Lets Talk Topwater!!!!

[bassNspear]

OK everyone.

Lets change it up a bit. Lets talk Top water.

I love fishing topwater.

Lets hear some tecniques!!

[MattWtech]

always been a fan of a 1/4 and 3/8 oz black buzzbait. never seems to fail me for open water. thats my #1,

i saw a jitter bug for the first time in action last year, definetly gonna buy one. started to get a chubby just watchin it reel in.

[dstrey]

I have had great luck in years past with a white buzzbait. Especially over mats of mill foil. Caught two six pounders last year doin that.

[luckycrank]

BUZZ FROG . HANG ON !!!!!!!!!!!!

[Deitz Dittrich]

Topwater is fun for sure.. and can be very effective. I had one of my best numbers days on topwater this last year. I caught 19 bass in about 25 mins. It was crazy.. I use a variety of topwaters depending on weather and time of the year. I will admit, that I do not use a buzz bait very much though.

[SluggoMaster]

I usually only use a buzzbait between 10-2 on hot days. It works best around patchy milfoil. I will usually pick up a good fish that way. I would rather swim a jig over throwing a buzzer on most days.

[EBass]

For largies I don't toss a buzz bait that much. Prolly do to all the weeds. But for smallies in a river I always have a buzzer on. Well for the most part. I may switch it up to a popper or walk the dog type.

Also, gotta luv the topwater frog in the slop or over milfoil.

[bucketmouth64]

I don't have much success with buzz baits, but using a frog or walking the dog is lots of fun.

[ducksnbucks]

I use a buzz bait a lot too, but really love the storm chug bug. I also use a zara spook which I find doesn't catch the numbers but the it gets the size, at least for me. Can't wait!!!!

[Daze Off]

I'm a Zara Spook fan - first one I reach for most times in open water. Around heavy cover I love the Rojas frog. Not sure if this counts as topwater but draging a 10" worm weightless over the weeds is awesome too.

Daze Off

[BassAkwards]

This is one set up Ive used...not a top water bait but..

a silver minnow, weedless kind, with plastic worm trailer... fish on surface and it almost has a snake like resemblance.. worked well for me last year and I just decided to test it out. its fun trying something new and catching fish...

[lookincalifornia]

i love my spitin' image fro walking the dog. gives a smaller profile than a spook. love a popR for river smallies. i like to throw a white buzzbait in the pads before they get too thick. and hollow frogs in the slop, don't get me started. i'm also a fan of the weightless worm or lizard.

quick topwater story. i was throwing a lipless crankbait when the back treble kept hooking my line. when i would bring it back, it would skitter along the top. i told my friend,'that looks pretty good, i'm surprized nothing has hit it like that'. the very next cast it hangs up again and WHAM! a three pounder nails it. that was a cool day.

[Wayne Ek]

Top water, now your talking I feel that a buzzer is one of the best search baits for shallow fish. It's not at the top of it's game in slop or matted floating vegetation. But for open water,lanes,emergent vegetation or scattered pads it's hard to beat a buzzer for both speed, numbers of fish and size. For slop I toss a frog 90% of the time. And on open water fish my new FAVORITE for the past 2 seasons is the sway-back spook. It is one of the easiest lures to walk-the-dog with and a good lure to have novice anglers use when learning to walk-the-dog. I also know a little lake where the smillies love chug-bugs... Right Deitz I think I lost a dollar on that lake.

[bassNspear]

I am a huge buzz bait guy. There is not a time that i dont have one tied up ready to go. I have had great luck early in the morning, and later at night.

[RK]

Hiya -

I'm a big buzzbait fan too. Definitely a good search lure, good in sparse rushes or over weed flats. Also, believe it or not, one of my favorite early/mid fall baits. Get a nice sunny Indian Summer day when the water temps are in the 50s, and you can catch some huge fish on a buzzbait. Not a numbers deal in the fall, but size average is definitely up compared to the rest of the season on buzzbaits.

