I would think 1/2 oz for castability but I know there is a delicate balance with retrieve speed, being one of the few topwater baits that does not float.

 

I’m also sort of confused on what exactly a “clacker” is - I thought that was the entire presentation and that all of them “clacked” or is this something entirely different from the sound it makes?

 

Lastly, is white/chartreuse generally the best color for most conditions? How about for Pike vs Smallmouth?

I personally am not a huge fan of the mega strike - the wire is super thin and they cast sort of like a potato chip for me personally.

 

I like the Nichols stuff and original Lunker Lure or the Bert Deener offerings.  Some of the Picasso offerings are also quite good.  I'm partial to the Aaron Martens model.

 

You can't go wrong with a strike King or Booyah from Walmart.  Those things catch fish.

 

Pricey but the Boogerman 1/8 oz buzzer is killer.  Buckeye and Prototype and Accent are all good also.

 

The key with any buzzbait is the mods.

 

I like to uncrimp the arm and move the blade closer to the bend than they come stock to free up more of the hook bite.

 

I rough up the contact points for the blade on the metal shaft and with the pop rivet.

 

I make sure the rivet and blade contact points are flush.

 

I crimp the rivet so it doesn't move.

 

I hold them out my window on the way to and from the lake for a few trips.

 

You can buy a 3/8 oz and use drop shot weights of your choice to make it cast better in a pinch and use bits of milk carton to hold them in place like a trailer hook.

 

I use a trailer hook and a trailer and a skirt almost all the time and I find that almost always hooks the big ones and tempts them the best.

 

Buzzbaits are all about the little tweaks.

 

 

Wind causes me problems with anything less than 1/2 oz.

A clacker is often a flap on the shaft that the blade hits as it rotates.  Squeaking is the normal sound that I like   I make mine squeak by having it outside the truck window at highway speeds for several miles.  I only use white or black.

If its a skirted bait I like  half oz. If I use a swimbait or something else , I like a 3/8th oz. That hunk of plastic adds quite a bit of weight. Too heavy and my buzzbait rod doesnt snap back causing my cast to go right of target.

3 hours ago, Jig Man said:

Wind causes me problems with anything less than 1/2 oz.

A clacker is often a flap on the shaft that the blade hits as it rotates.  Squeaking is the normal sound that I like   I make mine squeak by having it outside the truck window at highway speeds for several miles.  I only use white or black.

So is the clacker the loud “clacking” sound you hear most buzz baits make?

2 hours ago, ohioguy25 said:

So is the clacker the loud “clacking” sound you hear most buzz baits make?

It's another little moving arm/blade that makes contact with the big blade.  Instead of having just the "chirp", you get a "chirp" with a deeper "clack". 

1/2oz, squeaky like a rusted door hinge, black for cloudy days, white for sunny days and silver or gray for clear water. No trailer. 

2 hours ago, ohioguy25 said:

So is the clacker the loud “clacking” sound you hear most buzz baits make?

 

This is one type of clacker. Some buzzbaits are designed to knock against the top of the jighead as they spin and also produce a clacking sound.

 

I don't throw a buzzbait a ton, but none of mine are clacking.

You can replace the skirt with a toad if you wish. It's really just something for the bass to home in on to strike. A dark one for very low light conditions and a light one for brighter. I like the Cavitron. I'm not going to go out and buy 10 different brands to see which works best. 

Cavitron for this guy.

 

Just wish more bass would strike it

12 hours ago, Pat Brown said:

I personally am not a huge fan of the mega strike - the wire is super thin and they cast sort of like a potato chip for me personally.

 

I like the Nichols stuff and original Lunker Lure or the Bert Deener offerings.  Some of the Picasso offerings are also quite good.  I'm partial to the Aaron Martens model.

 

You can't go wrong with a strike King or Booyah from Walmart.  Those things catch fish.

 

Pricey but the Boogerman 1/8 oz buzzer is killer.  Buckeye and Prototype and Accent are all good also.

