THE BASS COLLEGE

I've just orderd the BBZ1 Jr. and am planning on using the bait on Nockamixon. I got the wicked perch do you think this is a good color for this lake? And do I fish this bait any different that the Original?

Dont know. I know that there are perch in there so it should work. Let me know how you do with it.

The Perch is a good color for most northeast lakes and reservoirs. Fish it like the original. Did you see the video? Don't try to add a lot of extra action at first. Try reeling slow and steady, then see what happens.:D

The BBZ-1 has a mechanical look to it out of the water, so when I got the lure what I really wanted to see was how it looked in the water.  My first impression -- I was impressed.  The BBZ-1 tracks perfectly straight in the water as fast as you can reel it.  When you consider how many baits there are on the market that do not swim straight, that by itself is an accomplishment.

Not only does the BBZ-1 swim true, it also swims with a realistic action at all speeds.  You can twitch the lure, rip it, or kill it and let it glide off -- in every case the BBZ-1 maintains its balance.  Surprisingly, the lure does not foul on itself very often either.  Most lip-less baits will grab the hooks if you throw too much slack in the line, but even when I tried to make the BBZ-1 foul itself, it did not.

The matte finish and large gaps between the body sections looked awkward out of the water, but in the water neither of these characteristics bothered me.  It takes some guts for a manufacturer to incorporate features in to a lure that look bad on the shelf, but good in the water.  That Spro made this leap is worth noting, and applauding.  From an appearance standpoint I also liked the fact that the BBZ-1 fins and tail are color matched to the body.  I hate when soft plastic components do not match with hardbait bodies, and was glad to see Spro get this right.

Durability wise, the BBZ-1 ranks an 8.5 out of 10 in my book.  I put 5 hours in on the fast-sink model, fishing it hard, and came away with just a few tick marks and paint scratches around the back edges of the joints.  The lure does beat on itself in the joints, but even if you do lose some of the top layer paint -- the primer coat is silver/gray so the lure still looks reasonably fish-like.

Another thing I liked about the BBZ-1 was the fact that the sink rates of the lure actually matched up with my expectations.  I was expecting the fast-sink to be more of a slow-sink.  I was also anticipating that the fast sink would have diminished swimming action because of the additional weight needed to pull the lure down.  Neither of these fears were realized when I put the fast-sink model in the water.  The lure sank out on a fast clip and swam with fluid action back to the boat.  I dig that.

The stock hardware on the BBZ-1 is adequate, if not excellent.  The hooks are sharp, and the split rings are strong.  I would consider changing the hooks for stripers, or if you are slightly paranoid about big bass bending them out. 

Thanks for all the info. I've just got the BBZ-1 Jr. today and it looks great. I have the DVD for the original BBZ, but I can't play the video for the Jr. yet. I have a few different swimbaits, but this one is my favorite.

THIS BAIT ROCKS

It's been a while since Ive been to the forum. Up date on the BBZ-1 Jr. I have caught alot of nice bass on this and the 8", I noticed though that it seems it's mostly smallmouth hitting this bait, which doesn't bother me. I would like to know if it is due to the smallmouth bass beimg more aggresive than the largemouth, or was it the time of year. It was in September.1 more thing I would like to say is more people should use big baits, they are so much fun even when not catching.

Here in Ohio, September is the month for the smallies in the inland lakes. Now if I can just catch the bigger ones that would be a bonus. I think I will be giving the swimbait a fair shot this year thanks to all the good videos and reports I've seen on this site. Thanks Steve for adding more tackle to my list.

If you want a swimbait or any good bait for that matter you cant go wrong with one Bill  had a hand in designing. This guy is unbelievable

 Never thought about it that way but it does take some getting used to