Spinnerbaits, Buzzbaits: Grubs, Swimbaits and Skirtless, Oh My
Most people keep their spinnerbaits and buzzbaits stock and put on different color skirts. Who’s to say that they need a skirt at all?
After all, casting a skirtless buzz bait leads to less backlashes in windy weather and sometimes bass may want a different profile.
Wired2fish recently did a great article on this. Check it out!
Spinnerbaits and Buzzbaits: Grubs, Swimbaits and Skirtless
The pressure fish see from anglers, boat traffic, weather conditions and other variables changes their behavior as each season progresses. The more worms and crankbaits they see pass in front of their nose, the more they resist their impulses and ignore them. The profile of a lure is the easiest thing for bass to condition to. And it can be the easiest thing for an angler to change to get more bites.
In recent years, we’ve seen anglers like Bryan Thrift pull the skirts off these type baits and catch a lot of bass from areas other anglers have recently fished. He’s known to put a bait like a Zoom Horny Toad on a buzzbait to catch bass. I watched him throwing it on Pickwick and also in the Forrest Wood Cup on the Three Rivers in Pittsburgh to catch some key fish.
We’ve experimented with the profile changes and have had a lot success changing out spinnerbait skirts for grubs and swimbaits, Chatterbaits with minnow type bodies and buzzbaits with grubs and soft plastic toads. The change in profiles gives the bait a different action and appearance in the water. Makes them easier to cast to tight targets or skip under cover. Source
Here’s some interesting mods to give you some ideas of what you can do!
https://youtu.be/ciJ0P2kZI1Y
I have occasionally put a fluke or grub on my spinnerbaits when the skirt got shredded or the rubber band deteriorated and it fell off. You may want to use this as a strategy to catch more smallies.
Give these modifications a try. This can be a way to give new life to your old buzzbaits and spinnerbaits. You may find that these changes help you catch more smallmouth bass and have an easier time casting these baits in the wind.
Any comments, put them below!!