A buzzbait is one of the longest standing and best topwater lures of all-time in bass fishing. Something about a prop churning water across the surface has the innate ability to elicit violent blowups from the bass beneath. There are hundreds of these baits on the market now. We’ve sampled several over the years, and we selected several we think are the best buzzbaits for bass fishing. We factored build, materials, sound, castability, price, availability, color options and more in making our decisions on these. And we also include a special section of our Reader Picks in this round-up as well.
OUR PICKS FOR BEST BUZZBAITS FOR 2023
- BEST OVERALL – Lunker Lure Buzzbait [Buy Now]
- BEST FINESSE – Accent Jacob Wheeler Finesse Buzzbait [Buy Now]
- BEST TOAD BUZZ – Dirty Jigs Scott Canterbury Pro Buzz Buzzbait [Buy Now]
- BEST DOUBLE PROP – TrueSouth V-Twin Buzzbait [Buy Now]
- BEST VALUE BUZZBAIT – War Eagle Buzzbait [Buy Now]
- BEST FINESSE CLACKER – Damiki MTB Noisy Buzzbait [Buy Now]
- BEST HYBRID BUZZBAIT – River2Sea Opening Bell [Buy Now]
BEST OVERALL – THE LUNKER LURE BUZZBAIT
It’s hard not to pay homage to this OG of the buzzbait game. Introduced back in 1976, The Original Lunker Lure was the first ever bait of its kind. This creation spawned a whole genre of baits like it, and even served as inspiration for other iconic baits like the River2Sea Whopper Plopper.
Offering an affordable bait that creates a ton of chaos along the surface, the Lunker Lure is still the gold standard of buzzbaits today. The living rubber skirt, perfectly pitched blade and strong hook complete the package. And the subtle little squeak created by the blade spinning on the shaft is the cherry on top. This 5-dollar topwater is one that every angler should have in their tackle box.
BEST FINESSE – ACCENT JACOB WHEELER FINESSE BUZZBAIT
A finesse buzzbait can be characterized by the size of its blade and its weight, typically coming in at around 1/4 ounce or less. The Accent Jacob Wheeler Finesse Buzzbait weighs just a touch more than that at 5/16 of an ounce. But this little nugget still stands out in the genre for its upturned hook and solid build on a smaller frame.
Spinning gear is necessary for throwing some of the lighter finesse buzzbaits, but this one works well on a baitcaster. The smaller blade and profile of a finesse buzzbait is useful when the fish are a little more finicky, a little smaller on average or when the baitfish in the area are smaller. This makes them great for colder water situations, fall fishing and really anytime the bass won’t quite commit to a bigger topwater bait.
BEST TOAD TOTER – DIRTY JIGS PRO BUZZ BUZZBAIT
Anglers in the know have been peeling skirts off buzzbaits and exchanging them for soft plastics for decades. But this niche technique became a mainstream staple a few years ago, when anglers by the masses became aware of one primary element this combination added to their arsenal— the ability to skip a buzzbait under cover. Skirtless buzzbaits trailed with soft plastic toads are among the easiest of all baits to skip, and are certainly the easiest to do so with of all topwaters.
Though this bait doesn’t come prepackaged with soft plastic lures like some other top contenders do, its still the best for pairing with the soft plastic of your choice. This lure is designed to where the whole lead head will tuck inside of your toad or other soft plastic, offering a sleek design and one that sheds debris well. The Dirty Jigs Pro Buzz is available in 1/4, 3/8 and 1/2 ounce and a price point of $5.99.
BEST DOUBLE PROP – TRUE SOUTH V-TWIN BUZZBAIT
Double-prop buzzbaits are one of the subsets of the buzzbait genre, and the name explains the primary difference— these baits have two props in place of one. Dual props allow your buzzbaits to do a few things better than a single prop does. They create more resistance, which allows you to fish them slower. They create more commotion, which draws fish in from farther. And having two props in place of one actually helps these baits track better, meaning they run straight as opposed to pulling left or right like most single prop buzzbaits have a tendency to do.
One thing not all double-prop buzzbaits have in common is the spacing of their blades. Some are spread out further, allowing them to spin freely, unencumbered by one another. Others are built in such a way that the blades actually collide with one another on the retrieve. The True South V-Twin is a great example of the latter, while also having the ability to slowly crawl along the surface, run straight and create a lot of noise.
