Arkansas pro Scott Rook, who fishes the Bassmaster Elite Series, is a buzzbait junkie. There's not much he'd rather do than catch a buzzbait bass, and it's his assertion that anglers just don't throw it enough, or when they do, they often abandon it too soon.

"I love it," he said. "I don't get to throw it as often as I used to. We just don't go places anymore that we throw a buzzbait much.

"But I caught a lot at Grand Lake this year on a buzzbait. I started every morning with a limit on it. I throw it all day long, especially at home on the Arkansas River. When most people put down the buzzbait is when I pick it up."

He added that he often catches 3- and 4-pound buzzbait fish "in the middle of a bright, sunny day" over shallow cover like emergent grass or underwater rocks. Although he could get more bites on another bait, he feels that buzzbait fish run larger on average.

"I'll go in behind guys who are flipping, throw a buzzbait and catch fish (they missed)," he noted. "I think I just get a reaction bite out of some of those big fish with a buzzbait."

The bonus, he said, is that if you at least try it everywhere you go, eventually you'll find the weird occasion when it works, and you'll be the only one who knows it. He did that very same thing during his sophomore season.

"In my second year (as a pro) I was fishing Lake of the Ozarks in November, and it was snowing," he said. "It was 30 degrees out and the water was 40 degrees. Most people wouldn't think to pick up a buzzbait, but I did and they were just killing it. I finished 3rd with something like 60 pounds over 3 days."

Not All the Same

According to Rook, if you own just one or two types of buzzbaits, you've missed out on a lot of bass.

"There are so many types available now," he said. "They make two- and three-bladed ones, metal and plastic blades, double-blade arm types, kinds with clackers, and some where the blades tick the leadhead body.

"You can get a balanced blade or an off-balance blade like on a Lunker Lure. If I'm on buzzbait fish, I keep changing until I find the one they like best.

"You have to experiment," he added. "A lot of people will just tie on a buzzbait and start down the bank. If they don't get many bites – because they're throwing the wrong bait or maybe the wrong color – they'll get just a few blowups and decide (the fish) aren't on a buzzbait bite."

If he's practicing and getting blowups, he'll keep throwing it and begin to tweak things. How the fish take the various models tell him a lot about what they want.

For example, if the fish are taking the buzzers deeper and more solidly, he believes he's on the right track. Missed strikes, or fish hooked just barely on the trailer hook, tells him something's not quite right yet.

He then varies his retrieve speed, blade style, size, and color.

"I don't get carried away with color, though," he noted. "I like a white or black, or maybe a white/chartreuse – mainly a light or dark skirt. And I always use a trailer hook."

He doesn't use fluorocarbon line because it sinks and he wants the buzzbait to run high. His typical line choice is 17- or 20-pound Berkley Trilene XT mono, but he'll sometimes go to braided line if he's fishing thick grass. "The mono has too much stretch to pull them out when they pull the bait down in the grass," he said.

He most often throws a 3/8-ounce buzzbait, but frequently tosses a 1/4-ounce model and sometimes a heavier 1/2-ounce version.

Buzzbait Mods

Rook seldom uses a buzzbait just as it comes out of the package. "I bend the wire out so the body and skirt are farther down in the water," he said. That makes it easier for the fish to key on where the hook is, rather than the blade, he reasoned.

"Sometimes a plastic blade can be real effective when they don't want it noisy," he added. "But a lot of times I want it to make more noise so I get it to squeak."

Too much of a good thing isn't always so good, though.

"Here's a funny story for you," he said. "I had a brand new buzzbait and I took an air compressor and used it to spin the blade until I got it squeaking real good. On the way to the lake, I rolled the window down and held it out the window just to listen to it.

"It was awesome – just perfect." But the wear on the wire took its toll. "The blade broke off and I never made a cast with it."

Notable

> Rook has had good buzzbait luck with a number of brands, including Lunker Lure and War Eagle, both of which sport an off-balance blade. He said that Chatterbuzz and Hydrilla-Gorilla both make one with a flat head, which allows for a slower retrieve, and the blade knocks against the lead body.