Buzzbait from the bank

[kdubracing]

Just curious, when you're fishing from the bank, or kayak, where you can't cover water quickly, how do you fish baits like a buzzbait? Do you fan cast, then put it down for a little bit and fish something else until you get to other water? Or do you stick with the buzzbait for a while?

[zippyduck]

From the bank I put my hiking shoes on and move. Casting to likely places and the shore edge and covering ground till I find fish. Then it is time to fan cast that whole area. Repeat process but always return to active areas on the way back.

[kdubracing]

So you stay with the buzzbait the whole time and just travel down the bank until you’re ready to switch baits for a while?

[Capt. BassinLou]

So you stay with the buzzbait the whole time and just travel down the bank until you're ready to switch baits for a while?

Staying with an unproductive bait for a while can be a waste of time. I give myself a distance/time check point when bank fishing. 20-30 min on one bait, and/or every quarter mile while I'm covering water. If I had 0 action on those checkpoints, I will switch baits and cover the next layer of the water column, (middle). After the next check point and I still had 0 action, switch to the last layer of the water column, (bottom).

[fishballer06]

Buzzbaits on the bank are a very successful search bait for me. Especially at the beginning of the day when I'm trying to find a pattern or areas where the fish might be grouped up. If I can get bites in certain areas, then I know once I find those type of areas that I can slow down with other different baits and really work that water over.

[TNDiver]

I have asked this questions many times, and Lou, I think that is the best succinct answer I have seen 

I think we all probably get in the mindset that one particular lure SHOULD work and have confidence that it will catch fish and that may be why we are hesitant to switch baits.  This has been my problem, but I am recovering!   .    After Guntersville, I have started to pick out 4 baits before I go that I think will work and if one is not getting a bite, I go with another, however, I never thought to think about different water depths, as Lou had stated.  Obviously I will go top water and then some deeper, but never thought about hitting the whole water column.  Of course from the shore, I was usually fishing more shallow waters.

[SHC286]

Do you fan cast, then put it down for a little bit and fish something else until you get to other water?

That's exactly how I do it. I'm not one to keep slinging the same unproductive bait over and over again. I do try to be patient because lack thereof is a character flaw of mine, but there's only so much I can take. With other baits I try to switch up my presentation, and have done so with buzz baits, sometimes swimming them deep instead of on or near the surface. It hasn't gotten any results yet, but it tricks me into spending more time with it than I would otherwise.

[kdubracing]

I'm not necessarily talking about continuing to throw it when it is unproductive. In my mind, a buzzbait isn't a bait to throw in the same spot many times. I would think with the noise and commotion it causes, a cast or two in a spot will get a strike if a bass is there and is willing to eat. I would think standing in a spot on a bank, fan cast a buzzbait, then change to something else for a little while. I was wondering if any of you guys throw one for a while before determining it is unproductive, or just throw it a few times. In a boat, you can cover water and throw one over and over. Not as easy on a bank or kayak.