40%!

[T-Billy]

2 minutes ago, Aaron_H said:

 

I hear that big time. I keep track of them too. The fish log for me is something I use to try and establish patterns. I'm not always successful at it, but I do feel it has helped me to become better at targeting larger bass. But we've all got our methods that help us learn and push us to be better, and I've seen the impressive success you have so I know it's working for you!

Thank you my friend. Right back atcha. You for sure know how to catch 'em yourself.

It doesn't get much more simple than the way I go about it. Big rod+braid+straight shank+the gnarliest cover I can find to pitch into.

The main alternative to that is a chatterbait at night. I fish it over submerged weeds, along hard weedlines, and crawl it over rock structure.

My recently acquired A rig addiction is paying off in musky lately, but I'm sure it's gonna produce some big bass for me at some point. I still have a lot to learn when it comes to that rig, but I'm making progress.

[Aaron_H]

10 minutes ago, T-Billy said:

Thank you my friend. Right back atcha. You for sure know how to catch 'em yourself.

It doesn't get much more simple than the way I go about it. Big rod+braid+straight shank+the gnarliest cover I can find to pitch into.

The main alternative to that is a chatterbait at night. I fish it over submerged weeds, along hard weedlines, and crawl it over rock structure.

My recently acquired A rig addiction is paying off in musky lately, but I'm sure it's gonna produce some big bass for me at some point. I still have a lot to learn when it comes to that rig, but I'm making progress.

 

 

Don't you dare give that bait monkey another thing to harass me with!

 

4 hours ago, ol'crickety said:

Most of you guys know I fish a lot of surface lures, primarily the Whopper Plopper and wake baits. I also fish with spinning reels because I can cast farther. A big Whopper Plopper with ten lb. mono can be slung a long ways, which means that there's a lot of water to plop before it returns to my canoe.

 

What still surprises me, after decades of catching bass, largemouth and smallmouth, with surface lures, is that I catch 40% or so of my bass in the first two or three feet of where the lure lands. The chances of catching a fish diminish the closer I am to the canoe, unlike muskies, which are slap-happy to take a lure two feet from me. This is my best guess:

 

First two to three feet from where the lure lands: 40% of the largemouth I catch

 

Next five to ten feet after that: another 40% of the fish I catch

 

The rest of the retrieve: the remaining 20% of the fish I catch

 

Does it play this way, percentage-wise, for the rest of you?

 

I think it works this way because even though I'm a quiet fisher, bass are less wary the farther they are from me and thus more willing to strike. It's not like I'm casting at rocks and logs, like I do with smallmouth in Ontario, here in Maine. I'm mostly fishing weed beds and lily pads and one would think that there are bass all along an edge or over submerged weeds...and I think there are, but a little more wary because I inevitably make a little noise in my canoe, which puts them on edge.

 

For Ontario smallmouth, I catch 60%-70% of my fish in the first twitch or two of my Rapala.

 

Katie, sorry I got side-tracked in the discussion. I don't have enough data on my topwater-specific bites to say one way or the other, but this sounds about right for my fishing in general. A lot of time I am casting to targets with the understanding that bass are relating to it, and therefore should bite within close range of it. I do still get a lot of bites casting out into the wild blue yonder, but usually only when they're working bait schools.

[Jar11591]

Poppers have been my #1 bait for numbers 5 out of the last 6 years, and I’ve found the same thing. The majority of my strikes come within several feet from where the bait lands. I attribute it to that the drawing power from the bait landing is greater than the action of the bait, and any catchable bass that are in the area are immediately alerted when it lands. Whereas the action of the bait may not have enough drawing power to alert any additional catchable bass that weren’t already alerted to the bait when it landed. Just a theory by a frequent topwater fisherman.  

[Swamp Girl]

1 hour ago, Aaron_H said:

 

 

Don't you dare give that bait monkey another thing to harass me with!

 

 

Katie, sorry I got side-tracked in the discussion. I don't have enough data on my topwater-specific bites to say one way or the other, but this sounds about right for my fishing in general. A lot of time I am casting to targets with the understanding that bass are relating to it, and therefore should bite within close range of it. I do still get a lot of bites casting out into the wild blue yonder, but usually only when they're working bait schools.

 

I like sidetracks. No need to apologize. 

 

I'm wondering now if I shouldn't chuck my lures like Doug Flutie and his famous Hail Mary, but make shorter and MORE casts to trigger more reaction bites.

 

T-Billy, come to Maine to catch loads of bass. I'll get a tandem canoe, put you in the bow, and park you on fish. I've scouted 19 new ponds for next year. So much to explore! One is a 450-acre bog. Geez, I could spend a week exploring that and still miss some nooks.