 

The key with any buzzbait is the mods.

 

I like to uncrimp the arm and move the blade closer to the bend than they come stock to free up more of the hook bite.

 

I rough up the contact points for the blade on the metal shaft and with the pop rivet.

 

I make sure the rivet and blade contact points are flush.

 

I crimp the rivet so it doesn't move.

 

I hold them out my window on the way to and from the lake for a few trips.

 

You can buy a 3/8 oz and use drop shot weights of your choice to make it cast better in a pinch and use bits of milk carton to hold them in place like a trailer hook.

 

I use a trailer hook and a trailer and a skirt almost all the time and I find that almost always hooks the big ones and tempts them the best.

 

Buzzbaits are all about the little tweaks.

 

 

How about the Picasso Hog Snatcher?

I like the blade on a WarEagle. I just wish the lower arm was longer. Black/gold blade and chartruse and white are the only colors for me.

Man...you were so close to a normal thread title!  But hey...it's kinda your trademark now 🤷‍♂️😁

6 hours ago, ohioguy25 said:

How about the Picasso Hog Snatcher?

 

Yep that's the Aaron Martens one!  That's my favorite one Picasso makes.

8 hours ago, ohioguy25 said:

How about the Picasso Hog Snatcher?

I have some Hog Snatcher buzzbaits. I like them. The hook does seem excessively large. 

1/2 oz Cavitron - and always always black whether largemouth, smallmouth or any other species. Fish are looking up and no mater how dark/cloudy of a day it is always lighter above. Black has the better contrast and it’s key they see it well for a better hook up ratio. 

I have yet to use one for bass, but as I slowly try the various lures, I'm sure I have a buzz bait in my future. They sure worked for muskies.

I throw the snot out of a buzzbait. Here's what I'll say about some of my favorites. 

 

Cavitron - has the best blade design. That hole in the blade leaves a unique bubble trail and allows me to fish it slower than most buzzbaits. It also comes to plane (surface) very quickly. Another aspect of the design I like is the bent wire. I think this helps keep keep the hook a little lower in the water and increases my hookup ratio. The downfall of this bait is the lack of a trailer keeper and it kind of casts poorly. 

 

Accent Jacob Wheeler Finesse - the best all around buzzbait for the way I like to fish them. Has a compact profile and a trailer keeper. These things will cast a mile if you put a bulky trailer on them. 

 

Megabass Boa - This is my go to whenever I want a larger profile bait. This bait also has the holes in the blade. Only downside is I prefer compact buzzbaits personally. 

 

Crock-O-Gator - These offer such a unique sound because of the clacking head design. Quality bait but they take a ton of tuning to sound right and run true. 

Strike King. All sizes. No trailer. Love squeaky. Hate the clacker.

man, you're hitting my wheelhouse.  From about now until the end of September, a buzzbait is how every trip starts almost regardless of the lake.  I've caught more big fish, more consistently, on a buzzbait in the 2 hours before and 1 hour after daylight than anything else I throw.  I've gotten picky and also not picky about them.  Like Pat Brown laid out, it's all about the modifications and tuning it to how you're fishing it.  For me, that's throwing it up shallow around every piece of cover and plopping it back as slow as I can.  I've watched pro's burn a buzzbait on a sunny day down a riprap bank and catch fish.  I've never had that buzzbait experience.

 

What I'm not picky about- brand.  I started with the SK sugar buzz, have a cavitron, a toad based buzz, a bunch my dad makes from LPO wired bodies, and also the wheeler accent buzzbait.  They all work and catch fish, but some are harder to fish than others and need more modification.  I agree the cavitron casts like a parachute and I don't fish it (or even carry it in the boat anymore).  The Toad based bodies aren't my preference either (more below).  The main difference between them for me is the wire thickness and how easy/hard they are to bendout on a fish and bend back to straight after.  I'm also not picky about the skirt color, so long as it is black, ideally with a chartreuse fire tip.

