What Should Be My Next Top Water Lure?

[Brett's_daddy]

Okay, I have decided that my favorite bass fishing technique is top water and have focused on trying to assemble a decent collection that will cover most instances within that technique. For loud, splashy lures I have River2sea Whopper Plopper's in the 90/130 sizes and I have a couple of Jackall Pompadours (the bigger size), for noisy walking lures I have a couple of River2sea Bubble Walker 80's on order, for more subtle walking lures I have a couple of Lucky Craft Sammy 100's. My question is this...if you could get only a couple more lures to round out this collection would you get...

A.) another set of more subtle walking lures like the Duo Realis Pencil 110

B.) a slightly noisier walking bait like the Lucky Craft Gunfish 115

C.) another noisy walking lure like the Evergreen Shower Blows 105/125?

I know, decisions, decisions...of course I'd LOVE to get ALL of them but unfortunately my budget is maxing out along with the wife's patience...lol. Any helpful opinions would be appreciated!!!

[EvanT123]

Try a prop bait like a smith wick devils horse. 

[Sam]

Cavitron buzzbaits.

[Maico1]

Megabass Pop Max and Grand Siglett.....Deps Buzzjet Jr.

[IndianaFinesse]

I would highly recommend getting a hollow belly frog to round out your topwater selection.  They are extremely versatile, so many people think they are just for heavy surface vegetation but they are just as effective (or more) in open water.  They also skip very well, even better than a jig making them great dock skipping lures when the fish retreat to far under docks to hit with the rest of your topwater selection.  Although you usually can't see them strike a frog when it's skipped underneath a dock, you can still hear them explode on the surface.

[Jaderose]

Lot of money in that OP.  What's wrong some good ol' Spooks and Pop'r's?  Throw in a Jitterbug or 2 and I'm a happy topwater man.  

["hamma"]

Not to be disrecpectful, but,...

 The popular topwaters are: Propbaits, walkers, poppers, and frogs. You seem to have several of one type, and a couple of another. But have yet to round out the rest of the scene. I know confidence is huge, but to not cover your bases is just bad baseball to me.

(forgive me if a whopper plopper is a popper, this old fart has never seen one)

 To not have a rebel pop-r or 5,.. is just a blaintant form of bass angling sacriledge in my opinion. lol,.... poppers are probably the number one topwater in my eyes. I dont think I could go fishing without at least a few with different colored bellies. To think of the early morning rippled surface bass you've been missing out on? OMG. Yeah a walker,or prop may work under those conditions, but a popper kills there.

And dont you ever fish weeds? a hollow bodied frog is staple, many years ago I didnt like the "snag proof frog"  hookup/catch ratio,...and used a johnsons weedless spoon and a white grub trailer for emerged weeds. But these days?,... there are new and improved frogs that hookup just fine.  And seeing as its summertime and a "warm" one at that. Pigs lie in wait under those super thick lilypads, and frogs are the ticket.

If I were you?  I'd look into rounding out the topwater scene, as the options you've left on the table, are some of the best offered. period.

 

[Brett's_daddy]

The Bubble Walker is a walking/popping type lure. I may add another popper type in the future (actually heard that the KVD Splash is really good as well as the Jackall SK Grande Pop). I do have a hollow bodied frog...a Boo-Yah Pad Crasher...but it's not the best out there and I'm sure that a Spro Dean Rojas Bronzeye 65 OR King Daddy would be MUCH better. How about any of the options I listed...are any of those necessary additions at this point?

[r3825]

Absolutely nothing wrong with a pad crasher.

[Big Swimbait]

1/4 oz Yellow Magic Popper - I've worn the paint off of my Bone colored one & probably changed the hooks five times - still catches fish.

[BassObsessed]

Buzzbaits, Frogs ( many different types), poppers, wakebaits.

[jr231]

You can spend 20+ on the fancy "name brand " poppers . But I truly believe the magic comes from YOUR hands. Another vote for the rebel pop r. 

I got my PB on a rapala skitter pop.  Mid day in the summer. Only cost me about 7 bucks. 

