"Plopping" Topwaters

[Paul Roberts]

I don't own a single WP. How's it different from a Jitterbug, Crazy Crawler, or buzzbait? Retread, or whole new thing?

[Heartland]

It's exactly the same, only different.  Seriously though there are a thousand and one videos on everything a guy could possibly ever want to know about a WP.   All I can tell you is that they catch fish, the sound they produce and their action is not like any of the baits you mentioned.  Spend the 10 bucks and join the party. YOLO

[Mobasser]

I havnt bought a whopper Plopper yet and I'm sure I won't. I like a buzzbait. Been using them for years.

[Scott F]

1 hour ago, Mobasser said:

I havnt bought a whopper Plopper yet and I'm sure I won't. I like a buzzbait. Been using them for years.

What if you could up your hooking percentage drastically. Or that you could slow down or even stop your buzz bait. Wouldn’t that be nice?

[Mobasser]

7 minutes ago, Scott F said:

What if you could up your hooking percentage drastically. Or that you could slow down or even stop your buzz bait. Wouldn’t that be nice?

Yes. And I think this may be the reason for the success of the Whopper Plopper. I just havnt bought one yet.

[FishTank]

I look at it this way..... If the bass are hitting topwater, they will hit on just about anything if presented correctly, poppers, buzzbaits, frogs, walk the dog baits, etc.  The Whopper Plooper is just another prop bait to me but by the way it is made it shows the color of the bait better, it stays on top of the water (better presentation), and the hook ups are better. 

[scaleface]

I have a pretty high hookup rate with buzzbaits plus I can fish them through snags . So I dont feel the need to get a whopper plopper . Ignorance is bliss .

[The Bassman]

33 minutes ago, scaleface said:

 Ignorance is bliss .

I like to say that if ignorance is bliss then I'm one happy camper.

[Koz]

1 hour ago, FishTank said:

I look at it this way..... If the bass are hitting topwater, they will hit on just about anything if presented correctly, poppers, buzzbaits, frogs, walk the dog baits, etc. 

 

As someone who has fished all of those and the Whopper Plopper I strongly disagree. I love to fish all topwaters, and there are times when I've fished buzzbaits and frogs with no luck, but then I throw a Whopper Plopper and it gets smoked for an hour straight.

 

There are also times when the Whopper Plopper doesn't produce at all. One thing that I have read about the WP is that it is "tuned" to drive bass crazy when it's used over rocky or hard bottomed surfaces and that's where it performs best. I can't confirm that since every place I fish had weedy or soft, muddy bottoms.

 

The best 45 minute stretch of fishing in my life was with a Whopper Plopper. On almost every single cast I landed a 2-3 pounder for that 45 minute stretch. It was ridiculous. The only reason it ended was I had to get home. But like I stated earlier, sometimes it's a complete dud. And down here it's an alligator magnet so I don't always get to fish it. But you're missing out if you don't have a Bone WP 110 in your tackle box.

[Paul Roberts]

Thanks, all. I'm like so many of us here... more lures than I have time to put to work.

1 hour ago, Koz said:

One thing that I have read about the WP is that it is "tuned" to drive bass crazy

This is one thing I've heard too many times before. One of my pet peeves is such hyperbole (to put it nicely) rather than some straight up facts/data in the ads or on the box, that might help us choose the right, or a new, tool. Now, I could be wrong on this one,  but... the "drive fish crazy" line came out with the first commercial bone hooks.

 

Not meaning to single you out, at all. It's just that I long ago became gun shy -or "lie shy"- when it comes to advertising speak.

[Subaqua Adinterim]

Have one and tried it for the first time this year in the ADKs.  Nothing else was working, so why not try it.  Shallow lake, fairly windy day; threw it out for the first time and bammo, the biggest fish of my vacation week slammed it.

At that point, I was batting 1,000.  I proceeded to cast it over 100 more times before catching another one, so I can only conclude that I don't know much, except -like any other lure, it has it's place and time, finding out when that is; is just fishing.

It is fun to watch it do it's thing and hope something will smash it.

[MIbassyaker]

For some reason, nobody calls the Whopper Plopper a propbait, but that's basically all it is: a big propbait with a specialized propeller.

[Paul Roberts]

You know... I don't have any prop-baits! Except for some tiny torpedo's I used back when I had stream smallies available to me. (Gosh I miss them.) I did have a Hellraiser a long while back, and I liked it! But, I've just not added any. I guess when I thought of them, I wondered the same question:  "I've already got buzzbaits..." And when would I choose the prop over the buzzer, or a chugger for that matter?

 

Guess I'm going to find out. I ordered a Berkley Choppo. They had a color that made me go "Oooooo..." as well. Sold!

[fin]

I found one hanging in a tree. Otherwise I probably never would have bought one. I've got just about every other kind of topwater, and I gotta say, it is unique. I haven't used it enough yet to say whether it's worth the money, but it looks really good in the water.

[Paul Roberts]

47 minutes ago, Hank. said:

I found one hanging in a tree.

I find a lure almost every time I'm out. Its gotten so when I come home, my son says, "Streak still going?" They happen to be what's popular too. In order lately: Senko's (of course), frogs, and square-bills. Found a Live Target Sunfish; something I'd have never bought. No WPs, yet. But I suspect most people wouldn't risk throwing a WP too close to a tree, and would probably climb one to get it back. Me, I have my extendable video poles. So, here's hoping.

