Spro BBZ1 Rat -vs- Whopper Plopper

[WI_Angler1989]

Anyone out there have any experience with both of these topwater lures? An opinion on onw or the other? I've been drooling...I mean looking at them both but don't know if it's worth it, or if they've just caught the fisherman's eye....

They seem like they could work really well, and do for some guys on YouTube, but Idk if it worth shelling out 20 bucks when I have an assortment of buzzbaits, spooks, poppers etc already.

[j bab]

They work but so do your current baits. If you don't think it's worth it then it's not!

[WI_Angler1989]

6 minutes ago, j bab said:

They work but so do your current baits. If you don't think it's worth it then it's not!

Wise words! Let's say, for the sake of curiosity, what one would fish best in moderate to fast currents?

I do think I'll get one with my taxes aka "Tackle Stimulus Package." I'm just not really sure how the Rat works... does it sink at all or dive? I know the Whopper floats the whole time and makes a lot more commotion from the vids I've seen.

[Bluebasser86]

If I was going to be fishing in current I'd opt for the Whopper Plopper. The rat is good but at it'sbest at slow, stop and go, or even dead stick retrieves.

[Hog Basser]

I haven't tried the rat.  I have several Whopper Plopper 130's now and it's one of my go-to lures.  First time I took it out I caught 4 bass in an hour on it and 3 of them were over 3 lbs.  (I fished some other setups during that hour, so it would've caught even more)

[WI_Angler1989]

Thanks for the input guys. I think the Whopper plopper would be fun to try. Depending on high waters it can be hard to fish off of the bottom slowly. It'd be a shame to not have good opportunities to use the Rat.

[IndianaFinesse]

I agree with bluebasser86, get the whopper plopper.  The rat is effective, but usually they want it moved very slowly with long pauses that wouldn't work well in current.  I start out with reeling it about a foot, and deadstick it for 2-15 seconds, give it a small twitch, and slowly reel it another foot after letting the ripples die down after the twitch.

I use the whopper plopper kind of like a buzzbait, except I will occasionally stop it near a dock post or other ambush point for a second or two.  I prefer the 130 size for largemouth, but I don't have much experience with smallmouth fishing.

[WI_Angler1989]

38 minutes ago, IndianaFinesse said:

I agree with bluebasser86, get the whopper plopper.  The rat is effective, but usually they want it moved very slowly with long pauses that wouldn't work well in current.  I start out with reeling it about a foot, and deadstick it for 2-15 seconds, give it a small twitch, and slowly reel it another foot after letting the ripples die down after the twitch.

I use the whopper plopper kind of like a buzzbait, except I will occasionally stop it near a dock post or other ambush point for a second or two.  I prefer the 130 size for largemouth, but I don't have much experience with smallmouth fishing.

 

Thanks for the input. That makes sense. The Rat almost sounds like it's fished like a jerkbait. Sometimes that would work, but the best fishing I have tends to be current oriented. I very rarely fish lakes too, so it might end up just collecting dust. 

Plopper it is! I'm guessing the small size will be best for my smallmouth here. Big lure get less hits, but the smaller one still catch the big girls. It's too bad it doesn't have a rattle like the originals though. 

 

[Fisher-O-men]

I doubt the rattle will make any difference.  If you are going to be fishing dead calm water, the small one will do.  With any chop, you will want the 130.  The 90 tends to dive under chop.  2 pounders will eat the 130.

BTW, the Plopper is special, nothing like it.

[NHBull]

The rats were my biggest producers last yr.  I have one tied on permanently.  Best early and late in the day, but still got lucky on blue bird afternoons.  The propper has been good, but has not yielded the race results as the rats

[WI_Angler1989]

1 hour ago, NHBull said:

The rats were my biggest producers last yr.  I have one tied on permanently.  Best early and late in the day, but still got lucky on blue bird afternoons.  The propper has been good, but has not yielded the race results as the rats

 

I guess for me it just comes down to the waters I fish. I fish for smallmouth on rivers mainly and I guess the Plopper works in current well. When I'm on shore a lot it makes it hard to be picky too. You kinda have to fish where you can reach.

[WRB]

You are comparing apples to oranges. Rats are wake baits with a slow waking surface swimming action. Whopper Plopper is a straight running surface lure with a faster splashing  action similar to a buzz bait that floats. 

I have about 30 years experience with Rogers Mud Puppy lure that the Whopper Plopper copied. The Mudd puppy has a concave front end that creates a wobbling action, the Whopper Plopper being a torpedo shape front end that allows a faster straight retreive.

BBZ-1 original size rat is a floating surface lure and is a big 2oz lure that requires swimbait rod to fish properly and works good, no experience with the smaller size rats. 

The Pompadeur lure is closer to a Whopper Plopper, floats, runs straight and creates surface splashes, but is slower like a buzz bait.

Tom

[d-camarena]

I have fished both a lot. The rat works, catches above average size fish. But the whopper hands down catches more fish.

I say whopper

[CTBassin860]

Caught a few on the popper 90.My BBZ1 is in transit.Eager to tie it on.

[WI_Angler1989]

1 hour ago, d-camarena said:

I have fished both a lot. The rat works, catches above average size fish. But the whopper hands down catches more fish.

I say whopper

 

Any particular colors that work best for you? I know whites and black are reccomended a lot, but I haven't had much success on them. Maybe bluegill? Other baits in that color style get hammered

[IndianaFinesse]

6 minutes ago, WI_Angler1989 said:

 

Any particular colors that work best for you? I know whites and black are reccomended a lot, but I haven't had much success on them. Maybe bluegill? Other baits in that color style get hammered

Pick whatever color your confident in, that's what probably matters the most anyways, but I use the loon colored whopper plopper.

[MassYak85]

I wouldn't really compare the two in any way other than that they are both topwaters and both pretty popular. 

 

IMO they are worth it though. I have the 40 size rat in brown and the 130 size whopper plopper in perch. Think of them as tools though, they aren't going to magically catch fish. The whopper plopper has it's advantages over something like a buzzbait in that it puts out more commotion (I found this was good on really windy days where most other topwaters would have gotten swallowed in the waves), and can be paused on the retrieve when you get to a prime spot. I had some good blowups fishing it right along a dock and the killing it right at the last piling. But on days where they want a more subtle presentation it might not be the answer. 

 

The rat got me my third biggest fish this year, not saying I wouldn't have caught it otherwise but it was the right tool for that situation. I really like to cast near pieces of cover and just walk it. It has a great ability to do a 180 turn in place and you can keep it in the strike zone a long time and it stays in a very tight spot, it doesn't have the wide gliding action of say a spook, which when I am casting into a small hole in the lily pads is something I definitely don't want. Then I let the fish tell me how long they want it paused after a series of twitches. The biggest fish I got on it ignored it the first two casts (I didn't know it was there but the spot looked a little "too perfect") so I slowed down. It finally bit after about a 15 second pause. 

 

Whether they were worth the money is something I think only you can answer. I know I've gotten and will continue to get my money's worth out of them but I also know people on here have gave the whopper plopper a fair shot and never caught a fish on it. 

 

 

[d-camarena]

My favorite color is loon. The. All black one. Fish it on top of weeds, next to reeds and along weedlines. It will get bit. 

Ive had luck on the rat close to shallow rocky banks. 

[Bluebasser86]

T1000 and Sooner have been good for me but my dad does good on Monkey Butt.