why wont it work on my lake???

[blanked]

My home lake is Lake Conroe and I have had zero luck with topwaters. I thought it was me until I aked a couple of guides and someone who has been fishing Conroe for 25 years and they all said topwaters wont work.

So why would a basic tried and proven lure  or method not work on a paticular lake?

[Low_Budget_Hooker]

Because guides like their jobs and their secrets. Did they tell you rubber worms and live bait are the only 2 things with less of a catch ratio?  Sounds like guides just being guides.  I think they are pulling your leg.

I can't see why a topwater would NEVER work. Certain times and places would be hard to get a bite but "never" just seems a bit drastic.

[Other.]

Buy many diffrent styles of topwater baits and go to your lake on a cool partly cloudy day. Spend a few hours at your lake and find out for yourself if they dont hit top water but im sure it will. All kinds of baitfish will surface and right behind them will be bass to lunge at them.

[Chris]

There might be such a thing that the window for topwater fishing is short and you need to catch them when they are busting baitfish. Is your lake real deep without much shallow water or shallow cover?

[CrazedL.IFisherman]

Also try using topwaters at dusk and into night if you like night fishing, thats when you can really gauge if they are into a topwater bite, throw on a jitterbug, simple to use or whatever topwater your most accustomed too and hang on

[Marty]

I find that difficult to believe. Have you spent a lot of time fishing topwaters under low-light conditions and not gotten bit when you had proof that there were bass in the area? I've never fished in your part of the world, but I think a bass is a bass and will strike a topwater when it's hungry/aggressive/angry/curious/territorial/etc.

[roadwarrior]

Bass are basically the same, nationwide (worldwide). Certain lakes, for whatever reason, can be lure and/or color specific. However, there are NO lakes or rivers where specific lures/ baits never work. Topwater lures have never won a big time tournament, but that doesn't mean they haven't contibuted to a winning total.

I like topwater action, but unlike most bass fishermen, it's not my favorite. When topwater is working, jerkbaits will almost always work better. So, my point is...Topwater will work on ANY water sometimes, but there are usually more consistant producers. I suspect whoever told you that topwater never works at that lake just hasn't had much success with the tehnique and rarely (never) uses it anymore.

Get after it!

[Low_Budget_Hooker]

Get after it!

No doubt, go own that falsehood!! Be the guy that proved the everyone wrong.

I would bring....

heddon dying flutter

Ronosky crippled shad

spit-n-mage

Super spook excalibur

5" Rapala floating

[bass109]

Might just be over pressured by topwaters over the years. Just try it anyway, new lures come out all the time. They might just  want to tell the new guy not to fish with topwaters, so they can catch fish with them. As a bankfisherman, some people dont like the competition of other fisherman.

[Randall]

My home lake is Lake Conroe and I have had zero luck with topwaters. I thought it was me until I aked a couple of guides and someone who has been fishing Conroe for 25 years and they all said topwaters wont work.

So why would a basic tried and proven lure or method not work on a paticular lake?

Some lakes are better topwater lakes than others. The lake I fish most Lake Varner here in GA is not a good topwater lake but I can catch topwater fish there because I know when and where to throw it. The reason is that most fish will not move a long distance to hit a bait there. There is a lot of bait and no reason for thm to expend the energy to move very far if they don't have to. What you will have to find on a lake like this is cover where bass are holding near the surface. The best example is grass growing near the surface but timber and laydowns will work also if the fish are close enough to the surface in them. I fish with a lot of people here in GA who fish Lake Lanier which may be the best topwater lake in the US. Fish at Lanier will come from 15 feet down and hit a topwater bait. These people cannot believe that they can't catch a topwater fish when they come to Varner because they are catching them like crazy on Lanier just a few miles away. The lakes have different forage and types of bass. Different things work on different lakes so it doesn't surprise me that a guide told you they won't hit it there. If you see the guide again ask him how good the topwater bite was before they stocked grass carp there and ruined the topwater bite. You might be surprised at how good it used to be before.. The reason is the grass carp ate all the cover near the surface and killed the topwater reaction bite. Just try the middle of the day when there is less forage fish shallow and a bass may move a little farther to feed, and throw it where bass are holding near the surface in cover.

[Tom Bass]

I am of the opinion that what works in one lake may not work in another for any number of reasons.

I would give topwater lures a try anyway. What can it hurt?

[Guest avid]

Baloney.

I have never fished for bass where topwaters wouldn't work.

Have you tried dead sticking a popper with a feathered rear treble.

You cast it out near likely cover and just let it sit there.  I have had explosive strikes up to two minutes later from quality fish doing this.

sometimes less is more.

[Catt]

Blanked I can assure you the guides are full of it  

I have many friends in the Houston, Tomball, Cleveland, Humble, & Conroe areas that tournament fish on Lake Conroe; some have won tournaments using top water baits.  

[CraigBaugher]

Boys and girls, if you include a location, you might be amazed at what I can find out about a particular body of water.