 

what I am picky about- skirted, with a trailer, the biggest blade I can get on about the lightest head I can get, and a couple modifications that I'll do myself (and pat brown mostly detailed).  Since I'm crawling it slowly, I don't like toad bodies.  They sink faster than any of the other choices so you have to fish them faster to keep them up.  I'm going to try a billygoat this year (they float) and see how that does, but that's just a trial.  A big billowy skirt adds water resistance and a little weight for casting without adding density for sinking.  I'm talking 2.5 tabs worth of skirt sometimes.  I swap out most of the skirts on my buzzbaits to a custom one that my dad started making and that I now do my own.  The blades on the sugar buzz are nice and the size of snowplows in the bigger sizes which I like.  The 1/2 oz is maybe a little too heavy though and the 3/8 and 1/4 are the right size for me.  In the accent I prefer the standard and not the finesse (which has a smaller blade and less noise).  The LPO heads my dad builds on are the ones below, in 1/4 oz.  I don't know which specific blade he uses but they are a solid 2" across.  For trailers, I really like a 3.5" spunk shad, glued on.  They provide a nice chunk of bulk, right in the middle of the body of the bait so that the fish has something to inhale when they suck it down (instead of just air with only a skirt).  It adds 3/16 oz concentrated in the middle where its compact (helps with casting) but the tapered tail leaves just enough behind/in the skirt.  I'm less picky on trailer color but GP/chart with the chartreuse belly is my pick of what I have here.  The other choice is an old fashioned split tail trailer like the zoom, but they don't make them in black anymore.  The UV works but I like a little more bulk for the reasons above.  The kalins kicker is interesting (and comes in black with blue flake) and adds resistance to make it slower, but it is short.  I've caught fish using it.  Maybe one day I'll ask someone to pour me exactly what I want.

 

 

Mods- Squeaky rivet.  That's the first and most important one for me.  Sanding the rivet and back of the blade is the start.  The angle of the back of the blade is next.  Some are better flat to the rivet, some blades will have a sharp edge that runs across the rivet like a slate turkey call or record player.  Most come with the rivet crimped now, but if not then do that too.  I DON'T shorten the arms.  I think having it a little longer back helps with balance and keeps it level in the water.  I DO add a trailer hook with the rubber over the eye so that it is stiffly straight back.  Gamakatsu SP or SK tour grade.  That also helps with the fish that just like to sip the back of the bait from behind.  the other big mod is for durability- wire tying the R bend.  Some use a split ring, but I find having the right size fiddly.  I use skirt tying wire and give it a handful of wraps It helps immensely when you boat flip a fish and it stops the wire from bending out.  Similar if you net them and the blade arm gets hung in the net while the fish is thrashing around.  Lastly is tracking.  It's cute to bend a buzzbait so it runs hard to a side and you can put it under a dock.  I've never caught a fish that way so all of mine run as straight as I can get them with the body directly under the bait and not laying on it's side. I'm throwing into dinner plate or smaller sized holes in grass most of the time and want it up on plane when I click the reel over.  I'm usually reeling as it enters the water.  I'll get one turn of the reel before it is threading through a line in the grass or between a couple lily pads.  I can steer it with the rod tip just fine thanks, I want it running straight.  To that end, I'll have a half dozen identical ones ready to fish and when one starts running out after a couple fish I'll cut it off for a new one rather than play with it there in the dark.  That time on the water is limited to about 2-3 hours and I'm not wasting 5 minutes tuning one.  If I can fix it with 2-3 casts I will, but if it gives me problems it's gone.  The other mod is lure specific on the swinging sugar buzz.  Once you get it running straight and true, the teardrop weight/head on them can slide.  I slide it forward so that the tip of the blade is just ticking it when it comes around.  It is like a clacker but not quite- more solid and higher pitch instead of flappy.

