Trouble with Whopper Ploppers

[Bird]

1 hour ago, TnRiver46 said:

They clearly eat the small ones in my neck of the woods but not the big ones. And I only have 1 of them and it’s huge......This conclusion is based on massive amounts of research. My buddies throw the small ones and catch fish, the big ones have still never landed anything in a few years 

The 110 makes quite a bit of commotion, more so than any top water I've thrown. 

 

The 90 has actually been a go to of mine lately, producing some fish.

 

I've been positioning my boat against the bank and casting horizontal against shore vegetation and structure using a steady retrieve.....like a buzzbait. 

[TnRiver46]

2 minutes ago, Bird said:

The 110 makes quite a bit of commotion, more so than any top water I've thrown. 

 

The 90 has actually been a go to of mine lately, producing some fish.

 

I've been positioning my boat against the bank and casting horizontal against shore vegetation and structure using a steady retrieve.....like a buzzbait. 

I’ve been using that tactic to no avail, I think I’ll just throw the buzz bait or a toad 

[kayaking_kev]

I used an 6'0 Medium Ugly Stik GX2 the previous two years and caught hundreds of smallies on the Whopper Plopper 90, it's a pretty good rod for it, IMO. It doesn't take much of a hook set, basically just a small sweep to the side and start reeling. You don't want to be to aggressive with it. Now I'm using a Dobyns Champion XP 704 Glass rod to throw the WP, but wouldn't hesitate to use the Ugly Stik GX2 again.

[PaulVE64]

My 110 whopper plopper ws getting slapped around early but two +20" smallies finished the day. I was pumped.

I think you need to be patient with a lighter hookset for topwater treble hooks 

 

 

Edit - throwing 20 lb braid + 10# fluro leader on a 7' med power fast action

Edited June 19, 2020 by PaulVE64

[Jleebesaw]

A few others have mentioned it without really emphasizing it, but don't set the hook up on those lures. Do a sideways sweep. Maybe you already are, but thats a common mistake with treble hooked topwater lures and it will make more misses. 

    My two cents on the lure is that i have caught a lot of fish on the 90 in bone. I still like a super spook jr better, but that plopper gets it done for smallies and large mouths here.

[EliHarris___]

Update, I applied the tips and went out today, caught 2 LM, 2 SM, a Pike, and a Bowfin, all on the same Loon whopper Plopper 90. Had a bunch swipe at it later and miss, I think the bone color is the way to go once it gets darker. But it’s official, whopper ploppers in rivers are amazing!!!

7 hours ago, Bird said:

The 110 makes quite a bit of commotion, more so than any top water I've thrown. 

 

The 90 has actually been a go to of mine lately, producing some fish.

 

I've been positioning my boat against the bank and casting horizontal against shore vegetation and structure using a steady retrieve.....like a buzzbait. 

Exactly my strategy too! It works amazing 

[Bluebasser86]

On 6/18/2020 at 9:54 PM, Bird said:

MH rod is your enemy with treble hooks and braid.

I use a MH/F with straight braid with no issues, it's actually the perfect combo for them IMO. I reel into the fish, no massive hookset. The stouter rod digs the hooks without a hook set and if the fish misses the bait, I didn't jerk the bait away from the fish with a hook set. When you take away the big hook set, you also take away the big holes being torn in the fish's jaw that allow it to shake free during the fight.

 

Depends a lot of the rod maker also. The rod I use is pretty true to it's ratings and has a nice even bend to it to keep hooks from tearing out of surging fish at the boat. I keep the drag fairly loose also to help keep them stuck.

[NYWayfarer]

21 hours ago, Bluebasser86 said:

I use a MH/F with straight braid with no issues, it's actually the perfect combo for them IMO. I reel into the fish, no massive hookset. The stouter rod digs the hooks without a hook set and if the fish misses the bait, I didn't jerk the bait away from the fish with a hook set. When you take away the big hook set, you also take away the big holes being torn in the fish's jaw that allow it to shake free during the fight.

 

Depends a lot of the rod maker also. The rod I use is pretty true to it's ratings and has a nice even bend to it to keep hooks from tearing out of surging fish at the boat. I keep the drag fairly loose also to help keep them stuck.

I also use a MH/F rod and use a sweeping hookset to avoid ripping the lure from the fishes mouth. While I have had success with the Loon, I know it and Bluegill colored Plopper, Bone rules the day. I catch the bulk of my fish on that color. Usually half a dozen Rock Bass to each Smallmouth. 
 

The hooks are crazy sharp. Fish get pinned just swiping at it.
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Or when they engulf it.

 

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[plawren53202]

On ‎6‎/‎19‎/‎2020 at 5:43 AM, mrc.in.wi said:

I’ve found with top water lures the “ hook set” isn’t really as important as a hesitation before. 
For me it was hard to learn. You see the blow up and want to jerk the rod and reel like crazy. Hesitate for 1-2 seconds(especially since your using braid) then a sweeping hook set not a big tv show jerking of the rod.  With braid you could be pulling the lure out all the way back to the kayak. Remember braid does not stretch at all. Don’t get too aggressive. 

