Can anyone recommend a top water that is best for learning?

[fishinfiend]

zara spook

[Crestliner2008]

I'll tell you true, this Popn'Image by Bill Dance has been one of my easiest to work and most productive, top water baits I've ever had. You can easily 'walk-the-dog' with it, pop it in place, or whatever you want to do, with the least amount of learning and/or effort. Besides that, it's extremely productive, however you fish it. This is what this bad boy looks like:

[J Francho]

I always felt like the bigger spooks and sammies were the easiest to walk.

[Bass Turd]

Whopper Plopper 90. It's a fish shaped buzz bait that floats.You can start by just casting it out and reeling it in in a steady retrieve. If they don't hit that add some pauses into your retrieve. If still no action pop it and make it look like an injured bait fish then pause and let it just float there. If still no action move to another spot and repeat.

[Crowcommander]

I agree with Bass Turd on the Whopper Plopper 90 in Phantom Shad (no 17). Also don't be afraid to  throw the 130.Underhand short casts are best as Overhead cast are like throwing a brick in the water.

[Bass Turd]

2 minutes ago, Crowcommander said:

I agree with Bass Turd on the Whopper Plopper 90 in Phantom Shad (no 17). Also don't be afraid to  throw the 130.Underhand short casts are best as Overhead cast are like throwing a brick in the water.

The only reason I didn't recommend the 130 is that it weighs almost an ounce and a half and that exceeds all but the stoutest rod weight recommendations. 

[YoTone]

theres not much to learn on the plopper. any idiot can catch bass on that.

id vote for the spook, get the walk down good and you can use that skill on frogs.

 

[Bass Turd]

11 minutes ago, YoTone said:

theres not much to learn on the plopper. any idiot can catch bass on that.

id vote for the spook, get the walk down good and you can use that skill on frogs.

 

Not cool.

[YoTone]

1 minute ago, Bass Turd said:

Not cool.

i mean i speak from experience. the plopper  for the most part, you just cast and retrieve. on a pencil you need to get a certain rhythm down using cadence in the line. its not easy but its something you work on to improve. not trying to insult anyone, ive been using the plopper everyday for the past few weeks. i still have not got the walk the dog down perfectly but its something i put work into.  

[Gundog]

For a beginner you should start out simple. Using a bait that you don't need to learn how to work. A bait like a jitter bug is a good start. Just a simple cast and retrieve bait. The action is done by just reeling in the bait. Whopper ploppers are another example but an expensive one. 

[YoTone]

3 minutes ago, Gundog said:

For a beginner you should start out simple. Using a bait that you don't need to learn how to work. A bait like a jitter bug is a good start. Just a simple cast and retrieve bait. The action is done by just reeling in the bait. Whopper ploppers are another example but an expensive one. 

but what is there exactly to learn on such bait? he said he wanted to learn. those are cast and retrieve. sure you can vary the speed of the retrieve but what can that translate into later on when or if he wants to choose another method of top water?

[Bass Turd]

Don't make it harder than it needs to be. OP said he has not caught fish on a top water bait. Many are suggesting highly productive baits that have small learning curves. Once he is confident catching fish on top water he can experiment with baits that require a longer learning curve.

[Gundog]

54 minutes ago, YoTone said:

but what is there exactly to learn on such bait? he said he wanted to learn. those are cast and retrieve. sure you can vary the speed of the retrieve but what can that translate into later on when or if he wants to choose another method of top water?

The beginnings of topwater fishing to me is a hookset. Not the easiest thing to do when fishing topwater. Learning patients and how to set the hook on a bass that hits a topwater bait is the first thing to learn. 

27 minutes ago, Bass Turd said:

Don't make it harder than it needs to be. OP said he has not caught fish on a top water bait. Many are suggesting highly productive baits that have small learning curves. Once he is confident catching fish on top water he can experiment with baits that require a longer learning curve.

^^^^This...agreed.

[YoTone]

well we can agree to disagree. i hope i didnt offend anyone by saying the plopper is almost dummy proof. i have yet to miss a strike on one therefore i deemed it almost skill less top water technique. i still love using it though and its still my go to for top water action these days but if i land a few and switch over to a frog just for a challenge. 

