Balshy Fishing Posted July 16, 2014 Posted July 16, 2014 (edited) I think we should try and entertain this idea. I'll post a few separate topics about different types of lures and see your thoughts on the best and worst. It'll give new posters as well as vets on this site an opportunity to find answers and/or give their input in one place. The first installment will be on TOP WATERS and your thoughts. Questions to Consider: What is your favorite top water lure? (who makes it, price, where you bought, color?) Under what circumstances will you throw any type of top water lure? What do you throw when there's vegetation underneath the surface? What do you throw when there is duckweed or lily's on top? Are there any top water lures you've tried that you do NOT suggest? I hope ya'll think this could be a good idea. If so, let's get this going! NOTE: QUESTIONS TO CONSIDER ARE QUESTIONS YOU CAN USE IN YOUR ANSWER TO SHED LIGHT AND MORE DETAIL TO YOUR THOUGHT PROCESS FOR THOSE WHO AREN'T VERY "KNOWLEDGEABLE" ON THE SPECIFIC TOPIC. Edited July 16, 2014 by The All-Star Quote
papajoe222 Posted July 16, 2014 Posted July 16, 2014 Which of the five topics are you starting with? Quote
Balshy Fishing Posted July 16, 2014 Author Posted July 16, 2014 Topwaters, those are just questions you can answer within your answer. Quote
BigBassLoveSenkos Posted July 16, 2014 Posted July 16, 2014 Topwaters, those are just questions you can answer within your answer. LOL yet true Quote
Global Moderator Bluebasser86 Posted July 16, 2014 Global Moderator Posted July 16, 2014 What is your favorite top water lure? (who makes it, price, where you bought, color?) Xcalibur Zell Pop in Z shad, $10, probably Cabela's or BPS, Megastrike Cavitron,$5.49, 3/8oz black on black, TW, Mike Shaw Slammer hitch or golden shiner, TW, $36.99. Under what circumstances will you throw any type of top water lure? Anytime the water temp is over 50 degrees that I think I should be fishing one. What do you throw when there's vegetation underneath the surface? Wakebait or buzzbait, something loud to draw them out of the weeds. What do you throw when there is duckweed or lily's on top? I hate fishing pads, but for other emergent vegetation I'd be using a Bronzeye frog, Horny toad, or weightless pitboss Are there any top water lures you've tried that you do NOT suggest? Not a fan of the Moss Boss but they will catch fish. 3 Quote
Balshy Fishing Posted July 16, 2014 Author Posted July 16, 2014 I have a few watermelon with red flake horny toads but no luck yet, gotta' keep trying! Quote
Balshy Fishing Posted July 16, 2014 Author Posted July 16, 2014 What is your favorite top water lure? (who makes it, price, where you bought, color?) Xcalibur Zell Pop in Z shad, $10, probably Cabela's or BPS, Megastrike Cavitron,$5.49, 3/8oz black on black, TW, Mike Shaw Slammer hitch or golden shiner, TW, $36.99. Under what circumstances will you throw any type of top water lure? Anytime the water temp is over 50 degrees that I think I should be fishing one. What do you throw when there's vegetation underneath the surface? Wakebait or buzzbait, something loud to draw them out of the weeds. What do you throw when there is duckweed or lily's on top? I hate fishing pads, but for other emergent vegetation I'd be using a Bronzeye frog, Horny toad, or weightless pitboss Are there any top water lures you've tried that you do NOT suggest? Not a fan of the Moss Boss but they will catch fish. Have you had any success with any of the other colors of Cavitron[if you have any of the other] Quote
Super User Raul Posted July 16, 2014 Super User Posted July 16, 2014 I like the Jitterbug but it´s not my most productive, my most productive are Heddon´s Baby Torpedo ( a lot has to do with the fact that it has been around forever, there are probably better prop baits, Rapala´s Skitter Prop comes to my mind ) and Storm´s Chug Bug ( there are nicer poppers like Megabass Pop Max but in this case the logic is the same, it´s very old and I´m an old fart ). Unlike the Jitterbug those two will work fine even when there are wavy conditions. 2 Quote
Super User iabass8 Posted July 16, 2014 Super User Posted July 16, 2014 What is your favorite top water lure? (who makes it, price, where you bought, color?) I have 4 Yellow Magic Japanese Popper-17$, I've bought them from various vendors, Smokey Shad and Black shad Spro Bronzeeye Poppin Frog-9$, Cabelas, Black Cavitron Buzzbait-6$, Scheels(I think), black/gold blades 3/16oz swim jig swam quickly on top through pads. Under what circumstances will you throw any type of top water lure? 49 degrees on up so i can get a jump start on Bluebasser What do you throw when there's vegetation underneath the surface? If this question pertains to only topwater baits, then I throw a frog first then a buzzbait if there's only weeds. If there's any sort of wood or brush popping out, It will be a frog, then popper, then buzzbait. If this is more of an all around question then my answer is very different. What do you throw when there is duckweed or lily's on top? A 3/16oz swim jig /w rage craw or paca craw trailer swam on the top through the pads A Frog A toad i.e Rage Toad Wakebait depending on how deep the weeds are from the surface Are there any top water lures you've tried that you do NOT suggest? Rapala X-rap Pop. I drank the kool-aid when this came out. Lesson learned. Quote
