Top Water Bait Suggestions

[ike8120]

I would like to get some top water baits to add to what I have. I presently have buzzbaits, frogs and frog poppers. I would like to add some prop baits, poppers and stick baits.

[FishinBuck07]

For poppers I tend to stick with the old faithfuls, Hula popper for warmer weather and the Pop R for when the water is colder.  The Spook is the stick bait I use the most.

[scaleface]

Bomber Long A Minnow , silver flash ,  

[walt-14]

I'm a huge fan of the whopper ploppers (who isnt?).  All 4 of my biggest bass over the last 2-3 years have come on a whopper plopper 130 in Loon color.  It's a heavy bait so you'll definitely need some heavier gear to throw it on but just chuck and wind.  Some of the blowups on this thing are more explosive than topwater frogs.  I have the 130, 110, and the newer 75 size but the 130 outshines the rest.  

[bagofdonuts]

You should add a walking bait, like a zara spook or spook jr. Sometimes they just like that motion.

[ike8120]

1 hour ago, bagofdonuts said:

You should add a walking bait, like a zara spook or spook jr. Sometimes they just like that motion.

Any preferred color?

[BoatSquirrel]

2 minutes ago, ike8120 said:

Any preferred color?

Walking baits 2 colors- bone and chrome.  

Add to the list a pair of prop baits, 2 different colored bluegills.

Nothing like a big angry topwater bite!

[scaleface]

Back to the Long A Minnow . The largest 6 fish  limit I ever caught , between 25 and 30 pounds  , was caught on one.  I won a club tourney with one . Late in the day . I had no keepers . I tied the Long A on and fished it around shallow stumps . Caught two fish that weighed thirteen lbs .  Its a big fish bait .   

 

...and they are inexpensive

[FryDog62]

A walking bait that also pops would be a perfect complement to what you have.  The Storm Arashi Cover Pop walks easier than most walking lures, and pops about every 3-4 turns. Really a sweet lure around high percentage spots.  

[jbsoonerfan]

Pop Max, White Python if you are only getting one color

[FryDog62]

1 hour ago, walt-14 said:

I'm a huge fan of the whopper ploppers (who isnt?).  All 4 of my biggest bass over the last 2-3 years have come on a whopper plopper 130 in Loon color.  It's a heavy bait so you'll definitely need some heavier gear to throw it on but just chuck and wind.  Some of the blowups on this thing are more explosive than topwater frogs.  I have the 130, 110, and the newer 75 size but the 130 outshines the rest.  

X2 on the Whopper Ploppers.  And unless you’re using heavy gear, I highly recommend the 75.  Great for LMB and SMB, and it fishes “bigger” than the 90 which doesn’t track real well either. The 75 can be fished on most Medium rods too.  

[looking45]

Here are my suggestions. For a prop bait, check out the Deps Buzzjet. Either size works. 

For a walking/spitting bait, take a look at the Evergreen SB. One of the easiest baits to walk and it has a cupped face so you can make it spit too. It is weighted in the tail end so it sits in the water at an angle, increasing your bite/hook up ratio. Neither lure is cheap, but worth having in your tackle box

[RHuff]

I tend to categorize topwater lures into 5 basic categories.... others may do it different but it's what I do...

 

 1. Buzzbaits/Whopper Plopper/Jitterbugs

 2. Poppers

 3. Walkers

 4. Wake Baits

 5. Frogs

 

Each can catch bass effectively if used under the right circumstance....

 

If I could narrow it down to which one has produced the most and biggest fish for me it would have to be #3 Walkers...

 

 

[Finessegenics]

1 hour ago, ike8120 said:

Any preferred color?

 

1 hour ago, BoatSquirrel said:

Walking baits 2 colors- bone and chrome.  

Add to the list a pair of prop baits, 2 different colored bluegills.

Nothing like a big angry topwater bite!

Great suggestions but I'd also throw in a ghost/translucent color. It looks super natural in clear water considering that most baitfish are silver and their scales reflect their surroundings. This makes baitfish hard to see from below on a sunny day and a ghost pattern imitates this perfectly. I realize we usually dont want any lure to be hard to see but for finicky clear water bass it may be more attractive since it looks so natural. 

[river-rat]

There are two stick baits/floating jerk baits that I am never without.

 

A Cotton Cordell Redfin or a Smithwick Rogue. Either one in Gold/Black Back/Orange Belly or Chrome/Black Back. You cannot go wrong with either of these.

[waymont]

Pop-R, Zara Spook, Whopper Plopper.

