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Deps Buzzjet

Imported by:
Optimum Bait Company
Temecula, California
www.optimumbaits.com

By Jimmy Fee

Every year, more anglers are discovering the pleasure of targeting largemouth bass after sundown. Lake traffic drops off substantially when the light grows dim, and the fish become much more aggressive, roaming away from structure to hunt down a meal. Night presents a number of unique challenges for anglers, however. With darkness limiting vision, fishermen must rely on their other senses to catch fish, namely hearing and touch.

Interestingly enough, largemouths also rely on these senses to hunt after sundown. Since the darkness prevents them from hunting baitfish by sight alone, they rely on sound and vibrations transmitted through the water and picked up by their lateral line system. Therefore, when selecting a lure, nocturnal anglers want something that is going to make noise and create a large disturbance as it moves through the water – and there may be no lure that gives off more noise and vibration than the Deps Buzzjet.

The mind behind the Buzzjet is Kazumasa Okumura, a passionate big bass hunter and founder of Deps, a Japanese lure company. Prior to designing the Buzzjet, Okumura designed a wide-bodied deep-running crankbait, and he wanted to bring that profile and strong vibrating action to a surface lure. The idea was to create a lure that left a huge wake on the surface to attract fish from long distances. To do this, Okumura merged the vibrations created by a large-bodied crankbait with the surface commotion created by a classic propeller bait.

Finding just the right propeller was one of the greatest challenges for Okumura. He made numerous prototypes, each with a different prop, as he looked for the one that would create the largest disturbance on the surface. The winner was an off-center prop that was positioned in such a way that it hits the hook as it turns. Because it is off-center, the prop stays in constant motion as the lure is retrieved.

The resulting Deps Buzzjet looks like a cross between a classic propeller bait and a shallow-running crankbait. The lures are 4 inches long, weigh 1 ounce, and feature a weight-transfer system that adds to both the lure’s casting distance and action. Colors run the gamut from realistic bluegill patterns to jet black, but for anglers looking to throw these lures after nightfall, the darker lures will present a more obvious profile to the fish lurking below. The lure’s lip curves sharply downward at the tip, causing the bait to push water as it is retrieved and allowing it to make a massive wake on the surface. Even on the darkest of nights, any bass in the vicinity is able to track down the Buzzjet, and when dealing with aggressive nighttime largemouths, getting the fish’s attention is 90% of the battle.

A year after its introduction in Japan in 2003, the Buzzjet was voted Japan’s best hardbait by the readers of the Japanese publication Lure Magazine. Part of the reason for the lure’s popularity is undoubtedly the way that even novice anglers can work it in a way that will catch fish. Matt Paino of Optimum Lure Company, which handles Deps lures on this side of the Pacific Ocean, says all you need to do to catch fish on a Buzzjet is to cast it out, hold the rod at 10 or 11 o’clock and reel steadily with a slow retrieve. Anglers can also get creative and jerk the rod tip and cause the Buzzjet to dive under the surface. The lure can also be fished with a walk-the-dog retrieve, throughout which the propeller will continue to spin.

In the fall of 2005, the lure was first marketed in the U.S., and it caught on quickly with tournament anglers and big bass hunters. One suggestion many stateside anglers had for the Buzzjet was more colors to match forage found here. In the summer of 2010, Deps released the Buzzjet in four new colors that represent the shad and herring that largemouths feast on in many lakes throughout the United States.

The best tackle to use with the Buzzjet is heavy baitcasting equipment capable of casting the 1-ounce lures. Since the lures come with a premium price tag, many anglers use heavy, 30- to 50-pound-test braided line to avoid breaking off the lure in heavy cover and to help subdue any trophy-sized largemouths that attack the bait.

And the Buzzjet does attract trophy bass. Designed in Japan where fishermen are constantly looking for new ways to dupe largemouths that have seen it all, this bait takes the complete opposite approach of the finesse tactics that are usually required to fool pressured fish. One of the Buzzjet’s testing grounds was the famous Lake Biwa in Japan, where the world record for largemouth bass was tied in July 2009. Fishing at night with the Buzzjet is very popular on Lake Biwa, just as it is here in the Northeast, and Paino said the lure can be used effectively, day or night, from the time bass have completed spawning all the way through late fall.