Topwater fishing setup

[Tim Mueller]

So I'm trying to determine what I need for topwater / upper water column fishing. Here is what I have so far and looking for some tweaks here.

Shakespeare Elite Spinning Rod 6'6" Med / Fast Acting

Pflueger President 6940

PLine Floroclear 8lb Line

A question I'm trying to find an answer on is, does Floroclear actually float? If someone suggest braid with a mono leader, could you give me some recommendations on brands.

Thanks.

[smalljaw67]

Fluorocarbon sinks and with the set up you have just stick with mono. Keep your baits on the small side, 1/4oz, maybe 3/8oz the heaviest and you'll be fine.

[Attila]

Love this topic...heck, who wouldn't love topwater fishing?

So when I fish for smallmouth, I would run straight 6lbs Stren. Caught some big fish but not so many numbers. Then one year I decided to try a different line and went with AbrazX, straight 6lbs test.  I caught more and bigger fish. 

Then 2 years ago I thought I'd try something different and went with braid and an InvisX leader...I had the best topwater season ever and never once lost any fish.  I also noticed that while my topwaters sat a little lower in the water, they were definitely still sitting on top of the water and I saw each and every strike as it happened.  My lures of choice were both poppers (Skitter Pop mostly) and walking baits (Spit N Image).

I'll be experimenting this summer with more lures this summer and am again going to change my setup to run just a straight braid for both poppers and walking baits.  If it doesn't work over the first couple of weeks, I'll revert back to my braid/fluro combination which has worked well for me.

Hope this helps!

 

[lakeannaangler]

As previously stated fluorocarbon sinks. You need to use either mono or braid. 

[Oklahoma Mike]

Ditch the flouro for sure. I prefer straight braid for topwater fishing.

[Tim Mueller]

Hey everyone thanks for the feedback. With Floroclear sinking, that's what I thought but when I went to investigate before posting on here, some folks said it floats. Regards, it sounds like braid with or without a mono leader seems to be the way to go for top water fishing.

I do have a spare spool coming in from Pflueger and think at least outfitting it with braided line.

Second Opinion Question:

I also saw on the web mentioned that a med/heavy type rod would be best for top water. I do have a 6'6" bass pro graphite rod but wonder if this would be overkill?

[lakeannaangler]

As long as it isn't too stiff you should be fine. What power and action is it?

[Tim Mueller]

13 minutes ago, lakeannaangler said:

As long as it isn't too stiff you should be fine. What power and action is it?

Medium/Heavy Power - Fast Action

[lakeannaangler]

Yeah you should be fine with what you have. I like braid with a leader or straight braid for jerkbaits because the bait moves with every little twitch you make.

[J Francho]

I use a 6'2" Medium/X-Fast taper rod, with a short rear grip.  10 or 12# mono for line. 

[Tim Mueller]

This may be a stupid question but does color of the braided line or mono matter? I new to this kind of line (braided).

[J Francho]

I generally prefer a bright color for line watching.  Probably doesn't matter for as topwater setup, though I question why you want to use braid.  It's not ideal, in my experience. 

[Scarborough817]

i prefer a 6'6" mh casting rod with a 7."something" gear ratio and 65 lb braid this allows me to fish topwater, frogs and jerkbaits all on the same rod

[Tim Mueller]

5 minutes ago, J Francho said:

I generally prefer a bright color for line watching.  Probably doesn't matter for as topwater setup, though I question why you want to use braid.  It's not ideal, in my experience. 

Honestly I'm not even sure on why to use braid? I have had family members that recommend braid with a leader for top water. Problem is I haven't fished in like 7+ years so it hard to try an figure what works from my stand point. I was always taught that mono is pretty visible so lighter line is best. Not sure if that is all true though but don't want to find out with a $3 lure being snapped off by a 2 lb bass.

Maybe I need to be enlighten in all sincerity with mono-filament line.

[J Francho]

Braid would be good for holllow body frog/rat type baits, but you'd use something like 50# and tie direct.  The leader and braid isn't a bad idea, and in fact I use this on a spinning setup for smaller, light jerkbaits.  For regular topwaters, like walking baits, or poppers, it's easier just use a good mono.  If you go with braid, you generally want to use a bit lighter power, and slower action rod, to act as a shock absorber that compensates for zero stretch line.  The problem is, you sacrifice a bit of feel and bait control.

[Tim Mueller]

8 minutes ago, J Francho said:

Braid would be good for holllow body frog/rat type baits, but you'd use something like 50# and tie direct.  The leader and braid isn't a bad idea, and in fact I use this on a spinning setup for smaller, light jerkbaits.  For regular topwaters, like walking baits, or poppers, it's easier just use a good mono.  If you go with braid, you generally want to use a bit lighter power, and slower action rod, to act as a shock absorber that compensates for zero stretch line.  The problem is, you sacrifice a bit of feel and bait control.

Make sense now, probably should have mention the lures I was planning on using in my first post. So with that being said if I'm planning to use regular top water lures, Mono line with a med/heavy power, fast acting rod would be a good start? Since the mono has some stretch, medium power rod would make it more effort to set the hook.

[J Francho]

That will be fine.  Don't worry about the stretch not giving you good hooksets.  Use sharp hooks.

[Tim Mueller]

2 minutes ago, J Francho said:

That will be fine.  Don't worry about the stretch not giving you good hooksets.  Use sharp hooks.

Awesome well thank you for the input, I believe I think I got a good idea now on top water fishing, now just got to see how it goes. 

[J Francho]

The hardest part is learning what cadence of twitches work best for each different bait.  Otherwise, it's pretty much my favorite way to fish.  Watch as many Youtube videos as you can to see how people work the baits.

[BassThumb]

I'm a fan of using a spinning setup for those really light topwater poppers. They're kinda tough to cast for distance on a baitcaster. 

[robster80]

7 hours ago, Tim Mueller said:

Medium/Heavy Power - Fast Action

is it the bps graphite series rod?. i have that same 6'6 mh/f rod somewhere.  it might work well but isnt it a pretty stiff rod?. may be not so ideal for say a 1/4 oz popper but would handle the heavier stuff fine.  i havent tried this rod for topwater tho i could be wrong

[Dye99]

Braid is the way for me.

I just went to a Revo Rocket with 9.0.1 gearing on a Dobyns 7ft rod with 30lb braid...

Love being able to have my whopper Ploppers create their own rooster tail!

[Bankbeater]

I use 10# mono for the smaller size topwater baits.  The buzzbaits and frogs get the baitcaster rig.

[dam0007]

I prefer straight mono. But then again I'm not using spinning gear for top water. Something like Buzzbaits and soft body frogs I could see braid without a doubt but small poppers and other lures with treble hooks I personally would rather have the shock absorption of mono. 

[EvanT123]

I think I have caught a topwater  fish on every rod I owned last year. I'm in NY haven't gotten to the topwater just yet this year. For reference I'm talking a 5'6 light spinning rod to a 6'6 medium heavy casting rod. If the bait is in the weight range of the rod I'm going to throw it (actually throw many baits on my ml spinning rod outside it's "range") Mono or braid and mono on the rods.