[soflabasser]

On 7/31/2016 at 8:01 PM, detroithiker said:

I always see fish hitting the waters surface but never really learned to fish that action.
I have picked up a few lures for it but I can never seem to make any lure cause a strike when the fish are hitting the bugs.
Now I am not just talking about the evening, I am mostly referring to middle of the day surface feeding.

So where should I start? The popper, Jitterbug, and hollow frog I own all seem far to big when they are just grabbin little bugs.
I have tried all three and just give up after about 20 casts or so without as much as a little splash.

Now I know I need practice before I can catch anything with topwater bait and I have watched videos for each of the three, but it seems like the fish are feeding on such small bugs you would have to be fly fishing to really imitate them.

Can anyone recommend a top water that is best for learning?

Try a Rebel Pop R,it's one of the easiest and best top waters to use.Fish it in relatively open water or close to aquatic vegetation.Also get a small sized hollow body frog to fish over the aquatic vegetation,it's another easy lure to use(wait for the frog to disappear under the water when a bass hits before setting the hook). 

[detroithiker]

On 8/2/2016 at 2:26 PM, iiTzChunky said:

I've seen catfish come up to the top and do the same thing, thinking they where bass I was throwing every top water I had until I realized they where cats 

That is something I must remember, thanks man.

[detroithiker]

On 8/2/2016 at 2:26 PM, iiTzChunky said:

I've seen catfish come up to the top and do the same thing, thinking they where bass I was throwing every top water I had until I realized they where cats 

That is something I must remember, thanks man.

 

[roadwarrior]

For numbers try the Zara Puppy (Black & Silver).

https://www.google.com/search?q=zara+puppy&espv=2&biw=1280&bih=699&tbm=isch&imgil=1aH9M3llRw8X-M%3A%3BPNCWrEUQwSUvSM%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252Fwww.lurenet.com%252Fheddon-wounded-zara-spook&source=iu&pf=m&fir=1aH9M3llRw8X-M%3A%2CPNCWrEUQwSUvSM%2C_&usg=__5c1T96zoGHaZeee5ksshephY9bY%3D&ved=0ahUKEwia4oOXpq_OAhVC6SYKHZSUCIIQyjcIdg&ei=kyinV9rMD8LSmwGUqaKQCA#imgrc=1aH9M3llRw8X-M%3A

 

[Drew03cmc]

I'm far from an expert on topwater, having only caught 4 bass in my life on them, but I have found that I couldn't work a WTD bait with the rod in my left hand so I have transitioned to holding the rod in my dominant hand and it made all the difference in walking a bait. Having said that, the buzzbait and Jitterbugs aren't learned skills, my easiest walking baits are the Rover 98 and the Super Spook Jr. 

[detroithiker]

On 8/1/2016 at 6:58 PM, VolFan said:

It sounds like you already have a heavy rod if you're fishing frogs, so I'm going to go a different direction - get a whopper plopper or a Mini MS Slammer in black or bluegill. Slow retrieve on the surface so they can do what they do. Don't. Look. Back.

No I have med. rod with spin reel, but I do plan to get a heavy rod with BC reel as soon I can save up the money for it.

 

[detroithiker]

On 8/2/2016 at 4:47 PM, YoTone said:

but what is there exactly to learn on such bait? he said he wanted to learn. those are cast and retrieve. sure you can vary the speed of the retrieve but what can that translate into later on when or if he wants to choose another method of top water?

Being the OP I will say I want to start off with the easy stuff, I just want to have some top water success at first so I have the confidence to believe in top water fishing, the fact that I have never landed a fish on top water is making it hard to resist switching to a soft plastic worm I know I can get hits on, this lack of confidence in top water always causes me to 2nd guess the use of the bait, due to being a new fisherman I am always thinking, "is this even gonna work right now, is the weather right for top water, is it the right time of day, am I doing this right, should I switch to something else?"  these are the kinda things that run though my head while I am waiting for a bite, when I know something works I tend to stick with it.

I hope that makes sense?

 

[Ncflats]

Spooks are easy to use and are productive walking baits. A Rebel Pop R is a simple popper to use. A lot of folks lose confidence too quickly in top water fishing. There's s time in place they perform better than others but you've got to keep it tied on to catch fish.  Build your top water confidence on either these or other listed easy to use plugs and go from there. 

[greentrout]

Storm Chug Bug

 

 

 

 

Smithwick Devil's Horse