So for what it costs for one of the 'high end' lures , you can have 3 different sizes and colors. You're gonna have the people that swear by them , but I bet you whoever your idol is; can catch a hog on a much cheaper popper . 

[CybrSlydr]

I have a Rapala X-Rap Pop - haven't caught anything with it yet, but it performs quite well on the water.  Makes plenty of noise, bubbles, etc.

[scaleface]

I'm going to suggest a Bomber Long A Minnow .. My favorite post spawn  top water .

[Torn Thumb]

I would at least get one Super Spook. A blast to use and they're usually $7-8.I don't know much about the JDM stuff mentioned in the original post other than what I've read here. Couldn't hurt for you to try it.

[Jaderose]

3 hours ago, Brett's_daddy said:

 I do have a hollow bodied frog...a Boo-Yah Pad Crasher...but it's not the best out there and I'm sure that a Spro Dean Rojas Bronzeye 65 OR King Daddy would be MUCH better. 

Ok...wait a minute.....Let me start by saying that only you know what you can afford to spend on fishing gear.  If you can afford "The Best" and that is what you want.....go for it.  BUT!! ........with that said....bass don't see price tags.  Pad Crashers are GREAT frogs and I (and a whole bunch of other folks) throw them all the time.  My favorite frog is the Scumfrog Trophy Series.  I can afford other frogs but I CATCH A LOT OF FISH with these.  I can find them for 4.99 every day of the week.  I don't fish cheap.  My terminal tackle is the best I can afford.  I buy quality lines.  and so should you.  But spending top dollar on lures will NOT make you a better fisherman.  I would love to have a box of Roman Made Swimbaits but that would just be silly.  Get some Pop'r's.  Get some Jitterbugs for first or last light.  Get some Hula Poppers.  Throw them.  Learn how to work them.  There is a REASON they have been around forever.  They catch fish and have for a LOOOOOONG time.  Everything...and I mean EVERYTHING is a ripoff of a Hula Popper, A jitter bug, a Pop'r , a spook, A Devil Horse, or a Cavitron Buzzbait.  My .02.

 

Off my soapbox.

[WRB]

Wake bait like a Srpo or MS rat.

Pop-R type like a Splash-It.

Hollow body frog.

Tom

[primetime]

You should have imo the following types of lures, I am not a brand name guy but some lures have different features and actions that other lures do not replicate.

1-Popper, small, medium best for bass fishing, Sometimes you need that tiny small Popper, a Balsa wood popper like the Skitter pop is necessary imo because no other lure I have used sounds identical to a bluegill. It has a different shape than all the others, the Berkley Frenzy was good buy hard to find now. All Poppers are good, make sure one has a dressed treble hook, that matters some days.

2-Walking lures that are silent, One Knocker, standard rattling. Sound matters, then a Pencil Popper style walking lure like a Chug Bug, Gunfish, Chugn Spook, which then brings to the chugger series of lures with deeper cups. The Rebel Popper is so good because they make 4 sizes, Have all the colors you need, Pradco website offers all the G-Finish lures and I buy inexpensive and expensive lures based on color and if they can do something that is unique.

3- Buzzbaits style lures, Whopper Plopper, but to me, I would never fish topwater without a Torpedo, Bagley's Bang O lure Prop, Rapala X Rap Prop or Devils Horse, then you need a lure that can walk fast like the Rebel T-10 or Ima Skimmer.

4- Wake baits, and Floating Jerkbaits. If you don't have a Floating Rapala and a Jointed Rapala, that is malpractice, they are both balsa lures that are the #1 lure sold in the world for years for a reason. You will never regret that purchase and as a Minnow bait/Rip bait freak, I have yet to find a lure that can do what the Rapala Minnow does except maybe the Older Bang O lures, but size #11 is standard, Bomber Long A 14, 15, Rattling Floating Rogue for stained water, suspend dots help suspend, wake, make them more weedless.

5- Clear water, you need a small clear walking bait imo, clear Zara Spook in the small size. It helps to hit the store to see the sounds, you don't want all your walking lures to be one knockers or loud rattling. 

