How to tweek a buzzbait

[jonboy]

Grass fishing a buzz bait can be a pain. As soon as the bait hits the water grass wraps around the blade and kills the cast. Here is a tip to make that buzz bait jump on top of the water with a simple but effective tweek. Just bend the wire that the blade is on back toward the wire that the hook is connected to (the shank) so that it forms an angle. Get the blade as close as possible without the blade hitting the shank. Below is a pic of an untouched bait on the left and a tweeked one on the right.

Notice how the top is also bent, this is not necessary but allows for you to bend the blade shaft at more of an angle. This alone will make the bait jump out of the water in 1/3 of the distance that it would without doing it, making it less likely to catch grass and if you are a bank fisherman, more time in the strike zone. If you do this in conjunction with simply raising your rod tip  from say 9 o'clock to 11 o'clock just as the bait hits the water. The bait will glide across the surface without sinking at all.
Also allowing to retrieve the bait much slower and stay on the surface.
On a different note, If you crimp the little piece supporting the blade it will give a better chirp chirp sound when retrieving.

Good fishing guys

[Mike Cork]

Excellent tip