I always go right to the middle of a lay-down, even if I have to throw over and thru a lot of limbs and stuff, because I believe my best chances of catching the biggest fish living in that tree are with that first cast. If you can get a Baby Buzzbait™ in there real quietly and gurgle it across his head the very first time, your chances are a lot better (in that shallow water situation) than if you fish it from the outside and work your way in. Reason being; the bigger fish are usually in the heaviest cover of the main branches. If you catch an average bass on the outer branches, your chance at those bigger fish are done.
My best tips for buzzing wood is to keep your buzzbait in contact with the wood. When buzzbait fishing make sure that gurgling bait bumps as much of that wood as possible. Bang your buzzbait against it and let it deflect off. When throwing this topwater bait, make sure it knocks the side of the wood. That little bump and deflection can produce a strike that you might not otherwise get without making contact with the cover.
When doing that, you need to make sure your line is strong enough for the task. Not only to fish the heavy cover but to also get that lunker bass out of the cover.
I love to focus on wood that lies horizontally in the water, especially if there’s a limited amount of horizontal cover in the area. If you’ve got a standing tree with one horizontal limb on it, key in on that limb. Bass want to orient to the horizontal part of the cover. It gives them better camouflage.
It’s crucial that you make the right Baby Buzzbait™ presentation the first time when fishing a horizontal piece of cover. I was fishing a backwater area that had a lot of lay-down logs. I knew the fish were around those logs. I was fishing a Baby Buzzbait™, and I soon noticed that I never caught a fish if I made a presentation that crossed the log. The first cast had to be made along the shady side of the log, or I wouldn’t get a strike.
The flooded brush lining the shoreline of a reservoir is a classic American bass scenario that even the most hardened pros eagerly anticipate each spring.
When the water rises enough to cover the shoreline bushes, the bass move into this freshly inundated cover, where they are accessible to topwater buzzing and remember they are very aggressive.
Best tips for buzzing wood shows that depth is a key consideration for fishing flooded brush. If you locate fish in 2 to 3 feet of water, for example, most of the active bass in that area or on that flat will be at the same depth. But, be aware that bass may move to various depths throughout the day, especially with changing weather conditions. Bass have a tendency to migrate heavily toward flooded bushes early in the morning and late in the afternoon. This makes them prime candidates for some fabulous buzz bait fishing.
It’s been my experience that the fish tend to be in tight to the brush during the midday hours, when the sun is at its brightest. They will also move out a little deeper to take advantage of any shade that’s available. Another thing to remember is that it’s not uncommon to find all of the bass positioned on one side – the same side – of the bushes. The fish may stray a few feet from the main section of the brush, but this movement is usually restricted to the low light hours, as well as cloudy conditions. Those are the times when the shade line extends farther out from the brush.