BEST VALUE – WAR EAGLE BUZZBAIT
The War Eagle is a simple, well-made buzzbait that produces at a great price of $5.99. This is a strong buzzbait. We fish this one on braid a lot and you can pull the skirt off easy and throw on a toad and skip it under docks. They make one for toads but this one is the one we’ve done double duty with forever. We throw black a lot but we also like the red head white skirt and prism blade option a lot. Jason has several of these from 8-9 years ago that he just keeps sharpening the hooks on and using over and over because they work so well.
BEST FINESSE CLACKER – Damiki MTB Noisy Buzzbait
Another way to up the audio of these already noisy baits is to add a clacker. This can be done by incorporating a bead or flap of metal to the prop arm of the buzzbait, placing something solid in the path of the spinning prop. There are lots of unique options in this genre, some with slower methodical knocks and some with a finessier clicking sound. The Damiki MTB Noisy Buzzbait falls into the middle of this spectrum, making it the ideal choice most of the time.
Using a small metal bead and a bent wire harness, Damiki added a crisp clack to this already stellar squeaky buzzbait. The oddly shaped, M-Hull head design helps this bait track a little truer, which creates a more consistent presentation when fishing alongside docks and other cover. The MTB Noisy Buzzbait comes in 3/8 and 1/2 ounce and retails for a little less than 9 bucks.
BEST HYBRID BUZZBAIT – River2Sea Opening Bell Buzzbait
Now there are some really unique creations that come to market when lure designers try to reimagine the wheel. Take the River2Sea Opening Bell Buzzbait for example. This bait has more going on than a Buc-ee’s. (If that reference doesn’t make since, you really have to schedule a visit to the only place on earth where you can buy jerky by the pound and a baby shower gift in one outing.)
With a nod to their revolutionary Whopper Plopper, River2Sea used a hard plastic body to create an inline buzzbait with a skirt on the back, a clacker on the front, a massive main hook and an optional treble hook that can be attached to the belly of the bait. A truly unique bait, this is the best alternative design to a buzzbait that we’ve seen in recent years, and perhaps ever.
READERS’ CHOICES FOR BEST BUZZBAITS
We polled our community on Facebook and asked for everyone’s favorite buzzbaits. We got hundreds of responses but the overwhelming majority of responses came down to three buzzbaits. Those three reader picks for buzzbaits included the following:
- The Megastrike Cavitron Buzzbait
- The Original Boogerman Buzzbait
- The Crock-O-Gator Head Knocker Buzzbait
Megastrike Cavitron Buzzbait
The Cavitron has been a staple among avid buzzbait anglers for many years. The unique arm bend, the holes in the blade, and the planing head make this a great running, great sounding and most importantly great fish attracting and catching buzzbait. The oxbowed bend in the arm lets the buzzbait body ride down in the water better which keeps the bait keeled better and results in better hookups. It has a Mustad Ultrapoint hook for great penetration. It comes in 1/4, 3/8 and 1/2 ounce sizes with unique colors like our personal favorite the red blade, chart white skirt.
The planing head means it starts running perfectly as soon as you engage the reel. Which is why a lot of anglers love this buzzbait. It’s very easy to fish and you don’t fight it being under water and running on its side and taking too long to start buzzing. And the four holes are functional in that they remove blade resistance which means you can fish this buzzbait a lot slower than most models. We are especially fond of the clacking model. And they are reasonably priced at $8.99.
Boogerman Buzzbait
The Boogerman Buzzbait was one of the original head knocker buzzbaits made to add a little ticking to a good squealing buzzbait with a good design. Boogerman’s signature keeled head shape and premium buzz blade, the Boogerman Buzzbait creates a loud clacking noise by forcing the blade to make contact with the head on every rotation. The beauty of this design is that with a slide upward bend you can remove the clacker and make it a standard buzzbait. The ability to have a clacker or original buzzbait is very attractive in this design.
The Boogerman Buzzbait also uses a sharp long-shank hook for better hookups and fewer short strikes. The wire bait keeper rounds out this buzzbait for adding and holding trailers easily. The Boogerman Buzzbait is on the high end of prices at $11.99 but it’s still one of the staples in buzzbait fishing.
Crock-O-Gator Head Knocker Buzzbait
The Crock-O-Gator is an affordable option that a lot of anglers like for it’s price and it’s diminutive profile. The skirt is slicked back and the head is thin. This is another head knocking buzzbait. The wire on the Crock-O-Gator is thinner which allows for easy adjustment to go from clacking to quiet buzz. It does need to be adjusted a little more and will get bent when fish hook up. But it’s a fish catcher for sure with it’s planing head, knocker option, twisted line tie and sharp hook. It comes in 3 sizes and 3 colors. It’s a simple, straight forward buzzbait that a lot of anglers like for $6.69.
