I bit........Wopper Plopper

[Spankey]

Stressed out work day yesterday so to eliminate unwanted and unneeded stress a trip to outdoors shop on way home usually can cure this. And a sale to boot works to. 

 

I have no new technique or any type of different approach to my fishing for the upcoming bass season other than adding a few different color patterns of things I already use. 

 

As I aimlessly walk around I come across the Wopper Plopper. I know it fairly new but I've never tried it. Had seen where reviews were pretty good. They had some in the 90 series so I bit on a bluegill and minnow pattern. I feel it. Gonna work out pretty good. Staying away from the bigger 130/190. Not feeling that at all. For my situation the length of the 90's should work well at 3 1/2". 

 

Maybe not a new technique but a different variation. Without trying it yet it appears that I can cover more water with this bait. I'll see. My comparison to something that works fairly well for me already in the torpedo and skitter prop. 

[Preytorien]

You won't be sorry, that was my "rookie of the year" lure this past year, caught me a ton of topwater fish. The trebles make hookup a breeze. 

 

A couple of points I found out....

 

1. Wait a couple seconds after it hits the water to start your retrieve. Sometimes it'll get bit that instant, but otherwise the tail prop spins better in smooth water, so waiting until your splash disperses some is going to give you better action.

 

2. As you can imagine with the trebles, this isn't a 4x4 off road topwater. Grass and muck will foul the hooks and prop. I found it's best application to be over grass beds that were just barely (6 inches or so) submerged. The fish will blast up from underneath the grass and kill it

 

3. Flouro - depending on your diameter of line - will actually cause it to nose down some and impede the action. I use mine exclusively on braid, just like a topwater

 

Good luck - it's a fun lure! 

[Bluebasser86]

I have 6 of them now, 3 of the 90s and 3 130s, not by accident. The 90 is a bit temperamental, it likes to run under waves and dive at the startof the retrieve, but it was irresistible for the smallies this summer. I fished mine on a 7' MH with a 7.1 reel and 2lb braid. Hold the rod tip high and reel as soon as it touches the water and it stayed on the surface well. Mono works but it's a little harder to keep it up.

[Oklahoma Mike]

I've found that the 130 runs much better than the 90. In fact I don't bother with the 90 anymore at all. It tends to dip and roll quite a bit, whereas I haven't had that problem with the bigger version.

[Spankey]

Thanks. I'm ready to play with it some. Will be interesting. I pulled off two decent color patterns to me. But, I don't think color will matter with this thing. If it starts out well when I start using them, I'm gonna try to find one in all black or I might make one of these all black. 

 

Im no topwater expert by any means. My 2014 and 2015 topwater bite was not for crap. Developed a head case over it for two seasons. This season was a bit different. Figured I had to free my mind and maybe my butt would follow. It did. I started throwing things that have worked in the past. Picked up fish. Dinks, runts and some respectable fish. Didn't take long to get over the head case that was looming. 

 

My my wife is probably right. She has always said I take this $h!+ way too seriously. 

[RHuff]

I've had little bass hit the 90 so hard it knocked it up in the air out of the water. 

[jsh32]

Caught my first ever topwater fish on a bone colored wopper plopper 90. made me go out and buy a black 130 size that might be a bit of overkill for where I usually fish but who knows. it really got me into the topwater bite before the season ended and lead to me catching my first fish walking a spook. great lures

[Jacob Phelps]

6 hours ago, Spankey said:

Staying away from the bigger 130/190. Not feeling that at all. For my situation the length of the 90's should work well at 3 1/2". 

The whopper plopper was originally designed as a musky bait. The smaller versions were made because large bass kept blowing up on the large musky whopper plopper. Don't sleep on the 130 for bass. There are some situations where the 90 is better, however, the 130 can result in bigger bass in other situations.

[IgotWood]

All season I refused to buy one out of spite for its silly name. But then I got tired of seeing whopper plopper threads in the "Reports" forum, so I went and bought one. In the first hour on the water with it, I was only sorry that I hadn't bought one sooner. I caught MANY fish with the plopper this year, and I didn't buy one until late summer. I use the 90, and I have caught dozens of bass over 4, and several over 6 on it. I tie it direct to 20lb braid. It casts like a bomb, and yes, fish will often hit it the moment it hits the water. However, the 90 seems to take a few seconds to float back to the surface, so I usually give the rod a good pull as I start my retrieve, which causes the prop to begin turning while the bait is still submerged. This often triggers a lot of strikes. This is a very fun bait to fish.

