin with make most of your casts angling upstream instead of downstream.  Fish will always face into the current.  If you cast downstream you will be bringing your lure up behind the fish and often they will be spooked as you might be if you were walking and someone came up behind you and made a noise.  This is true of not only buzz baits but nearly any bait.  Another thing you can do is to change speed of your lure.  First reel fast to get it up on the surface then slow it just so it makes a different sound in the water.  Next speed it up again.  Often this will make a fish believe some morsel is nearby and suddenly realized there was a big mouth bass nearby so in a panic it took off.  Few bass can stand to see an easy meal escape that easy and will often strike out of reflex.  Something else you can do is to add a pork frog to the hook of your bait.  This will allow the bait to ride up better also make a bigger looking bite for Mr. bass. Still another thing you can do is to cast past any kind of cover such as a log or stick sticking up in the water or around a rock.  Bass love to hide in places like this and jump out and grab a bite of anything they see that looks or sounds good.  Always make sure that you make a cast or two as close to the bank of the river as possible even a couple inches from the bank may be just the place where old bucketmouth may be laying in ambush.  I will never forget one time when I lived in Iowa there was a little lake at the edge of town.  One side of the lake was a grassy park where people picnicked in summer.  They were also fishing along the bank almost shoulder to shoulder.  They were all standing almost at water's edge and casting their bait and lures way out toward the middle of the lake.  I had an open face spinning outfit and I found a space where I was standing in a little bit of mud and other people didn't want to get muddy.  I was fishing so It didn't bother me.  Instead of casting out toward the middle of the lake like everyone else I began casting underhand just a few feet from my mud hole but almost under the feet of the people who were fishing.  My lure, a small floating minnow, landed within a couple of inches of the bank and the feet of a lady.  She looked kind of funny at me but when I just gave the lure a tiny twitch a bass came out from under the bank and nailed it.  She was amazed that there was a bass nearly under her feet.  To make a long story short I stood right there in my mud hole and cast after cast right beneath the feet of the other fishermen and caught at least twenty five bass which I released.  People gathered around to watch while I caught bass after bass within six inches of the bank.  Who would think there would be bass right under all those fishermen and fisherwomen's feet?  I Did because I had often caught bass right next to the bank.  So don't miss good fish by not working close to the shore.

Now I am going to touch on a couple of other things.  You asked if you should move upriver.  I cannot answer that because I have no knowledge of your river.  If there are places that you can fish further upriver then I would say if you didn't have success near the dam then by all means try up the river.

Finally I am going to mention that just because you had no luck on your buzzbait doesn't mean that there are not fish to be caught in that area.  In my boat I always have at least five rods and reels each with a different kind of lure on it.  If I try one and it does not produce in a couple of dozen casts in a particular spot, I lay it down and try something different.  Sometimes bass will not touch lure "A" but eat up lure "B".  At another time they no longer want lure "B" but will eat up lure "A"  Or it may take half a dozen or more different lures to find what they want.  Of course there are times when they will not touch anything you throw and the rare but happy time when they will eat up almost anything you toss their way.

I hope this is of some help in your fishing.  Thank you for calling on me to answer your question

I am
Jack L. Gaither   (JackfromSeminole)
Lake Seminole, Georgia