[FishDewd]

5 hours ago, Paul Roberts said:

I find a lure almost every time I'm out. Its gotten so when I come home, my son says, "Streak still going?" They happen to be what's popular too. In order lately: Senko's (of course), frogs, and square-bills. Found a Live Target Sunfish; something I'd have never bought. No WPs, yet. But I suspect most people wouldn't risk throwing a WP too close to a tree, and would probably climb one to get it back. Me, I have my extendable video poles. So, here's hoping.

Cant tell you how much much money I've saved by the generosity of other fisherman who lose their lures in trees for me and retrieval pole to find! When the fishing isn't working out... I go lure fishing! And I rarely come up empty handed!

[GReb]

WPs have worked when buzzbaits didn’t and vice versa. Just another tool in your box. No reason not to have it at your disposal

[5by3]

22 minutes ago, GReb said:

WPs have worked when buzzbaits didn’t and vice versa. Just another tool in your box. No reason not to have it at your disposal

+1

 

i have also noticed around me that some lakes are “wp lakes” and others are not. Some lakes I just can’t seem to get a bite on one, others it’s an absolute slugfest. Haven’t quite figured out why...

[Bluebasser86]

3 hours ago, GReb said:

WPs have worked when buzzbaits didn’t and vice versa. Just another tool in your box. No reason not to have it at your disposal

This is exactly what I've found. They almost always eat one and not the other, or at least eat one much better than the other. Smallmouth especially seem to prefer the ploppers over the buzzbaits. I was a hard sell on them, but I'm completely bought in after trying them. 

[Choporoz]

I have four WPs with exactly one fish total on them.  

 

But....I should add that I have never caught a fish on a buzzbait.  For no reason that I can figure, most of the waters I fish are not much good for topwater outside of frogs/toads in slop and pads.

[SWVABass]

SI’ve had noticed on the water where I fish it will eliminate certain fish. I can throw the 90 and anything will eat it. But if I pick up a 110 fish like white bass will leave it alone more and I’ll pick up largemouth on it. I’ve yet to catch a big fish on it but it has produced well. 

 

Also it is a fun bait for a kid to throw. Weighs a lot and doesn’t require more than turning the handle to work it. They get hooked on fish smashing it.

[Cgolf]

4 hours ago, Bluebasser86 said:

This is exactly what I've found. They almost always eat one and not the other, or at least eat one much better than the other. Smallmouth especially seem to prefer the ploppers over the buzzbaits. I was a hard sell on them, but I'm completely bought in after trying them. 

I have way to many ploppers for my lack of topwater skills. I just never know when is a good time to toss them and give up too quickly to go back to what I know.

 

Once I figure it out I want to check out some of the smaller Musky options, there are some pretty cool but pricey designs out there.

[Primus]

To any on the fence regarding the Whopper Plopper, they are not very expensive. Try it and see for your self. 

[Dens228]

On 1/6/2019 at 10:06 AM, Koz said:

 

As someone who has fished all of those and the Whopper Plopper I strongly disagree. I love to fish all topwaters, and there are times when I've fished buzzbaits and frogs with no luck, but then I throw a Whopper Plopper and it gets smoked for an hour straight.

 

There are also times when the Whopper Plopper doesn't produce at all. One thing that I have read about the WP is that it is "tuned" to drive bass crazy when it's used over rocky or hard bottomed surfaces and that's where it performs best. I can't confirm that since every place I fish had weedy or soft, muddy bottoms.

 

The best 45 minute stretch of fishing in my life was with a Whopper Plopper. On almost every single cast I landed a 2-3 pounder for that 45 minute stretch. It was ridiculous. The only reason it ended was I had to get home. But like I stated earlier, sometimes it's a complete dud. And down here it's an alligator magnet so I don't always get to fish it. But you're missing out if you don't have a Bone WP 110 in your tackle box.

After reading your post, specifically about the rocky bottom it made me realize that I've only had decent success with the Whopper Plopper in two places.  A small lake that has a rock bottom that meets up with a soft bottom.  There are weeds to the edge of the soft bottom so I fished it along those with success, the other place is a quarry where I fish it around a small island with an obviously rock shelf at about 5 feet deep.   Now I can start putting that piece to the puzzle!

[Team9nine]

So far, I've been wholly unimpressed the times I've thrown the bait, both the 90 and the 110. A handful of fish at best and a pretty poor hookup ratio when I have gotten bites. Maybe I've been unfortunate to throw it only in places, or at times, where it doesn't work well. Bought a few to try and so far have left most unopened on the shelf because of the poor showing.

 

On 1/6/2019 at 11:06 AM, Koz said:

There are also times when the Whopper Plopper doesn't produce at all. One thing that I have read about the WP is that it is "tuned" to drive bass crazy when it's used over rocky or hard bottomed surfaces and that's where it performs best. I can't confirm that since every place I fish had weedy or soft, muddy bottoms.

 

...And please don't take offense, as this is directed in response to the bolded statement in general, and obviously not you since you read it somewhere else, but I'm filing that one under "load of crap" wherever it came from