[RichF]

The plopper craze got to me as well earlier this year.  I honestly just wanted to hear the stupid thing plop. I think I made a total of 13 casts with it.  

[j bab]

7 hours ago, Bluebasser86 said:

I fished mine on a 7' MH with a 7.1 reel and 2lb braid

You're a brave man  

[heavyduty]

Smallies were engulfing mine so bad that I was having difficulty getting the trebles out without harming the fish. I decided to install the inline hooks to eliminate that problem. Haven't fished mine yet  but others have done the same with little impact to hook up ratio and easier to catch/release the fish.

[Bluebasser86]

1 hour ago, j bab said:

You're a brave man  

It's tricky but I like to give the fish a chance. Or maybe it's 20 and my phone just doesn't like typing 20.

[MassYak85]

The 130 will catch absolute dinks. Don't let the size scare you away. I have a lot of trouble getting the 90 to run correctly in anything except dead calm water. The 130 is much more versatile IMO. Even smallmouth will crush the 130, and not just big smallmouth either. I caught 12" ones on it. 

 

I had so much success on the 130 this summer I might eventually get the 190 just to see what happens. 

[dwh4784]

I got a 90 in loon, caught one good fish on it but didn't get a lot of action otherwise. I too installed single hooks.

 

Anyone try that crazy looking whopper plopper buzzbait thing?

[Yakalong]

I've caught quite a few on the plopper, it has served me well 

[CTBassin860]

Ditto on the temperamental 90.The 90 is awesome until it takes 10 feet of reeling before it starts plopping.I've heard the 130 is the way to go.Im going to grab that one myself.

[WRB]

Fly line dressing about a 2 feet of line in front of the surface lure helps to prevent nose dives, if that bothers you. I like to double jerk the start of some top waters to make them nose down and go under water a foot or so to leave a trail of bubbles before skittering along the surface.

The mid size Plopper in bone works for me.

 

Tom

[wdp]

13 hours ago, Spankey said:

As I aimlessly walk around I come across the Wopper Plopper. I know it fairly new but I've never tried it. Had seen where reviews were pretty good. They had some in the 90 series so I bit on a bluegill and minnow pattern. I feel it. Gonna work out pretty good. Staying away from the bigger 130/190. Not feeling that at all. For my situation the length of the 90's should work well at 3 1/2". 

 

Maybe not a new technique but a different variation. Without trying it yet it appears that I can cover more water with this bait. I'll see. My comparison to something that works fairly well for me already in the torpedo and skitter prop. 

I picked up the same exact whopper plopper at bass pro a few weeks ago. Also grabbed 2 different colored skitter props as well. Looking forward to fishing them this spring. 

[Oklahoma Mike]

If you guys like the Whopper Plopper, you should give the Jackall Pompadour (and Pompadour Jr.) a try.

[Mumbly]

15 hours ago, Bluebasser86 said:

I have 6 of them now, 3 of the 90s and 3 130s, not by accident. The 90 is a bit temperamental, it likes to run under waves and dive at the startof the retrieve, but it was irresistible for the smallies this summer. I fished mine on a 7' MH with a 7.1 reel and 2lb braid. Hold the rod tip high and reel as soon as it touches the water and it stayed on the surface well. Mono works but it's a little harder to keep it up.

 

Which colors are you finding most effective for smallies?

[Scott F]

I haven't found that color makes any difference.

[AnthonyBarnaoBASS]

Personally i think that the whopper plooper is the most hyped up bait for no reason. Have caught them better on poppers, spooks and buzz baits over the whopper plopper 

[Bluebasser86]

1 hour ago, Mumbly said:

 

Which colors are you finding most effective for smallies?

T1000 and Sooner have been best for smallies for me. Some days it doesn't matter but I've seen them.be very color selective also.

[tcbass]

8 hours ago, heavyduty said:

Smallies were engulfing mine so bad that I was having difficulty getting the trebles out without harming the fish. I decided to install the inline hooks to eliminate that problem. Haven't fished mine yet  but others have done the same with little impact to hook up ratio and easier to catch/release the fish.

 

 

What hooks are those? And what size?