When the water begins to cool and shad move in the shallows, the big bass move in too. Of course, we know it’s because bass love shad, it’s their favorite food in many lakes.

Once they are in the shallows and hugging the bank you want to
throw your buzzer parallel with the bank. Sometimes, you will get a lot of blow-ups but no fish. This is usually because the bass want the buzzbait at a slower pace. One way to do this effectively is to go from a small blade to a big blade. That allows you to work the buzzbait more slowly and still keep it on top.

During the fall, the bass see the buzzbait as a shad trying to
escape. Then unlike other times, you are catching bass feeding
instead of just a reaction strike mainly. For bright skies and
clear water try a nickle blade with a white skirt. The white skirt resembles a shad in clear water. On cloudy days and stained water try a gold blade with a blue, black or chartreuse skirt. Buzzbaits can be used anytime the water temperatures are about 50 degrees or warmer.

The noise factor…ever have a buzzbait that squeaks? About drives
you nuts doesn’t it? I have some good news! I saved a bunch of
money by switching my car insurance to Geico. Sorry, I couldn’t
help it. Actually the good news is it drives bass nuts too.
So, if your buzzbaits is squeaking let it squeak, the louder the
better.

When you cast the buzzbait, get those blades moving the second it hits the water. When there is a lot of cover, you need to have those blades turning as you don't have the convenience of getting the buzzer working over a long distance.

Ever see a bass on the beds? Try a slow moving buzzbait to entice them to move your intruding lure off the bed. If you can’t go slow enough with the blade you’re using try a 3 blade buzzbait, it allows you to keep the lure on top at a super slow speed. This should cause that bedding bass to want to move it. Please, if you do catch a bass on her bed, always return it quickly to the water. I personally don’t fish for bedding bass, but there are a lot of huge female bass on beds for sure.

When the water warms to the mid 70’s bass usually move to deeper
water. This is the time to use buzzbaits in early morning or at
night. The early morning bass you catch are usually going back to deeper water from the feeding area. You buzzbait can get them to strike for that last meal.

When fishing cover with a buzzbait, throw past the cover and let
the buzzer come back to the target and actually bump the buzzbait against the cover. The erratic movement many times will produce a strike.

This past week we have had lots of rain and the lakes are a little out of the banks. Guess what, that is more areas for bass to roam. Now a buzzbait is a great search tool, so throw it in the new flooded areas of your favorite lake to find the bass.

One last but main tip. Don’t ever fish a buzzbait without a trailer hook and to even get more strikes use a red trailer hook.

Have fun this fall and catch bass and when you do on a buzzbait
using one of these techniques, write me a thank you note.