Any Silver Buddy fans?

[RedAllison]

Anybody use Silver Buddy's (or the copies like the LazerBlades from BPS) in the winter time?

I grew up watching Billy Westmorland wear the giant smallies out with them at lakes all over TN (and anywhere else they lived) but I never actually chunked one until a club tournament on Wilson Lake back in Feb 2007. We woke up that morning in Florence, AL with about 2" of snow on the boats & and it was still snowing. It likewise was my first time on Wilson despite having been on Pickwick since I was a kid. Anyway it was 20something degrees at blastoff and my partner felt pretty sure of our chances, he pointed at a creek across the lake and said, "Show me what this red rocket will do!" We were in my old XB2003/225SS, lol there was "prospect" with a long, black Triton TR-22 with a 300Merc sittin beside me. We SMOKE CHECKED that ol Triton, I mean run off over the horizon out of sight of him!  (He was like  at the ramp during weigh-in!)

So anyway we got across the lake and went up into the creek to the first big point that had a bluff behind it. My partner had already gave me some Lazerblades to tie on the previous night, I had them tied up and ready on one of my beloved TN handle spinnin rods! (Just like Billy W. said to decades ago.)  So anyway, by 9am we were culling fish!  We fished that ol point and bluff until about noon and pretty much figured with had the tourney won under such conditions but we didn't have anything over 3# so we went lookin for some anchors but never added to the bag. (Didn't matter, we had the only limit in the whole weigh-in and won it by a large margin.) 

Since that day of "supreme confidence" I've since added ALOT of Silver Buddy's and copies to the my winter box and have narrowed down the very rig I like throwing them on. It's a 6' Med. Browning Syntec IM6 (full graphite handle) with a Shimano Spirex 2500 and 8# BPS Excel clear/blue line on it. (I'd like to fish the clear but can't see it as well as the clear/blue) I actually prefer my smaller, 1/4oz actual Silvery Buddy's that I bought a bunch of after finding them online a few years ago. The only modification I make is I found that by cutting the front most hook off the front treble, that eliminates 90% of the snags. Fish still hook up with no problem but cutting the front hook off of that front treble allows the bait to fall and lay down on the bottom without hanging up. (Also comes thru structure better than you'd expect but it's certainly no TX rig!) I regularly chunk it on gravel banks, bluffs and points. Let it fall straight to the bottom then bounce and hope it on tight line like you would a TX rig or jigNpig. And yes, the majority of the bites come on the fall. That is where that graphite handle really comes in transmitting the taps and of course you REALLY gotta be a line watcher as well.

Surprisingly alot of folks just don't fish these ol baits alot anymore. I've routinely gone behind folks and caught fish with these baits. They get popped in the head all winter long with small plastics and jigs but they don't seem to hesitate smashing a falling blade bait in their face! 

[Jimmy RodandReel]

Never leave home without them......We have caught a lot of fish on them in the summer months too.   Anytime or place you can throw a rattletrap, a SB will work. 


But don't bother trying it on the ledges on Ky lake........They only bite my baits. 

[n2ratfishin]

I have some in the boat.  They work year round. 

[Eric Low]

Fish the buddy a lot 32-50 degrees I have used a lot of set ups for them but have settled on a 7'6" medium weight fast spinning rod with 15 lb braid with a 15 lb floro leader ......usually a 3/4 oz original silver buddy in silver or gold.  The relatively heavy floro gets stiff in the cold so you will have less hang ups with hooks getting tangled in your line and better for around rock and ledge.  Play around with the retrieve a lot of times less is more.

[Curt]

Have a few of them but have never really had situations where they would work for me. The vast majority of the lakes I fish have weed-covered bottoms, so they tend to get pretty fouled up with the typical lift and drop retrieve.

[Wizard]

Red, I fished with Billy a couple of times. It was hair jigs, bass magnet crank and Silver Buddies. He had tremendous feel with those light weight hair jigs. Not many people I fished with can still fish and most are below ground. A lot of the LOZ guys are leaving because of huge waves, cruisers and cold weather. The older you get, the harder it is to fish from a bass boat.