when a lake is on.. ITS ON!!!!

[Deitz Dittrich]

So, fished the green horn open on South Center today. My bud and I caught at least 70 fish today.. and weighed a 5 fish bag that went 21.17lbs!!!!

Now heres the kicker.. we got 2nd.. our big fish was 5.5..

Winning team had 21.21 lbs.. with a 6.2lb kicker..

3rd place had 20.77!!!!!!

And now for the ahhhh moment!!!! 4th place, only paid 3 places keep in mind.. 4th place weighed I believe 19.86lbs.. Are you kidding me!!!! 19+ lbs and not cash a check!!!

KILLER!!!! I do have to admit, I thought it was over and in the bag with 21lbs.. goes to show.. its not over till all the green backs are on the scales!

[TR21HP]

Nice bag Deitz, there are some pros that would give their eye teeth for a limit like that. I suppose a drop shot played a little in that outcome.

[Deitz Dittrich]

I can not tell a lie.. I threw it like mad, and never got a fish on Drop Shot.. Rapala DT10 was what put fish in the boat for me.. yet the guys that won caught all theirs on a buzz bait.. Go figure!!!

[sheepheadslayer]

Fished a tourney couple weeks ago. Weighed 21.70 and we got 4th!! 24.90 won. Sometimes they just go!!

[HellaBass]

I think buzzbaits won the Simply Fishing fall tourney out there last year as well

[RK]

As soon as the temps start to drop, out come the buzzbaits for me. Like 'em more in fall than any other time of year frankly. Water temps in the mid-60s down through the low 50s, buzzbaits can be absolute killers. Big fish bait too. I'm heading up to the cabin for a 4-day fall bass/muskie combo platter on Thursday, and I'm picking up some buzzbaits before I go.

[goblueM]

Rob, how many buzzbaits do you have already? Be honest...you don't really NEED to pick up any, do you?

[Craigums]

As soon as the temps start to drop, out come the buzzbaits for me. Like 'em more in fall than any other time of year frankly. Water temps in the mid-60s down through the low 50s, buzzbaits can be absolute killers. Big fish bait too. I'm heading up to the cabin for a 4-day fall bass/muskie combo platter on Thursday, and I'm picking up some buzzbaits before I go.

Are they mostly a early morning or low light deal?

[thatoneguy]

I've never really thrown buzzbaits. What kind of cover do you use them in/around? Reeds? Over the tops of remaining weed beds?

[RK]

Hiya -

goblue, actually, other than little tiny ones I use for river smallies, I have about 3 to my name - pike bend the bejeezus out of them sometimes and they quit working right, so I need to restock and tune some up before this weekend.

craigums, in my experience, the buzzbait thing is totally banker's hours - 10 to 3 midday stuff. That gets more true as the water gets colder. I think fish come out on the flats when the water warms a little, and they'll chase buzzbaits better than they will early and late. They also come up a long ways for them - can fish them in 10-12 feet of water and get hit on a clear lake... It's pretty fun.

RK

[delmuts]

RK. What your take/explanation of tuning a buzzbait, other than making sure they run straight? I prefer the squeallers, but got chastised for tying a couple to the antena of the truck that were tight!

[CANOPY SAM]

Boy that 5.5 is a beautiful fish! Congrats on placing! 70 fish day must have been a BLAST!

If you haven't already, you really GOTTA try buzzbaits at NIGHT! Nothing like "listening" for your fish to hit.

Plop, plop, plop, plop, plop, plop, plop, KERSPLOOSH!!! Awesome!

[TonkaBass]

Thats insane Dietz! Nice fish from all of you!

[RK]

Hiya -

Del, I like the squealers too. (Same with Topper Stoppers for muskies. If I can hear a Topper squeaking from 50 feet away, I'm a happy camper...)

To tune them, I first use a pliers and squeeze the rivet below the blade to the shaft so it can't spin. Then I take a needle nose, and make sure the bottom leaf on the blade where the shaft goes through it is bent at a 90-degree angle, and do the same with the collar on the rivet. I want both those surfaces flat so they make as much contact as possible. Then I take a little hook file and rough up both those surfaces a little bit. Takes about a minute, and makes them a lot more likely to squeal. Still, some do, some don't.

I've tried the car antenna thing, and also parked some in front of a fan for a couple hours. What seems to work best, if you really want to get serious about it, is hold them under the sink under running water for a while. I'm usually not that ambitious though. I just tune the blade and rough up the rivet and call it good. And, like I said, some won't squeak no matter what you do to them.

Cheers,

RK

[cruiseforever]

RK. What your take/explanation of tuning a buzzbait, other than making sure they run straight? I prefer the squeallers, but got chastised for tying a couple to the antena of the truck that were tight!

I perfer that mine run slightly to one side. That allows you to run them under things and steer them into openings.

[Ray Esboldt]

If it would have only been that way in...never mind.

Next year!

[Stick in Mud]

So do the buzzbaits outperform other topwaters this time of year? What is it about the buzzer that's getting these fish to hit now?

[RK]

carmike -

Honestly I dunno what it is. I think part of it is purely practical - you can cover a lot of water with a buzzbait so they're an efficient way of getting a bait in front of fish milling around mid-depth flats, and fish will come up a long ways for them, so you can cover a pretty wide band vertically too. So they may not work *better* per se, but they work more efficiently.

That having been said, fish do love the things. I also do like walk the dog topwaters in fall too, but that's probably influenced by my using them for muskies and doing well on them this time of year.

RK

[Jayber]

Awesome catch DD! Was the tourney limited to just SC or was NC in game too? Were they scattered or was there one particular pattern you found to be more successful?

[Stick in Mud]

Thanks for the response, RK.

I kind of wish fish would stagger the times of the year they fed heavily so I wouldn't have to make all these hard choices about which fish to target.

[cjac]

The other upside to a buzzbait in the Fall is if it's a little cold out you are only dealing with one stout hook on a wire shank vs. 2 trebs on a WTD bait swinging 6 sharp little hooks around your hands. Dexterity drops as the temp drops.

Not that I'm speaking from a bad experience or anything......