Vavatron Posted July 16, 2014 Posted July 16, 2014 What is your favorite top water lure? (who makes it, price, where you bought, color?) Heddon Zara Spook, $5-$7 usually, I have purchased them from a number of places as you can find them almost anywhere, I prefer clear far and away, it is almost all I fish in spooks, then again I live/grown up in area of the country where the vast majority of large fishing waters are VERY clear. Under what circumstances will you throw any type of top water lure? If I see surface activity (schooling black bass, white bass, stripers, or hybrids), dawn & dusk, post spawn What do you throw when there's vegetation underneath the surface? regardless of vegetation I throw what looks like the food source, spooks and poppers for shad and frogs for... well frogs What do you throw when there is duckweed or lily's on top? Frogs- Liveaction is what I use, they are the smallest and most realistic to what we have in my area. IMO Are there any top water lures you've tried that you do NOT suggest? No. I am not a big believer in things not working. I have seen fish hit some ridiculous lures. I know of lures that are common confidence baits that I have never caught a fish on, such as a buzz bait. Fish the applicable colors and actions of the food sources and you should be set. Quote
Super User WRB Posted July 16, 2014 Super User Posted July 16, 2014 Not so obvious top water lures; Persuader baby mallard duck during the duckling hatch period. musky size black wooden Jitterbug during dusk to dark transition time. Century 22 Triple Trout waked following a trout plant late afternoon. El Raton rat wake bait dusk into the night, anytime. Black Dog Shell Cracker waked during the spawn. Iovino Splash-It during the threadfin shad leaving the shore line brush period, mid morning. White R2Sea frog when the shad are in the brush early morning. Smithwick Buc n brawl rear tail prop bait in shad color, vintage lure. Double buzz bait, the more surface disturbance the better a buzzer is. Don't like solid toads! Tom Quote
Balshy Fishing Posted July 17, 2014 Author Posted July 17, 2014 Thanks everybody! This is the exact direction this post should be going in and it's perfect! Quote
Super User rippin-lips Posted July 17, 2014 Super User Posted July 17, 2014 Have you had any success with any of the other colors of Cavitron[if you have any of the other] I throw the cavitron quite a bit. Morning/dusk it's black on black Midday white or ghost minnow 'preferred color' Stained water I'll use firetiger but there's not much of that around me. Sometimes after a good rain. Quote
Global Moderator Bluebasser86 Posted July 17, 2014 Global Moderator Posted July 17, 2014 Have you had any success with any of the other colors of Cavitron[if you have any of the other] I have success with white anytime the bass are really on a shad bite. I only own black and white buzzbaits minus one homemade one with a translucent skirt I save for very clear water. Quote
Balshy Fishing Posted July 17, 2014 Author Posted July 17, 2014 Once this reaches like 5 to 10 more responses, I'll start the next topic.,hopefully that will be tonight. Quote
Hot n Tot Posted July 17, 2014 Posted July 17, 2014 I like the Jitterbug but it´s not my most productive, my most productive are Heddon´s Baby Torpedo ( a lot has to do with the fact that it has been around forever, there are probably better prop baits, Rapala´s Skitter Prop comes to my mind ) and Storm´s Chug Bug ( there are nicer poppers like Megabass Pop Max but in this case the logic is the same, it´s very old and I´m an old fart ). Unlike the Jitterbug those two will work fine even when there are wavy conditions. Same here, I like to fish the jitterbug best, but the Baby Torpedo is by far my most productive topwater. The Devil's Horse has also worked well for me. I just picked up the Frog Popper by Live Target Baits and I like the way it works. Haven't hooked up with anything on it as of yet though. Quote
Balshy Fishing Posted July 19, 2014 Author Posted July 19, 2014 No other answers? Keep posting up your favorite topwaters and what not to help inform other members. I'm about to post the next topic. Quote
