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So last week I break down and buy a couple Whopper Ploppers. I grabbed one each bone and loon. I fished the bone a few days this week and caught several fish on it. Then I noticed that the tail wasn't spinning very well. It got progressively worse until I noticed that the Plopper itself was spinning and twisting my line. It then got to the point where I was having to reel it max speed to get it to spin. Figuring it was maybe gunked up, I quit fishing it...that was yesterday. Today it's a little overcast and the water is like glass. I walk to my spot and throw the loon. 3 casts in and I notice it's doing the same thing to a lesser extent. It's spinning but I have to really crank it to get it on plane. 4th cast gets a fish. I reel it in and it's a perfect hook set through the top lip. I grab my pliers and attempt to roll the hook out...the d**n hook snaps! I know people really like these baits and the concept is exceptional but, I cannot believe R2S doesn't have more stringent quality control or at least better quality components. Has anyone else had issues with this tackle? Thanks, -J

Not sure if this Topic has been mentioned before.......Hey guys, quick question? I'm throwing a whopper plopper 90 and 110, seems like when I reel in my line the plopper is spinning in the water creating line twist. What size swivel and split ring can I get away with using? Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

So, I've had a chance to try all 3 of these lures, the original paddle tailed frog, the Teckel Sprinker Frog, then the Homemade Teckel Sprinker Frog, and finally the new Booyah Toad Runner. Here's what I've found. I think paddle tailed frogs being called the Weedless Whopper Plopper are right and just like the Whopper Plopper they are a great lure because not only are they super effective at catching fish anyone can catch fish with them, all you have to do is cast and retrieve it back to you. No more walking the dog which can be hard for some folks and especially kids. 1.) Teckel Sprinker Frog: $14.99. This lure seemed to be designed with a downward pointed nose rather than an upturned one, causing it to sort of plow down into the water. If the nose was upturned I think it would help it a lot. I did get a lot of bites on this lure but I only caught 1 fish which was a northern. I got some spectacular blowups but no fish. Perhaps I needed to wait more before I set the hook. + I like the fact that you can buy spare tails for your Teckel frogs for replacement or use them on your own homemade frogs. It is the paddle tail of choice for me for making homemade frogs. + I really like the tail with the CPS Centering Pin Spring. - Expensive. - Poor design with nose turned down. - Spare tails are expensive at $7.99 for a 4 pack. - Currently poor availability at big box stores like Cabelas and Fleet Farm. Did see them at the new Gander Outdoors along with the Booyah Toad Runners. 2.) Booyah Pad Toad Runner: $9.99. This lure is considerably cheaper than the Teckel Sprinker Frog which is a plus. This lure also got a lot of blow ups but not one caught fish. I would like to get more time on the water with it but definitely need to see if I have to wait longer to set the hook. + Cheapest of manufactured paddle tailed frogs. + Seems to perform better with a properly upturned nose. - Currently poor availability at big box stores like Cabelas and Fleet Farm. Did see them at the new Gander Outdoors along with the Booyah Toad Runners. 3.) Homemade Teckel Sprinker Frog: $9.80. ($6.69 if using Booyah Pad Crasher + $1.99 for Teckel Sprinker Frog Tail + 49 cents for the VMC 3 way Swivel #6+ 33 cents for CPS Centering Pin Spring). This homemade lure has worked the best for me out of all the paddle tailed frogs. I never had great success with any hollow bodied frogs and by using a paddle tailed one I've had a tremendous amount of more bites and fish caught than all my years of fishing with plain hollow body frogs. They really are Weedless Whopper Ploppers. I do know how to walk the dog with hollow bodied frogs and have caught fish with them but just haven't had a lot of success with them. For many people walking the dog is very hard. Components: 1.) Booyah Pad Crasher 2.) VMC 3 way swivel - size #6 3.) CPS Centering Pin Spring - size Medium 4.) Teckel Sprinker Frog Tail Last year I had great success with a Spro Bronzeye 65 with a Teckel Sprinker Frog tail. I will say that I used a Mustad KVD Fastach clip. That lure caught a ton of fish. No waiting to set the hook, just setting the hook on the bite. I gave that lure to a friend in hopes he'd catch some fish. This year I tried the same thing but instead of a Mustad KVD Fastach Clip I had a Mustad KVD Fastach Swivel Clip which will add a little weight to the lure. I noticed that my new frog seem to work subsurface and didn't work properly. I cut the Fastach off and straight tied it to the line and it still stayed submerged. I realized the Fastach wasn't effecting noticeably affecting it. I switched to a Booyah Pad Crasher that I had set up and it worked fine. Apparently the Booyah has more buoyancy than the Spro Bronzeye 65. Another plus is that the Booyah is cheaper by a few bucks than the Spro. Perhaps the original Spro Bronzeye 65 I had just naturally had more buoyancy. The day I used the Booyah Toad Runner I had 4 big blow ups but no fish. After the 1st bite I gave it a second before I set the hook and still missed the next 3 fish. After 4 missed fish I switched to a Homemade Teckel Sprinker Frog made from a Spro Bronzeye 65 frog with a Teckel paddle tail and caught the first fish that bit with no waiting to setting the hook, I just set the hook as soon as the fish bit. That was the lure that wasn't running right however and has been replaced by the Booyah Pad Crasher. I did have a bass short-bite the frog and it stripped the Teckel Sprinker Tail right off leaving the CPS Springlock. I do have a Spro King Daddy hollow body frog on the way that I'm going to try. Being larger it should float and run on the surface better than the smaller Spro Bronzeye 65 and being larger should also cast farther. It was $10.79 though, so about $4 more than a Booyah Pad Crasher. I used to pull the legs out and hot glue the hole closed but after numerous fish I've realized the glue pops out. I started just cutting the stand legs short and leaving them in. I will say that after numerous fish today the hot glue that plugged the leg holes on the Booyah Pad Crasher got pulled out and the legs were open and the lure still floated and performed fine and did not sink like I thought it would. Maybe because I'm constantly reeling it in water doesn't make it's way inside the frog. Also, after having 2 fish bite and miss the frog today I just slowly kept reeling it in and caught both fish rather than quickly burning the lure back to the boat and re-casting to that spot. This may not always work but it did work today. + Cheapest of all 3 frogs. + Widely available at all big box stores (may have to look for the Teckel Sprinker Frog spare tails). + Better hookup ratio. Do not have to wait a second to set the hook, just set the hook on the bite. - Have to put make. (Used to be more work pulling the tails out and hot gluing, but now that I just snip the strand legs shorter it's much easier.). Not hard though. Just screw the CPS Springlock onto the VMC 3 way swivel, then screw the CPS Springlock into the tail, and then add the 3 way swivel onto the frog hooks, should take about a minute. I would like to get some more water time with these lures to more thoroughly test them. This initial testing was very brief. But I will once again say that paddle tailed hollow bodied frogs have probably gotten me 90% more bites than plain hollowed body frogs. I just won't ever throw a regular hollow bodied frog again. Paddle tailed frogs are just such a great improvement at fish catching than regular hollow bodied frogs for me. I think paddle tailed frogs being called the Weedless Whopper Plopper are right and just like the Whopper Plopper they are a great lure because not only are they super effective at catching fish and anyone can catch fish with them, all you have to do is cast and retrieve it back to you. I hope this initial review helps folks. Good fishing!