One topwater (or sort of topwater) I can't believe nobody has mentioned is a spoon. Seems like topwater spoons are kind of a lost art these days. They're my first choice in slop just because of their versatility, and I think my hooking % is better with them than frogs (although frogs definitely have their place - don't get me wrong). In rushes or cane it's hard to beat a spoon like a Jawbreaker. They have the mass to stay on the water when you're weaving them through rush stems, and they don't seem to get blown up in the air by fish as much - I think the mass/weight keeps them from getting blown out. Jawbreakers are great, and if you can find them, Nemier spoons are good too. One of the best is a bait called a Barney spoon. I don't know of they're even being made anymore, and the only place I've ever seen them was at the Cleveland Sport show, but they're a fantastic topwater spoon. (Just have to be careful on the hookset with spoons - I got drilled right in the side of the head by a friend who missed a fish on a Jawbreaker once - youch! )

Other than that, I do like walk the dog type baits, especially for smallies. Like chuggers in rivers for smallies too, for sure.

Cheers,

Rob Kimm

[st.crioxfishin]

All this topwater talk of bass exploding on the surface is really giving me the itch pretty bad, as if I didn't have it bad enought already .

I like the Pop-R, buzzbaits, and zara spooks, but last summer I gained a lot of confidence in those new rojas bronzeye frogs. I used to hate frogs because the hook up ratio, at least for me, was terrible. But after using the newer style ones last year, I'm hooked and will now pretty much always have one tied on. I'm also a fan of throwing a weightless senko type bait and poppin' it quick along the surface.

[HossFisher]

I love fishing topwaters, watching them come up out of the water and hit the lure is one of the most exciting parts of fishing for me. If the fish are really biting i like to throw a buzzbait. For me this is a search bait, if i have one come up after it and miss it I'll quickly toss secondary bait like some sort of plastic. The classic frog has always worked well for me also. I am a big fan of showing the fish something they have never seen before. I have found that throwing weightless plastic worms over dense cover can be very productive. I think i will stop there, even though i think i could talk about this topic all day! ~Bassboy

[slopmaster]

i love the scum frogs by far my favorite topwater and i fish a lot of slop so for me it is the way to go.. sometimes i get frusterated with the hooking percentage but i just have to rember to wait a while before i set the hook.. also i like walk the dog type baits i use them next to docks and around clumps of lily pads. and also i use a bass oreno i belive that is what they are called and i caught a couple using that.. by far the funnest way to fish in my opinion!!

[ocf1]

My favorite topwater.... Pobably a prop bait that i walk the dog with.

[Ray Esboldt]

Bass hit baits on top of the water? Whoa. Wait, I think I had one swirl on a jigworm once.

[bassNspear]

Hmmmm. Interesting. LOL

[Vman]

I tried a bait this past season called a Boy Howdy. It's shaped like a minnowbait, but, has a prop on either end of it. It's a more subtle topwater, but, it really caught fish.

[Ray Esboldt]

Vman,

Hush up on the Boy Howdy!

[T-water]

I think I'd let someone cut off a finger in order to throw a topwater on a beautiful night in my favorite bay right now! I usually throw walk the dog baits, Heddon when I want to make noise, minnow style when a more mellow approach is appropriate. Minnow style doesn't seem to work in rivers as well as standard spooks. I like to drill a hole in topwaters and drop in balbearings or sinkers to add some rattle and weight.

I'd like to hear from some folks who have spent $$ on the big buck topwaters, is it worth it? Especially wondering about the ones with the flexible tails.

[RK]

Hiya -

Boy Howdys, the old Smithwick Devil's Horse, the small Ozark Bait Co Woodchoppers...great baits.

Ray - had to laugh at your comment about gettign a swirl on a jigworm once in a while. I'm about the same way. Fun as it is, other than buzzbaits at certain times of year or spoons in the rushes, I hardly fish topwaters for largemouth. Hooking % is so low compared to other stuff. Now smallies are another deal. I always find myself wishing smallies could teach muskies how to hit topwaters. Those brown bass never miss...

cheers,

Rob Kimm