 

You didn't ask about rods or line, but I prefer long (7'4" right now), powerful, a little flexy, and heavy mono.  I've tried shorter and it works, but I like the steering control from a longer rod.  I like having a little flex to keep them pinned but I want power commensurate with the heavier mono I'm fishing since I'm throwing into heavier cover and catching bigger fish.  I'm not making super long casts, usually 20 yards max, more often 10 yards.  Line stretch isn't a problem.  Heck, my line isn't usually even touching the water.  I put fluoro on that rod this year for texas rigs and I'll probably use it for buzzbaits just fine.

 

Since I like to throw mine where they might not come back, my choice is the D&M Buzzsaw. It has a free-swinging EWG hook so I can rig my trailers weedless. It is also very durable.

This is what I use recently.  These things are STOUT.

 

https://www.warbaits.com/shop/buzz-baits/9

I don't really think there's much difference in any of them except for the clacker and the hole in the blade on some. If I buy one it's a Crock o Gator.

I've held them out the window, soaked them in salt water and tied them to a floor fan but in the end it's about throwing it over fish.

They see and hear 1,223 buzzbaits a day. They see and hear very few 1/4 oz.

1 hour ago, Big Swimbait said:

Since I like to throw mine where they might not come back, my choice is the D&M Buzzsaw. It has a free-swinging EWG hook so I can rig my trailers weedless. It is also very durable.

How easily do these bend? And are they toast once they do?

On 6/5/2025 at 9:57 AM, casts_by_fly said:

man, you're hitting my wheelhouse.  From about now until the end of September, a buzzbait is how every trip starts almost regardless of the lake.  I've caught more big fish, more consistently, on a buzzbait in the 2 hours before and 1 hour after daylight than anything else I throw.  I've gotten picky and also not picky about them.  Like Pat Brown laid out, it's all about the modifications and tuning it to how you're fishing it.  For me, that's throwing it up shallow around every piece of cover and plopping it back as slow as I can.  I've watched pro's burn a buzzbait on a sunny day down a riprap bank and catch fish.  I've never had that buzzbait experience.

 

What I'm not picky about- brand.  I started with the SK sugar buzz, have a cavitron, a toad based buzz, a bunch my dad makes from LPO wired bodies, and also the wheeler accent buzzbait.  They all work and catch fish, but some are harder to fish than others and need more modification.  I agree the cavitron casts like a parachute and I don't fish it (or even carry it in the boat anymore).  The Toad based bodies aren't my preference either (more below).  The main difference between them for me is the wire thickness and how easy/hard they are to bendout on a fish and bend back to straight after.  I'm also not picky about the skirt color, so long as it is black, ideally with a chartreuse fire tip.

 

what I am picky about- skirted, with a trailer, the biggest blade I can get on about the lightest head I can get, and a couple modifications that I'll do myself (and pat brown mostly detailed).  Since I'm crawling it slowly, I don't like toad bodies.  They sink faster than any of the other choices so you have to fish them faster to keep them up.  I'm going to try a billygoat this year (they float) and see how that does, but that's just a trial.  A big billowy skirt adds water resistance and a little weight for casting without adding density for sinking.  I'm talking 2.5 tabs worth of skirt sometimes.  I swap out most of the skirts on my buzzbaits to a custom one that my dad started making and that I now do my own.  The blades on the sugar buzz are nice and the size of snowplows in the bigger sizes which I like.  The 1/2 oz is maybe a little too heavy though and the 3/8 and 1/4 are the right size for me.  In the accent I prefer the standard and not the finesse (which has a smaller blade and less noise).  The LPO heads my dad builds on are the ones below, in 1/4 oz.  I don't know which specific blade he uses but they are a solid 2" across.  For trailers, I really like a 3.5" spunk shad, glued on.  They provide a nice chunk of bulk, right in the middle of the body of the bait so that the fish has something to inhale when they suck it down (instead of just air with only a skirt).  It adds 3/16 oz concentrated in the middle where its compact (helps with casting) but the tapered tail leaves just enough behind/in the skirt.  I'm less picky on trailer color but GP/chart with the chartreuse belly is my pick of what I have here.  The other choice is an old fashioned split tail trailer like the zoom, but they don't make them in black anymore.  The UV works but I like a little more bulk for the reasons above.  The kalins kicker is interesting (and comes in black with blue flake) and adds resistance to make it slower, but it is short.  I've caught fish using it.  Maybe one day I'll ask someone to pour me exactly what I want.

