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    Buzzbaits produce savage top water strikes from bass that actually seem to be annoyed by the disturbance created by the bait.  Buzzbaits are available in many styles and designs.  

• straight shaft buzzbaits:  Very similar in design to a spinnerbait, buzzbaits offer a skirted painted jig head, an upturned hook, an overhead rotating blade, and often some sort of soft plastic trailer attached to a wire frame.  Blade sizes vary and are selected to match fishing conditions.  Blades may spin clockwise (cw) and counter clockwise (ccw).  The counter clockwise blade starts spinning immediately and allows the angler to retrieve a buzzbait much more slowly while still remaining on the surface.  Most store bought buzzbaits will spin clockwise and will sink if not retrieved immediately after they touch the water.

• buzzbaits with a clacker: This buzzbait is designed with a small triangular piece of aluminum attached on the wire directly behind the blade.  As the blade rotates, it continually strikes the clacker and creates a much louder sound as the bait is retrieved.  A buzzbait with a clacker is popular with anglers fishing in dirty water and are used quite often for night fishing as well.  The different sound created by the addition of a clacker may also provoke strikes by fish seemingly conditioned to the less noisey standard buzzbait offerings.

• buzzbaits with a plastic trailer:  Another buzzbait option is a buzzbait built without a skirt.  The angler adds a soft plastic trailer to the skirtless jig head.  Popular soft plastic choices include a frog body or a small paddletail swim bait.