You know, all bodies of water are different, and food sources determine where the bass's eye are looking for it.  If a body of water has little to no swimming prey, the fish are focusing on the bottom.  Largemouth are typically UP eater, meaning they typically are feeding on objects eye level or higher (+/- 3-feet typically).  They can pick things off the bottom, but they have to twist, or be tilted tail up, head down.  If they are feeding typically off the bottom and they are staging and tilting up this way, their eyes are no longer viewing the surface, and if they are not use to swimming prey and the sound of swimming prey escaping -- they are not associating surface water distrubance with food.

Just a theory at this point, because I don't know the body of water you are talking about.  But bass are curious and if you created enough disturbance in one spot long enough, they will come up to check it out.   If it was me, I would focus on a high probability spot (point droping into deepwater, or fast tapering shore break, over or around rock or weeds) and just make two or three dozen casts with a devil horse or Pop-R over the same target.  The bass will come check it out, they may not bite, but they will come check it out.  This would be the time when scent could help and I'm not a scent person.  But if they are use to feed craw, I would scent it with craw and hang tight working one spot to draw the first strike.

[Catt]

Lake Conroe is located approximately one hour north of downtown Houston (via IH-45). Extending 21 miles in length and covering 21,000 surface acres, Lake Conroe is the reserve drinking water supply for the City of Houston and offers clean, clear water for a large variety of recreation (boating, fishing, hunting, golfing, swimming, water skiing, jet skiing, pleasure boating, etc.).

The surrounding land owners have weird obsession with controlling the hydrilla in the lake, their point of view is the lake was created for drinking water not fish.

[RI_Bass_Guy]

Topwaters will work fished around the bluegill beds in spring anywhere. The clear water may cause you use a jerkbait twitched on the surface, my favorite is a silver/blue back redfin around dawn or dusk. A small spook or pop r may also do the trick. I have seen spooks sitting still for 2 minutes get absolutey demolished.

As with all bass fishing its trial and error.

[Tom Bass]

I do know this much. Topwaters aren't working on my lakes now due to the weather and water conditions. The bass have gone deeper.

I have fished bodies of water that topwaters did not work. Any number of conditions could have been in play to cause this.

Also, like some of the guys said, timing is everything. At dawn and at dusk topwaters work great for me. Other times of the day they don't.

[justfishin]

Those guys were not being honest with you. I would bet that you can catch bass on top waters there. Maybe, early morning or late evening is the time specific for top waters there. If you have grass on this lake I can almost guarantee a buzz bait bite. Also, unlike some critics here, not all guides are out to fool you or trick you. Some are honest and will do their best to make sure you have a good day, no matter what it takes, as well as, attempt to teach and inform you. Hiring a guide is a great way to learn a new body of water or help introduce you to a new level of fishing. I agree, there are some bad guides but I feel most are  are honest. Before you hire a guide make sure you research their track record and that they make available a list of clients that can inform you of his or her ability's and demeanor.

[boondocks]

My home lake is Lake Conroe and I have had zero luck with topwaters. I thought it was me until I aked a couple of guides and someone who has been fishing Conroe for 25 years and they all said topwaters wont work.

So why would a basic tried and proven lure or method not work on a paticular lake?

Every lake has its own "attitude" so to speek. Someone on an earlier post said a bass is a bass where ever you fish. That is true to a point but there are a lot of exceptoins to that comment. For instance down south silver and shiny  rattle traps or cranks are a proven fish catcher due to the shad populations in most lakes. Here in ND there isn't any shad, so shiny,silver lures usually ain't the best option. Yea, if you fish that color lure long enough eventually you will catch fish but you probably would have a lot better luck using a different color in fact I know you would.

I don't think what the author of this post is saying is to far fetched. There is a lake that I fish quite often that has a less than desireable topwater bite. I have caught a couple fish on topwaters in the lake I'm refering to but there are WAY better techniques that will catch fish on this lake. For some reason the topwater bite is terrible and always has been.

My folks have a cabin on a lake that I grew up fishing. Its a walleye lake but the example I'm gonna give you pertains to this subject. For some reason the walleyes and pike in this lake love the color orange from ice out till about the end of June and it happens every year. If you use orange rapalas you will catch fish, any other color you might catch a fish here and there. Its a difference between catching a couple or a whole bunch. There are a lot of different lakes in the same area and none that I know of have that same preference for the color orange. Now if a walleye is a walleye why doesn't orange work like that on the other lakes.

Its the same reason the fish on Lake Conroe don't like topwaters. THEY JUST DON'T AND WON'T. Simple as that. Thats why I love fishing so much. It keeeps you on your toes.

Blank your just gonna have to find a different technique.

[JiggaMan512]

Blanked I can assure you the guides are full of it  

I have many friends in the Houston, Tomball, Cleveland, Humble, & Conroe areas that tournament fish on Lake Conroe; some have won tournaments using top water baits.  

I used to live in Humble, and fished Conroe, Livingston and the San Jacinto alot. i KNOW for a fact that i have caught several fish in all these places with buzz baits