Pick the brands you like since confidence matters, make sure you understand why a lure has light "Cheap looking" hooks on them. You can buy $20 Poppers that have hooks that will bend that are top qualiity, but many of the JDM lures are designed for Japanese lakes where fishing pressure is high, so they go light line, smaller lures alot of the time. People complain about Rebel Hooks which are cheap hooks depending on the model and year made, but if you are throwing a small Rapala or Rebel Popper on 30lb braid, you need to make sure you have your drag set properly. I am sure we have all made that mistake. 

If you google, best topwater lures for Bass fishing, You will find articles on the categories and theories, at the end of the day you only need a few, but I would rather start my collection with a lure in all categories, sizes, than have duplicates of $15 lures if that makes sense. The Duo 64 Popper is fantastic, but some days when you here Bluegills popping, I can't think of a lure that I would pull out of my box other than a Skitter Pop, They make small ones and huge ones. Balsa rides high, over weeds, you can get a balsa lure over submerged weeds where most throw frogs. 

My last lure.....Kind of my secret bait...The AC Shiner which is hand carved and you can get lucky and find them or $10 or less, New they can be really expensive but on light line, Hard to beat it now matter how you throw it. 

Hope that helps. Keep in mind. Only a few OEM's or Factories make Hardbaits, so you start to see why all the lures on the market look similar however they have different colors, hooks, and internals. I used to love the Devil's horse until I switched to the X-Rap Prop which has a few tweaks the Bernie Shultz designed, and those Tweaks work, I have not used the DH in years except for the smaller version. Some days prop baits can outfish any other lure. Torpedo is great, just add split rings. I recently had a day where the Tiny Torpedo was all they would touch, I tried throwing the LC G Splash, An Imakatsu lure that ended up in my box, but the size of the tiny torpedo was the key, color didn't matter, but they would not hit anything longer or fatter. Does not always happen that way, but when it does, $5 small lures come in handy.

[primetime]

Subtle walking lures would be a Silent no rattles inside.....Silent Spook, I know the older ones do not have any rattles, neither do a few other models, but often Silent will outfish any lure with rattles. I would also not want a pencil walking lure for subtle, but that is just my opinion. A good Silent but productive walking lure is a Red Fin Minnow. Some guy on TV was winning some tournament chucking the 5" Version and it wobbles so wide you can just walk it or wake it, you can modify a Red Fin to do just about anything. Best part is it also comes in 4" or Rippling version which suspends or floats, put short shanks on it, and you only need a few inches of water to use it. If Lakes have Thread fin shad, big shiners, that is my first choice for a hardbait, and wake baits don't always work , but you will know when is the right time fairly quickly. 

Lots of guys in Florida throw the big Cordell Pencil Popper which is used more than people would ever know. The Cordell Pencil is big but thin, and when looking for a big bite, hard to beat that as a big topwater. 135 is big.

[Dave A]

Black Jitterbug or Black buzzbait are my 2 favorite topwater baits followed by Heddon's Spook.

[Raul]

Megabass Gatta X should be your next top water.

[Molay1292]

No top water collection is complete without some form of a Spook.  My favorite is the Spook Jr. in Bone White.  Inexpensive and very effective.   

Don't feel like you have to be in a hurry to purchase everything at once, the fish will be here and so will the baits.

 

[MikeWright]

Well they have the Sexy Dawg Jr and regular from SK, IMO the Jr is the perfect size...then there's the Spook and Spook Jr from Heddon, the first bass I caught on top water was with a  Rebel Popr. <--Awesome bait. So many colors and sizes to choose from. And if you want a more expensive one than the Rebel Popr you can try the Shibuke Popper from GYM. Than we have the hollow bodied frogs...and you said you had the Boo Yah Pad Crasher? That's an excellent choice, but I like the mini version. Even the soft plastic frogs from Ribbit and SK are pretty good. The options are endless...I say practice the different types of top waters before you pour a bunch of money into it. 

 

But what do I know, I'm stuck on jigs at the moment!!! 

[Jaw1]

Don't forget a cheap Zara puppy small but effective and if you can find one get(the one) by paycheck baits. It looks funny but is a fish catching machine but I think it's been discontinued for some reason. 

[PourMyOwn]

Heddon Baby Torpedo is my favorite smallmouth topwater.