At Cabelas today and saw these new red packaged Whopper Ploppers and the back said new, and improved, weed resistant convex tail. But a hard look it appears to be the same as the original. Sorry the first pic is so cropped, had to crop it to post. What's up?

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?

I have plenty of Whopper Plopper 110s and 90s. Just wondering if there is any reason to buy a WP 75?

Which one do you prefer and why?

I wanted to start a discussion for topwater baits everyone has had success with hunting the bronzebacks. Last weekend I hooked up on a few in East TN using a 3in topwater popper, and a few with a size 90 whopper plopper, but I'm curious as to what else might be a good topwater presentations? I've had some people recommend a jerkbait and one buddy even recommended wacky rigging a senko and dragging it on the top/a few inches down, but I haven't had time to try it out. I've also seen this "double plopper" A-rig looking buzz bait deal, and am very intrigued to hear if anyone has had success with it (at $18 a piece I didn't want to dive in if it's just a bunk bait). Lend me your knowledge, fellow smallie smackers!

I'm just an old retired guy stumbling along the bank. I fished buzz baits for years. Never caught a fish. First time out with my Whopper Plopper 130 in Loon, I caught a 3 and a 4 and missed three other blowups. I realize there are many places with pads and other surface vegitation where neither Whopper Ploppers or buzz baits can be fished. In areas like this, we all throw hollow body frogs with success. Since Whopper Ploppers and buzz baits are both best is mostly open water, why carry buzz baits. Or am I wrong...And I have been wrong before.

When I have a topwater strike on a Whopper Plopper or other topwater I've noticed that if I throw a follow-up Senko or Zoom Super Fluke I have a good chance of catching the fish however, if I just re-cast that same lure and retrieve it over the spot again there is a good chance it won't get hit. So, when a regular topwater gets missed I definitely want to throw a Senko or Super Fluke as a follow-up bait rather than the same lure. When I throw a Whopper Frog (Homemade Teckel Sprinker Frog) I've found that it is better to just keep reeling but reel slower and you have a very good chance of catching that fish. Sometimes recasting the frog again also works. It seems that by reeling slower you give the fish time to re-position and strike again. I've attempted to throw the Senko as a follow-up to this and have only caught the fish once. I've caught at least a dozen fish on Whopper Frog when they miss it by simply continuing to reel slowly and hooking the fish on the 2nd strike. So, why does just reeling slower work with the Whopper Frog but with any other topwater bait like the Whopper Plopper I appear to have a much better chance with a Senko or Super Fluke follow-up bait instead of just reeling slower? Maybe it's because the fish get stuck a little with the treble hooks of the topwater bait and not the double hooks of the frog, I don't know.

