I started really bass fishing about 12 years ago when a friend got me onto it. He got me onto Senkos and everything else I learned on my own. Two things that came standard for me were buzzbaits, specifically Cavitrons, because they are awesome and produce. The other thing was the KVD Sexy Dawg (basically a Zara Spook knock-off). I love topwater as you can tell. Both buzzbaits and KVD Sexy Dawg/Zara Spooks are famous/standard topwater baits for many people and for me were replaced by the Whopper Plopper. Over trial and error I've really paired my tackle down to 4 lures that for the last 2 years have killed it. Because of this I no longer even bring any buzzbaits and I've haven't taken the KVD Sexy Dawg out of the box in 2 years. The second is the Whopper Frog which has been even more productive because many places I fish have topwater vegetation making the Whopper Plopper a poor choice. I used to walk-the-dog with hollow body frogs and did well and also used toads specifically the Strike King Ragetail Toad which was even a better producer but got caught up a lot after a few fish because the toad would get torn up. Also, you could go through a lot of toads quickly in a day adding up in cost. So my two new baits replaced buzzbaits, walk-the-dog style hardbaits, and frogs/toads which are famous and standard baits for most anglers.
What are these two lures that made famous/standard lures obsolete for me?
1.) Whopper Plopper - replaces Walk-the-Dog style hardbaits and buzzbaits (KVD Sexy Dawg/Zara Spook and Cavitrons)
The Whopper Plopper has been awesome since I started using it. Even though the KVD Sexy Dawg caught a ton of fish I catch far more with the Whopper Plopper and it covers a lot more water faster. No more walk the dog, simply casting and retrieving and awesome blowups. My favorite size is the Whopper Plopper 75 followed by the 110.
2.) Whopper Frog (Homemade Teckel Frog) - replaces Hollowbody Frogs/Toads (hollow body frogs and Ragetail Toad)
The Whopper Frog which is a homemade Teckel Frog is a Booyah Pad Crasher (I've tried almost all other commercial frogs and the Booyah Pad Crasher was the best one and fortunately also one of the cheapest and most readily available) with a Teckel Frog Tail made with a 3 way swivel and Owner CPS Centering Pin Spring. It, like the Whopper Plopper vs. the KVD Sexy Dawg is great because it is a straight retrieve bait that covers far more water, faster than a walk-the-dog style bait. I do catch a lot of fish on the landing also. I caught a decent amount of fish with hollow body frogs and more with Ragetail Toads but I've caught a tremendous amount more with the Whopper Frog. The Whopper Frog also has a much higher catch ratio than hollow body frogs and I think it's because the frog is moving forward fast causing an instant hookup where with a regular hollow body the fish may hit it and knock it away rather than get hooked.
Went on a weekend fishing trip with friends and tried 3 different lakes. The fish have already gone deep but we wanted to concentrate on topwater. So we fished docks, shoreline, and lilly pads and we caught 90% of our fish on the Whopper Frogs and a few on the Whopper Plopper, only 2 on Senkos. My friend who only fishes a few times a year said the Whopper Frog is his new favorite bait so I made up a few and left them for them.
For open water top water my bait is the Whopper Plopper and for weeds my bait is the Whopper Frog. For underwater I use Wacky Rigged Senkos and Nose-hooked Zoom Superflukes. Those are really my 4 basic lures that I use now and they really work for us.
* Honorable mention: Berkeley Choppo (Whopper Plopper knock-off). We actually caught quite a few fish with this lure also at the same time as the Whopper Plopper so I'd say that the Choppo is a cheaper alternative to the Whopper Plopper that also works. This was the smaller size Choppo also.
Also, I tried the Teckel Sprinker Frog and Booyah Toad Runner and just couldn't get consistent hookups, with the Whopper Frogs we have about a 90% hookup ratio.
Lastly, common thinking is that topwater is for morning and evening but on many lakes in different regions in MN we have caught fish on topwater all day long which is nice.
So, what lure's have made famous/standard lures obsolete for you?