 

 

Mods- Squeaky rivet.  That's the first and most important one for me.  Sanding the rivet and back of the blade is the start.  The angle of the back of the blade is next.  Some are better flat to the rivet, some blades will have a sharp edge that runs across the rivet like a slate turkey call or record player.  Most come with the rivet crimped now, but if not then do that too.  I DON'T shorten the arms.  I think having it a little longer back helps with balance and keeps it level in the water.  I DO add a trailer hook with the rubber over the eye so that it is stiffly straight back.  Gamakatsu SP or SK tour grade.  That also helps with the fish that just like to sip the back of the bait from behind.  the other big mod is for durability- wire tying the R bend.  Some use a split ring, but I find having the right size fiddly.  I use skirt tying wire and give it a handful of wraps It helps immensely when you boat flip a fish and it stops the wire from bending out.  Similar if you net them and the blade arm gets hung in the net while the fish is thrashing around.  Lastly is tracking.  It's cute to bend a buzzbait so it runs hard to a side and you can put it under a dock.  I've never caught a fish that way so all of mine run as straight as I can get them with the body directly under the bait and not laying on it's side. I'm throwing into dinner plate or smaller sized holes in grass most of the time and want it up on plane when I click the reel over.  I'm usually reeling as it enters the water.  I'll get one turn of the reel before it is threading through a line in the grass or between a couple lily pads.  I can steer it with the rod tip just fine thanks, I want it running straight.  To that end, I'll have a half dozen identical ones ready to fish and when one starts running out after a couple fish I'll cut it off for a new one rather than play with it there in the dark.  That time on the water is limited to about 2-3 hours and I'm not wasting 5 minutes tuning one.  If I can fix it with 2-3 casts I will, but if it gives me problems it's gone.  The other mod is lure specific on the swinging sugar buzz.  Once you get it running straight and true, the teardrop weight/head on them can slide.  I slide it forward so that the tip of the blade is just ticking it when it comes around.  It is like a clacker but not quite- more solid and higher pitch instead of flappy.

 

You didn't ask about rods or line, but I prefer long (7'4" right now), powerful, a little flexy, and heavy mono.  I've tried shorter and it works, but I like the steering control from a longer rod.  I like having a little flex to keep them pinned but I want power commensurate with the heavier mono I'm fishing since I'm throwing into heavier cover and catching bigger fish.  I'm not making super long casts, usually 20 yards max, more often 10 yards.  Line stretch isn't a problem.  Heck, my line isn't usually even touching the water.  I put fluoro on that rod this year for texas rigs and I'll probably use it for buzzbaits just fine.

 

 

Friday morning was a buzzbait day.  Took the day off and went with my dad to his home lake.  Third cast was a 19" bass that I thought ripped my arm open (elbow surgery 5 weeks ago).  The fish were stingy and not hitting much despite the very grey conditions, occasional rain, and perfect cover.  Should have had 20 bass on a buzzbait or spinnerbait on a different day, but not Friday.  However, they weren't hitting much of anything else so I stuck with a buzzbait and went for the reaction bites.  I love those vicious reaction bites on a buzzbait and they ate it most of the morning when they weren't hitting much else.  Later on when the sun came out I put it down and hit a bunch on plastics, but the buzzbait was on.  I'll revise my position a little on the shorter rod and action type.  I love my head turner for so many things, but never loved it for buzzbaits.  This trip it just worked.  I still think I prefer my longer rod for the reasons above, but I have a newfound like for it on this one.