How To: Bass fish using year-round buzz bait lures

You can't catch a fish if you don't have the bait… and a buzz bait are great for snagging bass. So, if you're a bass fisherman, you can't not know this information. Get the scoop on buzz baits.

Wade Bourne of MyOutdoorTV shows you how buzz baits are good lures for catching big bass. Their surface-running sputter infuriates bass and provokes some of the most explosive strikes in freshwater fishing. Most anglers think of buzz baits as warm season lures. However, experts with these lures know they will produce year-round.

On a calm, warm winter day bass will move shallow, and a large, slow-running buzz bait will trigger strikes. Likewise, in mid-day in mid-summer, when the sun is bright and shallow water is hot, a small buzz bait retrieved quickly will also produce bites. Here are tips for selecting and using buzz baits to catch bass in all months on the calendar.

- Use a long rod casting rod with plenty backbone and a medium tip. Spool the casting reel with heavy line for big buzz baits and light line with small buzz baits.

- With a big buzz bait in cooler months, reel just fast enough to keep the bait on the surface. The slower retrieve, the better. With a small buzz bait in warm months, reel the bait quickly. A speedy retrieve is better than a slow one. Both these presentations match bass' metabolism for their particular time of year.

- Pull your buzz bait close to cover where bass could be hiding around isolated, visible cover like stickups or logs.

- Make repeat casts to high-potential spots. Sometimes it takes more than one pass to agitate a bass into striking.

- Keep your rod tip high when you are retrieving a buzz bait. When a bass erupts on the lure, keep reeling until you feel pressure, then bow the rod to set the hook.

- Use a trailer hook to nab short striking fish that might miss the main hook.