 

I already mentioned the pond I scouted last week. You drive down a dead end road to a stop sign, explaining that the land is private and you must follow the rules, the first one being don't drive down to the pond. The landowner even erected a barrier to stop cars. Well, I bought wheels for my canoe, so I'll roll down to the pond and launch. The pond only has three cabins on it and connects by a mile-long swamp/creek to a bigger pond with another three cabins. Not completely wild, but close, since a lot of cabins are only inhabited for a week or two each summer. It looks great. And on the drive to this pond, I passed two swamps, so the first morning I go there, I'm going to stop and cast into both swamps. 

 

Another pond I'm aching to fish is one I already fished this year. It's almost all lily pads, but I caught two 18-inch bass and lost a 19-inch bass on my visit there. 90% of the pond is a mile of lily pads, but I've caught a few fish froggin' now and I think I'm ready for The Show. 

 

And I've been watching videos about how big bass can be caught pre-spawn. Spring will be my Christmas and I'll be like a kid whining to open the presents. 

[gim]

I can’t read any more threads that associate with these stupid whopper ploppers. I cant. I just cant.

[MN Fisher]

5 minutes ago, gimruis said:

I can’t read any more threads that associate with these stupid whopper ploppers. I cant. I just cant.

Down on your luck? I've caught bass and northern on WP-90s on Tonka...maybe you're just not using them right.

[Aaron_H]

3 minutes ago, gimruis said:

I can’t read any more threads that associate with these stupid whopper ploppers. I cant. I just cant.

 

They work!

[Cgolf]

4 hours ago, Aaron_H said:

 

I use a click counter app on my phone that allows you to make custom counters. Currently I have one counter for each of the more common species I catch in freshwater, I find it very handy at the end of the day when I fill out my fishing log for the trip.

I might look into this. I use the manual kind in the boat to track fish caught and lures used on vacation. I have actually used that data to somewhat defeat the bait monkey and keep my purchases focused on what works. 

 

4 hours ago, ol'crickety said:

Okay, I've changed my mind. I think distance might still be in play, but now I'm going with Dwight, ironbjorn, and the other "it's a reaction strike" guys. The longer the lure's in the water, the more time the bass have to study it and find some fault with it. 

 

MassBass, I do vary my retrieve and try pauses, but I haven't found the pauses to be more triggering than a steady retrieve. It's not that I don't catch fish on a pause. It's that I catch the same number, more or less, and the pause means I'm covering less water. 

 

AaronH, I like your click counter. However, my boat is so wet that I keep my cell phone in plastic. It still sorta works in the plastic, but it's a pain.

I know you mention long casts. Are these just long casts on a flat or bomb casts to a target? If it’s in the general area of the target it makes a lot of sense, but yeh like others said maybe a reaction thing if just covering a flat. If the latter is the case maybe the startup which always looks awkward to me with a plopper seals the deal?
 

Wonder if it has anything to do with the plopper briefly stating sub surface? Maybe it’s my style but the first little bit doesn’t have the plop retrieve if you know what I mean?

[Aaron_H]

3 minutes ago, Cgolf said:

I might look into this. I use the manual kind in the boat to track fish caught and lures used on vacation. I have actually used that data to somewhat defeat the bait monkey and keep my purchases focused on what works. 

 

I know you mention long casts. Are these just long casts on a flat or bomb casts to a target? If it’s in the general area of the target it makes a lot of sense, but yeh like others said maybe a reaction thing if just covering a flat. If the latter is the case maybe the startup which always looks awkward to me with a plopper seals the deal?
 

Wonder if it has anything to do with the plopper briefly stating sub surface? Maybe it’s my style but the first little bit doesn’t have the plop retrieve if you know what I mean?

 

I like how customizable it is. Like I use it for species and just keep the lure breakdown in my head for my log, but if I was only counting bass I could instead use the counters for a lure breakdown, or even a color breakdown. Lots of possibilities for what to track with it versus the physical counters.

[Woody B]

35 minutes ago, gimruis said:

I can’t read any more threads that associate with these stupid whopper ploppers. I cant. I just cant.

 

Maybe it's a pond thing.  My youngest Grandson caught a largemouth 1 ounce shy of 7 pounds in a pond on a plopper.  He tries on in my boat, on lakes and can't buy a bass.   A couple times I've caught decent bass by casting a Devils Horse where he had just got nothing on a plopper.    Certain times of the year I see everyone throwing either whopper ploppers or buzz baits.  The ones I talk to at the landing never catch anything.   

 

Most of my Devils Horse bass are caught near where the lure landed, but I normally make targeted cast to either visible, or known underwater targets.   Often times with "moving" baits I cast past the area where I think a bass is.   

[Swamp Girl]

1 hour ago, Cgolf said:

I might look into this. I use the manual kind in the boat to track fish caught and lures used on vacation. I have actually used that data to somewhat defeat the bait monkey and keep my purchases focused on what works. 

 

I know you mention long casts. Are these just long casts on a flat or bomb casts to a target? If it’s in the general area of the target it makes a lot of sense, but yeh like others said maybe a reaction thing if just covering a flat. If the latter is the case maybe the startup which always looks awkward to me with a plopper seals the deal?
 