Has anyone ever thrown the whopper plopper 90 on medium light extra fast action rod before? The rod size I have is 6’9

So yeah this was a weird fishing day... started out well enough. I did some T-rigging with a craw around the bottom and found some areas where bass were holding, though I didn't manage to hook any. I happened to bring some nice live crawfish with me, and I tried a few times to toss them out, hoping maybe for a catfish or two. Got lot's of bumps, but I ended up losing a few on the cast, and lost the rest while trying to hookset. No doubt these were bass, not catfish. Too cautious for catfish. So they got a free crawfish meal. I was about to head out cause I was getting hungry, so I started to reel in my hook that lost the craw, when it snagged on something along the bank. I gave it a little pop and with it came a nice surprise- a whopper plopper! I think it's a 90 size. Anyway, this changed things for me a bit. I decided because I had seen some bass hitting the topwater to tie it on and see what happens with a few casts. I used a small snap swivel since I wasn't familiar with how it rode through the water and didn't want to twist up my line. "Let's see if this silly thing lives up to the hype I've heard about it, blah, blah" I was really skeptical it would do anything since I've never had anything hit a topwater lure, ever. So a few times I tossed it start out towards where I had seen a larger bass hit the topwater, varying the retrieve a little bit with each cast. The action reminded me a bit of a buzzbait. Nada. So I changed gears and focused on this grassline to my left where I had some bumps earlier from the T-rigged craw. I pitched it right along the edge and started reeling it in, stop and go. I reached the edge where I was about to bring it up to me so it didn't get stuck in the muck there, and BOOM! Big splash and I had a bass nail it. I did what I've heard to do with treble hooks, reel in, sweep it sideways about waist high. Got him! I brought him back over to my bench to grab my pliers, and took a quick picture of him, seen below. Then I noticed blood pouring out of one it's gills. "Oh ****!". Double-trebled right through two different gill rakers. I took him back down to the water and got the hooks out as quick as I could. I didn't mess around, I just flattened both barbs and pulled them out, sacrificed the hook. But I couldn't get the fish to stop bleeding and it was listing on it's side. After a few minutes I got the bleeding under control, but the fish was still listing on it's side. I tried for 5 more minutes to revive it- I splashed water in it's gills, pulled it back and forth, shook its tail- you name it, I tried it. Note that the bank was partially flooded and I was standing in snake infested waters in my flip flops during this attempted revival. I felt something bite my toe, so I jumped out of the water real quick, but one of my flip flops stayed put in the muck. I pulled it out to discover the front strap had popped clean out and it was busted. So now I had no shoes. What bit me was a little crawfish pinching me, but it surprised me none the less. Probably one of the ones I lost coming back to get me in revenge. But I was more concerned about the fish. Finally figured out it was a goner, to my dismay. I had no choice but to sever the brainstem with a knife and claim it. It was about 2" under the legal limit for this pond, but this is one of those cases where I either claimed it, or it was fish food anyway cause it wasn't gonna live. It's about 12" and maybe right at 2 pounds. Little fatty. Took it home and fileted it out, not a bunch, but it will be some decent sized fried fish chunks. I feel really bad though. That's the last thing I wanted to have happen on my first topwater catch. It's rather deterred me from trying topwater again, especially the whopper plopper. Figures I find the cursed one tangled in the weeds! At least I ended my skunk funk I've been under lately? So at the end of the fishing trip: first topwater catch on a possessed found whopper plopper with death trebles, no wearable shoes, and a bass I didn't intend to keep. I'm lucky I found a bag in my car big enough for the still somewhat-bleeding bass! I think I'm good on bass fishing for a while, this was a strange day! Note, even though this side was bleeding a bit, the other side was an absolute horror show at this point when I turned it back around.

I recently started throwing a 130 loon whopper plopper and have been getting some awesome hookups. However, the bigger fish keep shaking off the hooks about halfway through the battle to the boat in the water. It feels like I am getting solid hook up but they still shake it off. I am able to keep the fish down and from jumping out of the water but they still seem to be able to shake off the bait. In the last 2 days I have lost 2 really nice fish. The stock hooks on the 130 actually seem quite robust in strength and sharpness. I am currently throwing the plopper on my frogging setup: 50-lb brand on a Heavy power fast tip rod. What can I do to keep the fish buttoned up better? Change the hooks? I've seen some saltwater guys change to "#6 Octopus" hooks. Use a different setup? Change landing technique? Thanks for your help.

