Entry 281-3
Mark Davis: My Favorite Bass Techniques
Editor’s Note: Mark Davis of Mt. Ida, Arkansas, has competed in 13 Classics and has won the Angle-of-the-Year title three times. He’s also the only angler to win BASS Angler of the Year and the Bassmaster Classic in the same year (1995). He’s one of the most-consistent fishermen on the BASS circuit. This week we’ve asked Mark to tell us his five-favorite tactics for taking bass. He says, “That’s like asking me about my five-favorite flavors of ice cream. I like them all.”
Part 3: Buzz ‘em Up
Question: Mark, what’s your third-favorite tactic to fish?
Davis: I like to buzzbait fish because I can cover a lot of water with buzzbaits. You can get a shallow-water bite, and you can quickly and easily determine what type of cover and what depth of water is holding the most bass. Once you set up a pattern, you can start reeling your buzzbait by a particular type of cover and just about call your shots. When you learn what type of structure the bass are holding on, for instance if they’re holding on the outer edges of blown-down trees, you can cast your buzzbait to the bank, start reeling it down the trunk and use your rod tip to direct the buzzbait around the limbs.
When you reach the outer limbs, you can say, “That bass ought to be there,” and just as those words come out of your mouth, many times you’ll catch a bass on the buzzbait. You can really believe for a little while that you know how to catch bass. For me there’s nothing more fun than to know ahead of time and know where the bass is going to be, and where he’s going to bite.
There aren’t many days of fishing when you can predict from where the bite will come from. However, once you set up a buzzbait pattern, you can call your shots and really feel good about your knowledge of bass fishing. I don’t believe there’s any other way of bass fishing that can make a fisherman feel better about himself than knowing when and where the bite’s going to come. You can have those kind of days when you’re buzzbait fishing. You know, we spend most of our time bass fishing, hoping we know where the bass are, and hoping they’re going to bite the bait we’re going to fish, but never knowing with any degree of certainty that what we’re hoping for is going to happen. But with buzzbait fishing, you can know where you’re going to get the bite.
My favorite buzzbait to fish is Strike King’s Premier Plus Double Take in the 1/2-ounce size. This buzzbait has two blades. I like to fish this bait on windy days, and I like to fish it around lily pads. Now there are four features you need to look for in a buzzbait. Look at the amount of noise it makes, the size of bubble trail that it leaves, the action and the color. 
I believe the Strike King Premier Plus Double Take leaves one of the best bubble trails of any spinnerbait on the market. Now what’s important about a bubble trail is I believe the bass first hears the bait, and then it starts looking for the bait. If it sees a good bubble trail, the bass can follow the bubble trial right to the bait to eat it. So, the bass doesn’t have to actually see the buzzbait first to begin to trail it.
I like the 1/2-ounce size because it casts well into the wind. I like to fish the buzzbait on 20-pound-test monofilament line. I know that many people prefer braided line, but I still use monofilament for buzzbait fishing. I like a medium-heavy 7-foot rod and a high-speed Pflueger reel to keep that buzzbait on top of the water and moving.
Contents:
- Part 1: Fishing a Wake Bait
- Part 2: Schooling Bass on Deep Structure with a Crankbait
- Part 3: Buzz ‘em Up
- Part 4: My Bread-and-Butter Technique
- Part 5: Carolina Rig the Game Hawg