[DitchPanda]

My two favorites are rebel pop r and super spook jr..change out hooks on both

[WRB]

By the op's avatar he a older gentlemen fishing from shore catching average size bass.

No budget mentioned or type of tackle preffered to use. Before making lure suggestions maybe the OP can answer type of tackle and ball park budget??

Tom

[JustJames]

7 hours ago, RHuff said:

I tend to categorize topwater lures into 5 basic categories.... others may do it different but it's what I do...

 

 1. Buzzbaits/Whopper Plopper/Jitterbugs

 2. Poppers

 3. Walkers

 4. Wake Baits

 5. Frogs

 

Each can catch bass effectively if used under the right circumstance....

 

If I could narrow it down to which one has produced the most and biggest fish for me it would have to be #3 Walkers...

 

 

I like this ^^^^ and I may be also follow this format, only modification I would do is to put Jitterbug in the same category as #2 popper.

I don’t fish a lot of top water these days but at least I’ll try to catch one in each these 5 categories. 
Whopper plopper is a nice addition to buzz bait and you can fish it slower, and poppers like rebel popper is also a more finesse than frog. 

[ike8120]

46 minutes ago, WRB said:

By the op's avatar he a older gentlemen fishing from shore catching average size bass.

No budget mentioned or type of tackle preffered to use. Before making lure suggestions maybe the OP can answer type of tackle and ball park budget??

Tom

Correct I am a young 71, all my fishing is from the bank or dock. I will be using a rod and reel specifically for topwaters. I would go around 8-10 bucks for a lure.

[WRB]

1 hour ago, ike8120 said:

Correct I am a young 71, all my fishing is from the bank or dock. I will be using a rod and reel specifically for topwaters. I would go around 8-10 bucks for a lure.

Thank you. The reason I am asking about the rod type being spinning or casting helps to determine lure weights.

Lots of suggestions for 110 & 130 Whopper Ploppers for example that weigh over 1 oz and cost about $15 each.

Spinning tackle can cast 1/4oz top water lures easier then bait casting, and longer rods over 7' make it difficult to work walking type top water lures.

Fishing from shore also means any treble hook lure hung up when casting makes it difficult to recover.

Not mentioned within your budget are; Storm Chug Bug, Heddon Torpdo lures and original Rapala F13 minnow isa good stick bait over looked that has caught more bass then all the hard stick baits combined.

Tom

[kayaking_kev]

It seems I'm in the minority by fishing the Whopper Plopper size 90 most of the time, even though I have every size but the 190. I usually only throw it on the shallow rivers while kayaking, but the smallies love it and it works from April to November on them shallow rivers. I've caught them on the 75 and 110 and I'm sure they would do just as good, but the 90 was my first one in the Loon color, so I find myself grabbing that or the Munky Butt color because it has worked so good. I've never even threw my 130 because until recently I didn't have a rod for it and the fish aren't usually that big. 

 

By far my favorite is the Whopper Plopper, then Spooks, then Poppers, but I'm going to trying throwing frogs more this year as I have only caught one fish on a frog.

[MN Fisher]

4 minutes ago, kayaking_kev said:

It seems I'm in the minority by fishing the Whopper Plopper size 90 most of the time, even though I have every size but the 190.

I've got 3-90s and a single 110. Last season not only caught LMBs on the 90-Bluegill, also caught a couple Northerns on it.

 

That, a 3/8oz Frog, and a 1/2oz Frog were my main forte' for topwaters last year. This year I'll be trying Spooks and Poppers.

[kayaking_kev]

There's a guy on Facebook selling 75's and 90's for $8 each and 110's and 130's for $10 each + shipping, but the more you buy the better deal it will be to ship. His name is Kyle Warden and it's listed in the Fishing Flea Market group by Bass Fishing Media. He has hundreds of them. There's also tons of auctions for custom painted lures and poured plastic and just about everything else.

 

I know Facebook sucks, but the Fishing groups are awesome. Whopper Plopper Nation is another good group, full of pictures of big fish and people climbing trees among other crazy stuff trying to get their Whopper Plopper back.

 

American Fishing Legacy is also only listing their used Dobyns rods in the Dobyns Group, instead of Ebay from now on, and they are also listing new Dobyns rods that they have overstocked for 20% off. If interested just use the search bar in the group and look up Graham Purcell, and it will show you the listings.

[Bird]

Spooks and whopper ploppers are fantastic but if your talking high in the water column......Jerkbaits for me all day.