Weld's Largemouth Posted July 19, 2014 Posted July 19, 2014 Not so obvious top water lures; Persuader baby mallard duck during the duckling hatch period. musky size black wooden Jitterbug during dusk to dark transition time. Century 22 Triple Trout waked following a trout plant late afternoon. El Raton rat wake bait dusk into the night, anytime. Black Dog Shell Cracker waked during the spawn. Iovino Splash-It during the threadfin shad leaving the shore line brush period, mid morning. White R2Sea frog when the shad are in the brush early morning. Smithwick Buc n brawl rear tail prop bait in shad color, vintage lure. Double buzz bait, the more surface disturbance the better a buzzer is. Don't like solid toads! Tom can you please link me to the baby mallard duck Quote
CDobber Posted July 19, 2014 Posted July 19, 2014 This year I've had great success with 1/2 oz black buzzbaits, normally with black/purple fleck Havoc trailers. Have never had success with spooks yet, though I will keep trying based on favorable reports on BR. I'd eventually like to get a double bladed buzz to try and have my eye out for a Cavitron based on reviews here. Quote
Balshy Fishing Posted July 22, 2014 Author Posted July 22, 2014 More answers everybody! The more the better. Quote
Tyler Klein Posted June 22, 2015 Posted June 22, 2015 Old thread, but I've been posting a ton lately and this thread tickled my fancy, as my favorite pond is absolutely covered in duckweed. I throw a lot of the Snag Free Mouse, its on BPS for like $6, I use it in Grey. Sometimes they hit that, sometimes a Booyah Poppin Pad Crasher ($6.99, BPS) gets em. I fish the frog in a Bullfrog color, but I want to try a purple frog. The only topwater lure I really didn't like was the Livetarget hard frog. I could get it to look realistic at all. It cast really d**n far, which was nice, but it didn't look good on the water. Quote
Super User MIbassyaker Posted June 24, 2015 Super User Posted June 24, 2015 So...were there other installments of this intended series of posts? I like the idea. I am not much of a topwater fisherman. I don't seem to be very good at it or knowledgeable about it. Yet... What is your favorite top water lure? (who makes it, price, where you bought, color?): The Heddon Tiny and Baby Torpedos. Baby for largemouth, Tiny for river smallies. I like the Black Shiner color, which is basically chrome fading to black on the back. Under what circumstances will you throw any type of top water lure? Maybe this is my problem -- I don't really know what circumstances I should be throwing topwaters. I fish mornings mostly, so first light until the sun is in the sky can be productive. Everything else is cover-related -- if I see lily pads or a shady bank with overhanging trees, I'll try topwater. What do you throw when there's vegetation underneath the surface? Pop-R What do you throw when there is duckweed or lily's on top? A plastic bait rigged weightless and weedless, pulled and twitched quickly across the the top. Fluke, Senko, Trick Worm, Rage Toad, Stanley Ribbit, Sweet Beaver. Are there any top water lures you've tried that you do NOT suggest? No. Everything I've had trouble with, I'm well aware lots of other people have amazing success. For me, that's buzzbaits and walking baits. Quote
C0lt Posted June 24, 2015 Posted June 24, 2015 What is your favorite top water lure? (who makes it, price, where you bought, color?) favorite topwater is a walking bait. I have always been a heddon spook guy,but I have recently taken a liking to the kvd sexy dog jr. I always fish the junior size, and colors are either sexy shad or bone. Everywhere you look youll find at least one of these two lures for 6-8 bucks. Under what circumstances will you throw any type of top water lure? may -november, the only time I dont fish them is 11am-3pm, and I will throw under almost any condition. my favorite time to throw this bait is dawn/dusk when the water looks like glass and the shad/alewife are hitting the surface. What do you throw when there's vegetation underneath the surface? if the vegetation is sub surface, I stick with my walking baits. Every once and a while I will throw a popper or a jointed jitterbug for real low light conditions (black color of course). What do you throw when there is duckweed or lily's on top? Either a pad crasher or a horny toad. Are there any top water lures you've tried that you do NOT suggest? Dakimi air frog Quote
DailyBassin' Posted June 24, 2015 Posted June 24, 2015 What is your favorite top water lure? (who makes it, price, where you bought, color?) Koppers LiveTarget Frog, Brown/black or Fluorescent green/yellow, bought it at BPS Under what circumstances will you throw any type of top water lure? 1. When it gets hot 2. When i feel like working topwater 3. I like topwater on cloudy days What do you throw when there's vegetation underneath the surface? Heddon One-Knocker What do you throw when there is duckweed or lily's on top? Koppers LiveTarget Are there any top water lures you've tried that you do NOT suggest? Nope Quote
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