Sometimes they just short strike all day and you did everything right. 

This is exactly what I was going to say. If I'm using a frog I feel like I have a lot more work to do on the hookset, since you have to drive those thick single hooks (and two of them) through. With a Plopper, you can let the trebles do most of the work. If you're getting antsy and setting the hook too early, you will definitely pull it away from them or get a skin hook that can easily break loose during the fight. Wait, let the trebles do the work, and then sweep/reel to "set" the hook.

 

Saturday the dinks were dive bombing my Plopper. They were mainly doing the "toilet bowl flush" where it would just disappear in a swirl. I was fishing it on a MH/MF casting combo. When I would see the toilet bowl flush, just wait a second until the water kind of filled the flush back in, then sweep to the side and start reeling. Like someone else said, those Plopper hooks are usually needle sharp, so unless you have been banging it on rocks or wood, just pause and let them do the work.

[Cdn Angler]

On 6/19/2020 at 12:35 PM, gimruis said:

I bought a couple a few years ago when they were all the rage...that was a mistake.  Between the two of them I think I've caught maybe 5 fish in 2+ years now.  I do think they are a well made lure, but fish just don't go after them.  I haven't had good luck with topwaters of any kind lately though, so it may just be topwater lures in general instead of the whopppers.

 

This seems to be regional. Where I am the fish go absolutely insane on whopper ploppers. They will outfish pretty much any hard bait if fish are remotely shallow and the water is decently clear, which it almost always is. There are lakes here too where the fish haven't seen them before or not too often at least. They were hard to find until recently in Canada and now we have the Choppo so that'll change.  Last week I caught about 15 bass and a muskie on a 75. The week before I had a double header, a 5 lb LMB etc. Yesterday I forced myself not to use it, but when I busted it out I caught a 4 lb SMB and a couple 3s. 

 

It is probably different on heavily stained reservoirs with a lot of fishing pressure and no SMB/Pike/Muskie. 

[gim]

1 hour ago, Cdn Angler said:

 

This seems to be regional. Where I am the fish go absolutely insane on whopper ploppers. They will outfish pretty much any hard bait if fish are remotely shallow and the water is decently clear, which it almost always is. There are lakes here too where the fish haven't seen them before or not too often at least. They were hard to find until recently in Canada and now we have the Choppo so that'll change.  Last week I caught about 15 bass and a muskie on a 75. The week before I had a double header, a 5 lb LMB etc. Yesterday I forced myself not to use it, but when I busted it out I caught a 4 lb SMB and a couple 3s. 

 

It is probably different on heavily stained reservoirs with a lot of fishing pressure and no SMB/Pike/Muskie. 

Ya, that's possible.  I should have indicated that I haven't gotten on a decent topwater bite with ANY lure for several seasons now.  So it may not be the actual lure, it could be all surface lures.

[Cdn Angler]

110 

[MGF]

I've been seeing a lot of whopper ploppers the last couple of years. I did pretty well on them last year but so far this year not a single bite. The river has been on the high side and a bit stained. I don't know if they've seen too many ploppers or if it's just the conditions. I look forward to a good top water bit and I haven't seen it this year.

[Jeff Browning]

I know I'm a little late to the party but I throw the popper a lot and I use a Ducket 7' medium crank bait rod w/ 10 lb fluorocarbon and rarely lose a fish on it, I feel like the MH is too stiff for the 90.  Even caught some decent large mouth, yes - large mouth, on the main lake of Lake Erie.  If continuing to miss strikes was a problem I'd look at upsizing the hooks by one size.

 

My .02

[kayaking_kev]

On 7/3/2020 at 6:36 PM, MGF said:

I've been seeing a lot of whopper ploppers the last couple of years. I did pretty well on them last year but so far this year not a single bite. The river has been on the high side and a bit stained. I don't know if they've seen too many ploppers or if it's just the conditions. I look forward to a good top water bit and I haven't seen it this year.

Probably just the conditions. Almost two months ago I was in the same situation, murky and high river and the WP wasn't attracting many bites. I switched to a Bitsy Bug Jig and caught fish. A week or two later when the river settled a little bit, they went back to destroying the WP and have been ever since, except now the river is super low.

 

I don't think the river fish get sick of the WP from season to season, at least at where I fish. I kayak the same 3 mile stretch anywhere from 2-4 times a week usually from May through October and throw the WP 75% of the time and catch a lot of smalllies and rock bass, I'm sure some of the same ones multiple times over. 

 

To be fair, they will eat anything I throw, but the WP is just easier to cover water fast and get retrieve across currents, and the river is 1-2 ft deep most of the time, so I throw it most of the season on the river and all day long, it doesn't matter what time of day or how sunny it is. The worse part is in the fall when you have to constantly pick fallen leaves off your hooks. And, also when you hook yourself with one of them hooks, I learned the hard way on the July 4th.