Mongo Fishing's John Carroll loves catching a buzz. More accurately, he loves catching big summer bass with a buzzbait. And like some of us learned in our 20's, there's a time and place for different types of buzzes. Okay, enough with the lazy double entendres. The point is there are many different types of buzzbaits. Certain buzzbaits perform better than others depending on conditions, region and fishery. So sit back, crack a cold one and drink in some bass fishing wisdom (sorry. Could't resist). 

Whether you're new to bass fishing or looking to smash your PB, the MONSTERBASS Regional Pro Series bass fishing subscription is designed to help you become a better angler and put you on bigger bass more often. Each month, you'll receive a carefully crafted kit of baits hand-selected for where you live and fish, that highlights bass fishing's most tried and true techniques.

See which subscription program is right for you. Use code SAVE15 at check out to get $15 off your first box!

Video transcript:

John Carroll:
Hey, what's up guys? John from Mongo Fishing. Today, I'm here on the MONSTERBASS channel to talk to you guys about something that is near and dear to my heart, and that's buzzbaits. But not buzzbaits as a whole. More specifically, when I throw a Finesse little eighth ounce buzzbait versus a loud, obnoxious clacker style buzzbait that just makes a bunch of ruckus. Because there's definitely a time and place for both of them. And so in this video, I want to talk to you guys about how I pick which one I want to throw and kind of where I want to throw it, why I want to throw it. Obviously the rods and reels, all that fun stuff. So let's get into it.

John Carroll:
All right guys. So like I said, my name is John from Mongo Fishing, and this is the MONSTERBASS channel. This channel is dedicated to make you a better bass angler or a better angler in general. We just want to make you a better fisherman. So if you are new to this channel, make sure you hit the subscribe button right down there, along with the bell notification button so you get notified every single time MONSTERBASS puts out another video. My channel, Mongo Fishing, will be linked down in the description below. I'd dig it if you came over and checked me out also. My channel is mostly tournament footage. Put the video out regardless if I do well or if I suck. I think there's learning points to be gathered. So that's what I do, but let's get into this guys. Let's talk to you about one of my absolute favorite things to throw, and that is the Finesse buzzbait.

John Carroll:
All right. So let's talk about before you even use it. So one of the very first things you want to do with any buzzbait that you buy is grab yourselves a pair of pliers, and you want to crimp this little rivet right here, crimp it in place. See how I smashed it right there? I don't want this little rivet turning. And if there's a ball between the rivet and the blade, I want to remove that ball. There should never be a ball between the rivet and the blade. The ball can go up top if you have one, but it doesn't go here. Because ultimately what you want to do is you want this blade spinning on that little crimp, building up friction, and it causes your buzzbait to get a little more squeaky. The squeakier the buzzbait, the better it is. They just get better with time. The first thing you can do to make it get better is to crimp that crimp.

John Carroll:
When do I do it? All right. So clean water, clear water, slightly stained, whatever. That's typically when I want to throw this little eighth ounce guy. If I'm in really heavy or really muddy or really heavily stained water, that I'm probably not going to throw this, not initially. I'm going to throw something that has a lot more thump and kick to it. I want to make sure these bass know where this bait is at because typically if they're in muddy water, they're going to be feeding with their lateral line, not necessarily by sight. If they're in clean water, they can feed more by sight and that's why I like to do this. I can cover a bunch of water. I can work this thing fast, find active fish.

John Carroll:
All right guys. So one benefit about using this little eighth ounce dude with a flat bottom for a trailer is that I can skip this thing really, really well. Obviously I didn't need to skip it into the tree. I don't need to skip it anywhere through here. I can just flip it through this. But having this flat bottom on the trailer, I can get it back as far back as I want it. And if I want to get it up underneath docks or brush or whatever, having this light buzzbait with a flat bottomed trailer, something that wants to get up on plane and stay up on plane. Neutrally buoyant, something like that allows this thing to sink super slow. So if I do get a backlash or something like that, I don't have to work as nearly as fast to get it out.

John Carroll:
Here's a fish.

John Carroll:
There's two.

John Carroll:
As for the trailer, I'm always going to have... Take that back. I'm almost always going to have some sort of soft plastic trailer. I don't like throwing a buzzbait when it's just the blade and a skirt. Because what I think, a couple things. One, the skirt doesn't really do much. If a bass bites it, it doesn't add any flavor. It doesn't add any bulk in his mouth. It just feels like a chunk of steel and lead. And if you have a trailer on here, he grabs onto this. It actually feels like food. They're bound to hold onto it a little bit longer. Same thing if I'm throwing a big obnoxious buzzbait, I will almost always have a trailer back there.

John Carroll:
All right. So where do I throw it? Okay. Buckbrush, exposed vegetation, submerged vegetation, docks, laydowns, riprap, shallow, basically fishing shallow. Buzzbaits are kind of snagless. They're not completely snagless, but they're design as they're coming across the surface, if they hit a log or whatever, they should skip up over top of it. Now they may lay down and catch the side. It does happen. But for the most part, they'll roll over top of it. So me personally, if I'm throwing this little eighth ounce guy, I'm doing it on a Denali AttaX, which is an all-purpose rod. It's a seven foot, I believe. Yeah. This is a seven foot two power rod, which means that it's really soft. It's actually just an all-purpose rod. It's a medium fast. It's really, really tippy, but it also bends a little bit deeper because it is a two power rod.

