I’ve always found it rather fascinating how intense some anglers get with their buzzbaits. I’m certainly not saying there’s anything wrong with it but man, I just don’t go crazy when it comes to choosing ‘em and modifying them. There are a lot of buzzbaits out there that’ll nearly cost you $20 but if I had to choose one to throw every day, I’d honestly probably go with the Strike King Buzz King. It only costs $4.99 and it does every single thing I need a buzzbait to do.
Do not let the low price tag fool you on this one. There’s nothing too fancy that’s going to blow you away but it’s a dang fish catcher and you can load up on ‘em for next to nothing.
The Strike King Buzz King Buzzbait can be retrieved very slowly
This is a big sticking point for me and likely millions of other bass anglers out there: It’s great if you can chuck a buzzbait a mile but if it takes you several feet to get the thing on top of the water, it kind of eliminates the advantage of its castability. The Strike King Buzz King, however, does not have that problem whatsoever.
I’ve always loved how this old-school buzzbait casts. Of course, due to the large tri-wing blade, you’ll hear it hum as it flies through the air, but it’s also aerodynamic enough to maintain very impressive casting distance. I’ve tested a lot of buzzbaits over the years that feel like you’re casting a coffee can lid which is incredibly annoying after a while. I use a buzzbait to cover water quickly and if I can’t cast it a good distance, I don’t really care to fish with it.
Thankfully, this particular buzzbait casts with ease whether you’re making long overhand casts or short, target-oriented casts in skinny water.
Once it hits the water, it only takes a crank or two of your reel handle to get it to the surface and start spitting and spraying water all over the place. If you’d like to make it even more buoyant, I’d encourage you to try putting a soft-plastic trailer on the back of it. This buzzbait doesn’t come with a hook keeper, so make sure to use a little super glue on the nose of the bait to ensure it doesn’t slide down the shank of the hook.
Quality hook for braided line
People have all kinds of preferences for line selection when it comes to buzzbait fishing. I’m pretty simple on this subject: I use 50- to 65-pound braided line because I like throwing my buzzbaits on the perimeter of thick vegetation. The problem is, however, is that a lot of buzzbait hooks are so sharp that they’re actually too thin. So when you execute a huge hook set with no-stretch braided line, you can easily bend or warp the hook which ruins your chances of landing that bass.
I’m really pleased with this hook, however. It’s super sharp and because I rarely use a trailer hook on my buzzbaits, that’s a big deal to me. It’s also thick enough so it can hold up to me yanking a bass out of shoreline cover with heavy line. It’s tough for me to believe sometimes that this buzzbait is available at such a great price but sure enough, it’s a dang good option for anglers of all skill levels.
It will stand the test of time
Buzzbait fishing can get pretty irritating at times because if you’re using a thin-wire buzzbait, you’re going to spend way too much time reshaping and bending your jacked-up lure more than you will casting. When a nice bass hits a lot of these new-age jerkbaits, it can tear ‘em up in a heartbeat.
Me? I don’t like messing around with tackle on the water; I save that for my shop. When I get to go fishing, I want to make as many casts as possible. The Buzz King helps me do this when I’m chucking a buzzbait around. I can catch a pile of bass on this particular buzzbait before I have to re-tune it or anything of the sort. Again, for such an awesome price, this durability is incredibly tough to beat.
The bottom line
If you’re indecisive about which buzzbait to try or buy next, I would urge you to grab a few of these. They may not jump off the shelf at you but by gosh, they’re going to catch a bunch of bass without tearing to pieces. While your buddies empty their wallets for all the super expensive options out there… tie on this sucker and start catching fish.