I just ordered a whopper plopper size 90, and I was wondering if I could through it on my frog rod. Which is a a Lew's Mach speed stick 7'4 heavy, with a Abu Garcia pro max 7:1:1 gear ratio, and 50 lb power pro (I also throw swim jigs on this setup). I've read a couple other posts but none of them have answered my question, so I was wondering if some pros could help me out.

Just got a whopper plopper 110 on EBay in the bluegill color. It's much better than the 90 which I have fished quite a bit. I just wanted to highlight some info about it for people considering it. 1. It always stays on the surface unlike the 90 size which dove on far casts or when the rod tip was low. 2. It has a redesigned tail section. The tail can still get tangled with grass but the grass won't works it's way into the joint like other versions. 3. I have no trouble casting it on a medium heavy rod, and it casts FAR. My rod is rated for 1/4 to 1 oz baits. 4. It creates more of a whirring noise in the water where the 90 was more a plopping noise. (I know that is vague) 5. It catches fish!!! Both in clear water and stained. I recommend the more natural translucent colors rather than black and white colors. I have a black loon whopper plopper that has only worked in stained water for me. The bluegill color has worked in all water clarities. 6. The 110 is not too big. I have caught small bass with it even though it is a substantial lure.

Hey guys, I'm new to this site. I'm sure that both these questions have been asked seperatly, but I have not seen them together. I am looking for some info for a gear ratio to throw a whopper plopper on as well as swimbaits. The lakes in my area aren't known to produce some huge striper, but I did get this big Rod (Abu veritas 7'11 heavy) to double the A- rig and throwing some top water when striper fishing and big bass fishing baits. I also have a 7'3 heavy worm and jig Rod by lews that I may play with some swim baits on. First st of all I haven't threw that many swim baits or whopper ploppers. I was wondering which reel ratio would be best suited for each of these baits, as well as if I can get away with the same gear ratio for both baits. I know could use something like a big 6500 reel, but I am thinking I'm going to get one of the lews super duty for this set up, that way if the need ever arises I can just swap this reel on to another Rod. Any help will be greatly appreciated!

I have been thinking of purchasing a whopper plopper 90. I was at Cabelas, and they had a few, but none in the Terminator coloring I really had my mind set on. I didn't purchase one, but in watching these things fished, it seems to me they are getting strikes based on the commotion they make and it's hard to imagine the fish really takes much of a look at the color. What do you think? Does color on these things really matter that much???

Had a great day yesterday on my home lake. Caught 16 Large Mouth on my Whopper Plopper 90. The seventeenth fish took it and never gave it back. I'm throwing it on 10lb mono. The plopper didn't have a split ring on the front line tie. I can think of three things I can/should do to better prevent this from happening in the future. (FYI I'm using ten pound because the lake I fish is basically a new lake as it filled up a year and a half ago from 20% full to over flowing. New bass fingerlings introduced when it filled. They are just starting to hit 14" and two pounds. ) My drag is very soft on this casting reel. 1) go to 121b line 2) retie after 5 fish (?) 3) put a split ring on the front Which of these should I do? Anything other ideas ? Thanks in advance...

Yesterday morning I was throwing a mix of wacky rig senkos and frogs, and for the first hour I had no bites. (I woke up at 5:30am for this!?) Eventually they started hitting the wacky rig on and off for a couple hours. Then for over an hour I got zero bites. I debated taking a nap in my boat, but remembered I had bought a Whopper Plopper a month ago and never used it. So I tied it onto my new Lew's Mach 1 baitcaster and sure enough, second cast out, bam! A couple casts later, another one! After 30 minutes of pure amazement, I had caught 10 bass on the Plopper! At one point, I even had a bass go after the bait while it was in the mouth of the one I was reeling up to the boat! Two bass on one bait would have been amazing. Anyways, just figured I'd confirm the hype is real for anyone on the fence about trying out the Whopper Plopper.... go get one, or two!

Has anyone tried this? I would like to use my 7' Fenwick HMG Medium/Fast or 6'6 Fenwick Aetos Medium/Fast, paired with either 15lb or 20lb braid. Is this a mistake? I was under the assumption that I could use my spinning rods with any bait thats within the suggested weight range. For example, I purchased some 1/2oz and 3/4oz jigs, but little did I know, I can't really use them with my spinning setup, so I picked up some smaller 1/4oz and 3/8oz jigs. What's the purpose of the lure size range if you can't use the entire range? My apologizes if this is better suited in the rod/reel subforum.