Unlikely bass baits.

[Jigger]

isn't it strange how some of the most unlikely bass baits catch fish in some areas whereas some of the most realistic ones don't. for example, to me, a buzzbait is about the most unlikely looking contraption i've ever seen. if i didn't know about them i'd never buy one but around here they are killer post spawn and beyond bass catchers whereas a fluke, in my opinion, is a dead ringer for a dying or addled shad. if i were a fish i couldn't resist a fluke but around here they don't work too well. i don't get it. the rabbit hair jig thread got me to thinking about this. it looks killer on the video but i'm wondering if it's like my fluke bait------looks good in action but won't trigger the strikes on my water.

have you ever had an unlikely bait surprise you on how effective it can be? ever had one you just know would catch bomb out?

[Love of the Sport]

Buzzbiats make sence to me. They look like a small fish chasing baitfish on the surface. To a bass that means the small fish is preoccupied.

[OrygunBasser]

Last fall I was using a fluke, I'm like you in thinking that they look killer and can't see how a decent Bass could reject one. They do work pretty well here at times, but that day they didn't want it. I do not know why, but I decided that I would just throw it out and reel it back real slow. It didn't have much action doing that , only a slight back and forth roll from side to side. First cast a fish absolutly blew up on it, abour 3#'s. A couple casts later I caught a 4#. I caught several fish over a weedbed that afternoon doing that, I thought I had learned a killer technique. I have not been able to repeat even one fish ding that again!!

[aikenyounggun]

yeah flukes have been overused so i think fish get accumstomed to them, but if people stop using them then 5 years later they will be dynamite........

yeah buzzbaits make sense to me

[fishin spro]

i watched a boy catch a "6 lber"(it weighed about a pound and a half, but you couldnt tell him that, cuz hes the bass God now) on just a jig trailer...no jig...just a uncle joshs jig trailer. i wanted to push him in the water by the time we left

[3dkicker]

spro - That technique is the original way pork frogs were used. The bait was placed on a weedless hook w/ wire guard and swam over and through lily pads. Technique dates back to the 1930's or possibly earlier.

[bamabassman]

3d is right on spro. i witnessed my great uncles using the ol pork rind in the same manner.

[zaraflux]

Ive never used them but the Helicopter Lure has to be the strangest.Also many creature baits are pretty odd looking

[bamabassman]

zara.........ya had to bring up the helicopter lure didn't ya, hahahahhahahaha. tell him gang. tell him about the helicopter lure and the flying lure for me. hahahahahahaha.

[CCbass]

Bass as a preditor are attracted to the injured or the distracted. Buzz bait, as stated earlier to a bass looks like a small fish chasing a food source i.e. distracted. Its focused on what it wants to eat so it for the most part does not notice me ( the bass ) to me that equals easy meal. Real looking not presented in either of those situations will most likely not lead to a bite.

[3dkicker]

Originally Posted by bamabassman

3d is right on spro. i witnessed my great uncles using the ol pork rind in the same manner.

I was at work when I posted so I didn't have the info in front of me. "Bass Tackle & Tactics" Hollis 1945 is where I found this use of pork. So 1930's may be a little off.

[Jigger]

Originally Posted by CCbass

Bass as a preditor are attracted to the injured or the distracted. Buzz bait, as stated earlier to a bass looks like a small fish chasing a food source i.e. distracted. Its focused on what it wants to eat so it for the most part does not notice me ( the bass ) to me that equals easy meal. Real looking not presented in either of those situations will most likely not lead to a bite.

Good observation and I respect your opinion but isn't it funny how different the theories are on what triggers a strike. Many say that a buzzbait "angers" a bass into striking. Or that it "annoys" the bass into striking. One of the reasons some want an annoying squeak in the blade and hang it out the car window to wear a larger hole in the blade to make that annoying squeak. In reality, although I too theorize on what causes a strike, I don't think anyone really knows what causes a bass to strike one bait over another on a given day.

[Bassboss]

I've wondered the same thing, don't make much sense?!? Why do buzz baits work, and at times, why won’t fluke? And vis-versa! Different bait for different water I guess! Just one of those many mysteries of bass fishing!

[Bob Smith]

Originally Posted by Jigger

Good observation and I respect your opinion but isn't it funny how different the theories are on what triggers a strike. Many say that a buzzbait "angers" a bass into striking. Or that it "annoys" the bass into striking. One of the reasons some want an annoying squeak in the blade and hang it out the car window to wear a larger hole in the blade to make that annoying squeak. In reality, although I too theorize on what causes a strike, I don't think anyone really knows what causes a bass to strike one bait over another on a given day.

Excellent observation, Jigger! I have been using buzzbaits since 1981 and Sluggos (earliest form of soft jerkbait) since 1989. I have caught bass very shallow on both in 45 degree water and caught bass on both in 95 degree water. There is often no rhyme or reason for "why" the fish strike either of them. What I do find that works very well is to use the fluke for a followup bait on a short strike to the buzzbaits. For that reason I have both tied up and on the deck at the same time (Fluke is a good follow up for topwater, spinner baits and hard jerkbaits too!).

Bama, I still throw the pork frog weightless, only now I thread on a spinner bait skirt and piece of plastic worm (to hold the skirt in place and keep the pork from rolling up on the hook point on a strike) on a 4/0 weedless hook. Still works too!! When the drilla gets up so that you can see it under the water and the pads start to open, get that rig out there on Guntersville and HANG ON!!

[Jigger]

Originally Posted by Bob Smith

What I do find that works very well is to use the fluke for a followup bait on a short strike to the buzzbaits. For that reason I have both tied up and on the deck at the same time (Fluke is a good follow up for topwater, spinner baits and hard jerkbaits too!).

Thanks for the tip, man. I've always followed a missed topwater bite with a plastic worm or whatever else I've got tied on such as a jig or creature bait but what you say makes more sense because a lot of times when they miss a buzzbait or topwater, you'll see them still looking around high in the water column but not necessarily on top and the way a fluke looks would be the same way a crippled shad they swung and missed at would look---kind of fluttering down on its last leg. I'll definitely try it.

[Bob Smith]

You got it, Jigger and it works really well if you can land it right in the middle of the circle waves where the blowup occurred. You have to be quick though.

[CCbass]

My thought of buzz baits was why do they not hit the blades and only the trailing bait almost always. The whole annoy, anger, theory would to me be they would do just that, why not eat both. I think maybe instinct wins out here, two targets, hit the one thats more of a sure thing and below the water line and distracted.