ADDING COLOR
You wouldn't think that color in a bait that moves so quickly and makes so much noise would be critical. But both Vaughan and Freire made essentially the same choice of skirt color for their buzzbait fishing. The light colors they selected are highly popular where the prime bass forage are silversides, threadfin shad or gizzard shad.

"Normally, I will fish buzzbaits with a white or white and blue skirt, but with the smallmouth on Havasu, I find a chartreuse/white skirt seems to work better. They really like bright colors," Vaughan said. Freire agreed, saying he normally chooses all white, or white and chartreuse for his buzzbait fishing. These colors seem to do a good job of mimicking the body of a threadfin shad.

You can fiddle with skirt and blade colors to a degree. A bunch of nearly identical buzzbaits can be customized with some metallic tape (you'll find it in automotive stores) with different colors and patterns. The blade on a buzzbait can't be rigged with a snap as it can on a spinnerbait, but you can build or buy several identical buzzbaits with different blade colors, and then swap skirts and trailers around to match the conditions you're fishing.

One thing you should consider is adding a stinger hook when fishing open water or above weed beds. Bass often strike short on buzzbaits, possibly because of the retrieve speeds, and a stinger hook gives you just a bit more length behind the skirt to get the point into the bass.

You can also apply a bit of prismatic tape or try your hand with a paintbrush on the blades if you really want to get creative. Many pro anglers tend to prefer dull, solid skirt colors and muted blades for night or fishing in low light, saving their flash and glitter for daytime use. Manny Freire, however, doesn't see a need for going to black or dark colors after dark. "I even use those light colors at night," Freire said. "I don't think you have to use a black skirt or blades on a buzzbait after dark. I know everybody says to use black, but white or white and blue seems to work just fine for me."

In addition to being a good bait for heavy weed and surface cover, it's also a good night or low-light bait. Bass come shallow to search for food during low-light periods, and the noise from a buzzbait makes it very easy for them to find. It sends out a whole range of sounds, from low-frequency vibrations to metallic clicks. This is especially true of some buzzbait designs that have additional small blades positioned so the main blades strike them on each revolution. This clicking noise adds to the general racket and seems to irritate bass even more than the roaring caused by the big blades themselves.