John Carroll:
You got to figure, this is a small buzzbait. The sugar buzz, also a small buzzbait. So I do it on 12 pound fluoro. Now I know people are going to sit there and think fluorocarbon. Top water bait, should never use fluoro on a top water because fluoro sinks. Well guys, buzzbaits sink also. They are steel and lead. There's nothing about a buzzbait that wants to float. So it doesn't matter if you're throwing it on fluoro or if you're throwing it on mono, it's still going to sink. I choose fluoro over mono because fluoro has more abrasion resistance. I will throw them occasionally on braid. However, I don't like to throw small eighth ounce buzzbaits on braid simply because they're built smaller, right? They'll break easier than a thick, big buzzbait. And so I don't want to bend out my hooks and destroy my bait just trying to get it out because I'm throwing it on 30 pound braid or whatever. If I throw it on 12 pound fluoro, it's going to... I'm not going to damage the buzzbait as much trying to get it unsnagged. If that makes sense.

John Carroll:
Every time you're fishing a buzzbait, eventually you're going to catch a big fish and it's just going to mangle this thing so bad and nothing's going to line up anymore. Stuff's going to get bent out of whack. And all you have to do is just rebend it back into position. So look at it like this, line up all your bars, make sure everything lines up perfect. If the head gets bent out of shape, then bend it back down, whatever. Super simple. It's all you have to do to get your buzzbait working again, is just line stuff back up again. And it should work perfectly fine.

John Carroll:
All right. Let's stop and talk about trailers real fast. Okay. So trailers, I like to keep it pretty simple. For this little guy, there's two primary trailers that I throw. I throw something that's cross-shaped. This is a MoTivated Fishing Revelation Craw, which is a Castaic Jerky J Swim. Little three and a half inch minnow, rig that on the buzzbait. Now it does make it so it skips a little harder, but you can get a lot more violent strikes I think on this little minnow. They seem to get it a little better. But if I'm fishing docks and stuff where I need to skip it really well, then I'm going to go with this cross-style trailer. I just think that it adds a little more bulk. I know with the flat bottom, I can skip it a lot easier than I can with this little minnow-shaped. So again, I kind of pick my trailer depending on the area that I'm fishing and what I need to do.

John Carroll:
Let's switch over to a clacking style buzzbait so I can show you the difference. All right. So this is a clacking style buzzbait. Okay. This is a Brazalo Custom Lures Bushwhacker. And I have a Zoom Horny Toad on the back. I actually have it upside down because I tore it. Trailer, same thing, some sort of craw or in this case, a toad. A minnow will also work, but this is a clacker style buzzbait. This has the aluminum blade hits a little brass bead. And so what you get is a clicking sound. So a lot more noise and you still have the bigger profile because you do have a soft plastic on the back. You can skip it, whatever. It's just like any other buzzbait. I prefer to throw these on braid just for the simple fact that I'm going to throw these in a little thicker stuff, little heavier stuff. Again, that's just a personal preference of mine.

John Carroll:
Plus the way this one particularly is designed, it drops down right here, has a dropdown. I think I lose a little bit of hook set power if I use mono or fluoro. So I like to use braid with this just to maintain a... I don't know, a little stronger hook set power. And maybe you don't want one that's clacking. So in this situation with this being a clacker, just bend the blade out just a little bit and now it's a regular buzzbait. It won't clack. And sometimes that makes a difference.

John Carroll:
There's one guys. Oh, that's a nice one. There we go. That's what I'm talking about. That's a good one right there guys. Medium, medium heavy, fast action. It's all that's needed. Like I said, the same thing I throw my buzzbaits on is the same thing I throw my swim jigs on because I'm going to have a swim jig tied on too. Always. This time of year, buzzbaits and swim jigs are always on deck. In fact, today I only have three rods with me. Two buzzbaits, one swim jig, because I know that's pretty much all I'm going to need today to catch fish. Now when a fish eats it, you got to let them take it for a second. You want to make sure you feel that fish. You don't want them to just hit it and let it go, because then you're going to swing on it and miss it every single time. But if you can keep reeling, feel the tension, then swing on it, you're going to get that fish.

John Carroll:
Now there are times that they're going to just grab the tail and rip the tail off. It happens. It is what it is. Nothing you can do about that. Can add a singer hook if you want, but that doesn't necessarily solve the problem. But seriously, just keep reeling. Let them take it under water. Feel that tension, swing hard, and you'll have them.

John Carroll:
Joe, it's a nice one.

John Carroll:
All right guys. I think I needed to call it a day. It's getting really hot. The top water bite has just kind of died off. Guys, again, if you're new to the MONSTERBASS channel, hit that subscribe button right down there, along with the bell notification buttons. You get notified every single time MONSTERBASS puts out another video. My channel, Mongo Fishing, will be linked down in the description below. I'd dig it if you came over and checked me out too. I think that is about it guys. If you have any buzzbait questions, feel free to drop them down below. Again, this is one of my absolute favorite baits to throw. Myself or one of the MONSTERBASS staff will gladly answer it. And I think that is about it guys. Again, thank you very much for watching. As always, get on the water, be safe, and go catch a monster bass.