top water baits

[apegs]

Got my first taste of topwater bites on a frog last summer and I have to say I loved it. I would like to get some bites on a buzz bait this summer. When is the best window to throw these? ( time of day, temp, location) Also with a zara spook, thrown that a few times but never a bite.

[Irish]

Spring is a great time to throw a buzz bait. You can get bit all day if it is overcast. They also work well early and late in the day in the summer. But if it was a really hot day the bite will most likely be best at night. I usually throw buzz baits anywhere there are weeds in shallow water. Cabbage is usually best.

[RK]

Hiya -

I love buzzbaits... Pretty much any time I find fish over shallow flats I at least give them a try. I like hot, muggy days, and it definitely doesn't need to be glass calm for them to work. They work really well around clean rushes too.

On of my favorite times to throw buzzbaits though is in early fall. When the water starts to hit the low 60s to high 50s they can be unreal. It's probably the best topwater bite of the year for big fish. Definitely not a summer only bait.

As for zara spooks, there was a thread not too long ago on walk the dog baits you should go check out, but they're a bait I like a lot at times. In clear water fish will come up a LONG ways for them, especially smallmouth, so I don't have a problem throwing them over 10 feet of water or more sometimes. They don't work very well when there's a lot of floating weeds or junk weeds (neither do buzzbaits for that matter) but when you have space over the top of the weeds, or if you're around docks, over rocks, etc., they can be killer.

Cheers,

Rob Kimm

[Raider4ever]

I love Zara Spooks for both LMB and SMB. Watch out for toothy critters when you use them though. They will clear water when that hit them, they seem to have a hatred of those things. I have lost a bunch of them to darn Northerns. I use a walk-walk-walk-rest cadence most of the time and it seems to work well. Will switch it up if things don't seem to be working.

[corncob]

Floating rapalas can work great in spring too......around surface weeds and over submergent too.....Ive been using them this way for many years...The old wait and twitch method.