Wonder if it has anything to do with the plopper briefly stating sub surface? Maybe it’s my style but the first little bit doesn’t have the plop retrieve if you know what I mean?

 

 

Mostly long casts on a flat. I like your thinking, that the bass might not just be reaction striking to a lure landing near them, but also reacting to the change in the Whopper Plopper, first churning underwater and then breaking to the surface like an Orca. 

[T-Billy]

2 hours ago, ol'crickety said:

I'm wondering now if I shouldn't chuck my lures like Doug Flutie and his famous Hail Mary, but make shorter and MORE casts to trigger more reaction bites.

 

I think it's a situational thing Katie. When it's slick calm fish are easily spooked and long casts can definitely be beneficial. I'll let a popper sit until the rings disappear before the first pop when it's slick calm.

Add a little wind, and the fish are less spooky and more casts and a faster cadence might be more productive. 

The plopper has been most productive for me after the spawn and before the weedbeds top out. A 110 in loon over submerged grass can be awesome, especially at night.

[Woody B]

Regarding a catch log.  Take a picture with the location enabled on your smart phone.  It will have the time, and gps location.  Take the picture with the lure still in the fishes mouth is you want to record that.   

 

I never count how many I catch,  I count my pictures at the end of the day.   

[T-Billy]

2 hours ago, ol'crickety said:

T-Billy, come to Maine to catch loads of bass. I'll get a tandem canoe, put you in the bow, and park you on fish.

Careful what you wish for. That canoe will never stay upright. I set the hook like a 200# Spider Monkey pumped full of red bull. 

[papajoe222]

With most topwaters, I pause once the lure touches down.  Sometimes it's only five seconds or so, but other times, especially with floating Rapalas in the spring, I'll let it sit 30 seconds or more before moving it.  I'll also pause once or twice during the retrieve. I'd say, for me, 50% of strikes come either while the bait is sitting still, or just as I start working it. 

For some reason, I just can't get a buzzbait to sit on top without it sinking and forget pausing one mid-retrieve.  Those are the only topwater I use as a search bait. My follow up for missed fish is almost always a Spook.

One of these years I may give one of them plopper thingies a try.

[MassBass]

10 hours ago, papajoe222 said:

With most topwaters, I pause once the lure touches down.  Sometimes it's only five seconds or so, but other times, especially with floating Rapalas in the spring, I'll let it sit 30 seconds or more before moving it.  I'll also pause once or twice during the retrieve. I'd say, for me, 50% of strikes come either while the bait is sitting still, or just as I start working it. 

This is what I was trying to get at with suggesting working in pauses. It is not so much the pause, but the sudden start up after the pause that triggers the strike.

[Mike L]

10 minutes ago, MassBass said:

It is not so much the pause, but the sudden start up after the pause that triggers the strike.

Agree

What I do especially with a walking type top water like a spook, is for every start up either after it lands or a pause I give it a hard pull first and then into my regular walking cadence. 
 

 

 

 

 

Mike

[Bankc]

10 hours ago, papajoe222 said:

With most topwaters, I pause once the lure touches down.  Sometimes it's only five seconds or so, but other times, especially with floating Rapalas in the spring, I'll let it sit 30 seconds or more before moving it.  I'll also pause once or twice during the retrieve. I'd say, for me, 50% of strikes come either while the bait is sitting still, or just as I start working it. 

For some reason, I just can't get a buzzbait to sit on top without it sinking and forget pausing one mid-retrieve.  Those are the only topwater I use as a search bait. My follow up for missed fish is almost always a Spook.

One of these years I may give one of them plopper thingies a try.

Except for the Whopper Plopper, in my experience.  I've had more luck pausing buzzbaits and toads and letting them sink about 2-3 inches than pausing a Whopper Plopper.  They only seem to work for me on a steady retrieve, which is odd, because you'd think it would be like a buzzbait but with the ability to pause.  The fish near me just don't seem to like that.

[Swamp Girl]

1 hour ago, MassBass said:

This is what I was trying to get at with suggesting working in pauses. It is not so much the pause, but the sudden start up after the pause that triggers the strike.

 

Next year, I'm going to pause longer, for sure. I'm a frenetic fisher, which is my weakness and strength. 

[king fisher]

   Most of the time when I fish a topwater, I am casting to a specific target, grass clump, stickup, etc.  I like to bomb cast past the target, wait to let the splash settle down, then retrieve to my target.  When I get to the target, I pause, twitch, while trying to keep the lure in the strike zone of my target as long as possible, while still giving the lure some action.  Poppers are easy to work in place, other baits not so much.  I get most of my strikes as the lure enters the strike zone of a target, or on the first pause.  Once the lure is past where I think the fish are I reel in quickly and make another bomber cast.  Sometimes I get hit when I start to burn the lure back, usually causing me to jerk the bait out of the fishes mouth, then have a small heart attack, followed by profanity.