[Spider Crack]

For a few years I've been ordering parts and building my own buzz baits. Simple to do and saves me a few bucks, especially once you've invested in the rivets, beads, skirts, etc. Here's my most recent variation: using a plastic body instead of a skirt, thinking the plastic body gives the lure a little different and perhaps smaller visual profile in the water. It also adds a bit more weight to the lure, making it easier to cast longer, and it seems to reduce the tendency of the bait to "helicopter" in flight and reduce casting distance. Also I crimp down the rivets -- put the front one way up the wire, as it seems to make it easier to remove grass/weeds, and the fixed rear one causes a noticeable "squeak" as the blade rubs against it on retrieve. I use a smaller drill bit than normal to drill two holes in each side of the blade instead of one, which seems to increase the gurgling sounds the blades make as they rotate in the water on retrieve, and it seems to help the lure stay on the surface on retrieve as well. The plastic body is actually some model of Saltwater Assassin I bought on clearance years ago -- may not be available any more, but I have an entire bag. Determined that a paddle or curly tail caused more resistance than I wanted and hinders the lure from staying on the surface. I consider a trailer hook essential. I use sections of plastic tubing to secure the trailer hook; it keeps it from working itself back over the barb of the main body hook.

Would be interested in seeing other buzz bait mods.

photo below -- apologies for the fuzziness, phone camera doesn't focus well this close.

// joel

 

[spidey]

neat how much did it cost for you to build? Were did ya get the wire and other materials? one of fav buzz just broke at the part that goes around the wire so no longer spins. Gonna see if guy I got it from will replace it it tossed furthest of any I have purchased and seems to tsya on top for a very slow retrieve. Would be neat to build my own however

 

[Spider Crack]

Last time I ordered parts, I got them from Jann's Netscraft, but I think there are multiple places online now (Lure Parts Online, Barlow's Tackle, etc.). Seems like last time I did the math, it costs me something like $1.50-2 apiece to make my own -- but prices have gone up, so you might be looking at more like $3 each. Since the rivets and beads come in 100 packs, you don't have to buy those every time. Then if you use plastics instead of skirts, you might save a little there (good skirts have gotten expensive). You just need a good pair of pliers to bend the wire end after you've slipped on the beads, rivets and blade. (I didn't include the price of trailer hooks and plastic tubing.)

Details of my last order:

 

[Spider Crack]

Some good stuff in this video -- may have been where I got the idea for using a plastic bait over a skirt. Also note the cool tip about using a hole punch to cut out round plastic sections from plastic lids to secure your trailer hook.

[video]http://www.wired2fish.com/6-simple-buzzbait-tweaks/[/video]

 

[ChltBnks]

I will have to try that coffee lid trick instead of tubing just for the fun of it.

 

[Neilslure]

Be careful using plastic worms for a trailer hook keeper, buddy of mine watched a co-angler give away a tournament win by losing several big fish when his trailer hook came off. They easily slide and rip on a worm hook, a spinnerbait hook isnt much different.

I know a guy who zip ties his buzzbaits to the roof rack on his SUV for about a week to break the blades in and make them squeak more.

 

[ChltBnks]

I use fish tank or model car gas lines to hold the trailer hook and only crush the barb on the trailer.

 

[Spider Crack]

may be hard to tell from photo, but using a section of plastic tubing to hold trailer hook on main buzzbait hook. one downside of using a plastic body is that when you need to change it (e.g., tail gets torn off), you have to pull of the trailer hook as well. i almost have to cut it off as it's difficult to work it back over the barb of the main hook. but i like this stiff tubing more than the rubber tubing -- think it reduces odds of trailer hook ever coming off.

gotta try the hole punch/plastic lid trick (i.e., punch out plastic circles w/hole punch and push those over main hook's barb to secure trailer).

apologies if we've mis-communicated about something here re: trailer hook.

// joel

 

[Spider Crack]

i think i got my tubing from the aquarium supplies in wally world -- narrow diameter and stiff.

you're a braver man than me to push down the barb on that trailer hook! i throw 'em all back anyway, but it's common to find i've barely lip-hooked a fish with the trailer hook. worry that i'd lose too many fish without that barb.

i know some on the forum secure their trailers so they don't swing freely, but i'm (in this very specific context, mind you) a free-swinger (!). push the trailer over the barb, then the section of tubing next to leave the hook swinging free.

 

[ChltBnks]

apologies if we've mis-communicated about something here re: trailer hook.

// joel

I don't think there was any mis-communication by anybody. Different strokes for different strokes. Spent worms, cheap rubber hose, good plastic, or coffee lids; that is what this forum is for, an exchange of ideas. There is no such thing as a dumb question or idea, there are only dumb answers. And I should know.

 

[Spider Crack]

no worries at all re: mis-communication. was responding to Neilslure comment re: "Be careful using plastic worms for a trailer hook keeper..." -- as I feared I hadn't explained myself well about how I secured the trailer hook.

 

[ChltBnks]

I am just a pond hopper so it is more important the fish be there next week than landing one today so I crush all the barbs right away whenever I get lures or hooks.

 

[Fish Whisperer]

I've never seen the plastic dot trailer hook keeper trick. That's pretty slick. I too like my trailer to swing free, but when I use the tubing, it often works up towards the skirt and flips around. This happens more on my spinnerbaits and is very annoying. Using a small plastic dot from a hole punch sounds like the ticket. Going that route, it would definitely swing free.

I have never tried a plastic trailer. I suppose a fluke or fluke jr would be a decent trailer. May have to try this next time I'm out, which will likely be the riverbassin tourney!

 

[spidey]

One guy told me use thin straws. I just bought trailer hooks with the little sleeves on them. So e of the buzz baits I bought had trailer already attached. I throw a trailer sometimes and others not. Been lucky to avoid hang ups but my new bank spot has a nice 180 degree free area so I am starting to trust using trailer more. The two misses last night had trailer tonight landed all three hits no trailer but got my fav buzz fixed at bait shop he put on a new blade for me and I drilled holes to match original

 

[Nat's Dad]

I only have a few of these left and wish I could figure out who made them but they are by far the best things to keep a trailer hook on with. They are very small, real hard clear plastic and once on will not come off and they let the hook swing free and do not interfere with the bait running true. bottom of page in link http://advancedangler.com/?p=6965

If anyone knows the brand please say!

 

[ChltBnks]

I know they come on the KVD spinners but can't find them anywhere as a separate item. The link on spinner baits is fantastic. I cut/paste it to my log book notes section.

 

[Nat's Dad]

I thought they might be sold by Strike King. The ones I bought came with hooks and they were red hooks if I'm remembering right.

 

[RouseD]

Lots of learning on buzz baits. They are lures that I have caught bass on, but just never stuck with them.

 

[Spider Crack]

i know those clear plastic Thingies you're talking about, Nat's Dad. I'd buy 'em if I could find 'em. I've never seen anything available that secures a trailer hook as well as those. Only issue is they are bit tough to actually push over the barb of the main hook, but that's why they hold/secure the trailer so well.

 

[Spider Crack]

Took me a while to find this old thread, but user Handyhands started a good thread back in 2008 on buzzbait techniques -- worth a review:

http://www.ncangler.com/forums/threads/8167-Just-sharing-a-techniqe