when is the best time to use topwater baits?!?!?!

[pikeman14]

ive been using topwater for a while but never really figured when the best time of the day to use them help me

[Steven Ladner]

I use them mainly early morning/ early evening. But you can usually catch them during the day if it's overcast. Don't forget about at night also  

[A.Parris]

Early morning is ussually best, but dont be afraid to try it anytime. I have caught big fish on topwater in the middle of the day in 90 + degree heat.

[Paul Roberts]

No rules...but some guidelines that over a lot of scenarios:

-clear water

-reduced visibility -(sky and water surface conditions)

-shallow water (unless very clear and bass are looking up for baitfish -usaully shad or bluegills)

-Hmmmm...others I'm foregetting folks??

[Muddy]

When  the fish on feeding on top would be my guess

I prefer low light situations , thats just for me

[Raul]

A good part of my best fish have been caught with topwater baits in the middle of the day under clear cloudless skies below the blazing sun and scorching heat we get here.

So, anytime is good time to try with topwater baits, on the other hand, what you can loose by trying ?

[Koop]

anytime is frog time!

[aarogb]

    Early morning or late evening is the best time.

    Topwater could last all day if it is a cloudy day and their is just a little bit of wind.

[tnbassfisher]

I like to use them about 45 minutes before the sun goes down.

[bottledgt]

for the most part, topwater does not work for me at all...if they are busting the top, i can catch 3 to 1 using worms or other methods.... i have yet to even catch one on a buzzbait this year. just doesnt work in my hands. and not much way you can screw up a buzbait

[SammyLee]

I've caught a good percentage of my bass on topwater.  As others have said, early morning, late in the afternoon and whenever they are schoooling and hitting shad on the surface.

Yesterday, I saw a bunch tearing up the surface in an area as big as a living room from about 800 feet away.  I hurried on over there and cast a gold/silver topwater popper into the fray.  Bang!  I had one on in seconds.

[mrlitetackle]

one of my top producing baits is the "mystic pop-r" (i with they still made these, and would be devastated if i actually lost it).

i throw it at all times, and it seems to produce.......

but i am most likely to toss it with cloudy skies and a slight ripple on the water.

[bigbill]

Anytime is a good time but the early mornings and late evenings to night fishing is the best time.

During the day even with the sun up or cloudy days too but remember the water conditions apply along with the size and color of your topwater bait too.  In clear water its smaller sized baits fished faster and in cloudy water/stained its larger baits fished faster.  So the size, the color and the presentation is the key to success.

Now i can fish any bait topwater by adjusting how fast i reel, how i hold the rod (up) i can make a spinnerbait actually call fish topwater by letting the spinner slap the surface.  I also run my minnow baits topwater too.

The water clarity and the site line matters too.  Sometimes the lure needs to be below the sight line or they won't strike.  Then i adjust my lure speed so its just below the sight line out of site.  I know its not topwater but sometimes this matters too.

Don't forget a pair of polarized glasses too.  You could be getting strikes your not hooking up because your not seeing them without the glasses.  This tells usto slow down.

[EdKras]

First thing in the morning, just before dark, all night long, when I see fish breaking and if I get the right "vibe" during the day.

[Lynx]

No rules...but some guidelines that over a lot of scenarios:

-clear water

-reduced visibility -(sky and water surface conditions)

-shallow water (unless very clear and bass are looking up for baitfish -usaully shad or bluegills)

-Hmmmm...others I'm foregetting folks??

When it is windy & the water is choppy.

[avid]

Gotta tell you that i have been having very consistant success in ponds this summer using topwaters.  Oddly enough I have been doing best in the middle of the day.  Not a recommendation your likely to see in Bassmaster but I just love fishing a little rico popper and so will take it with me when I go to any of the local ponds.  

The one tip I may suggest for mid day topwater is to keep the bait moving pretty quickly.  It seems to generate more strikes that way than a quieter approach I like for early evening.

[Jeff C.]

For some reason I get a lot more hits with top water baits on Ponds more so than on the lakes..I do catch fish on the lakes too but not as many? Any time I come across heavy weeds in shallow water that are not easily fished I always throw a weedless top water frog rite into the weeds. morning, day or nite...

[tentimesover]

I don't usually work top water in the middle of the day but recently I've had luck at the deep water side of docks and today tried a devils horse top water with bright sun around midday and - bang, got a nice one that came out from the end of the dock and hit it.  In the past I've used spinners and jerk baits for that mission but I think I'm going to try the top water more often.

[Stagerlee]

When a good amount of bass start breaking the surface, I tend to troll right on over there and bust out my shallow cranks / top waters.

[Jeremy D.]

Fish them long enough and you will just know when you should be fishing topwater!

[Hemi6677]

I had been struggling with buzzbaits myself...until last night. Went to my fathers 2 acre pond around 8:30pm. No wind, sun was on the way down, and my black on black Cavitron buzzbait tore them up!! Last night gave me renewed confidence in buzzbaits!

[7mm-08]

anytime is frog time!

This.  

[bigbill]

Anyhoo i go thru a ritual of baits when i first start fishing to see what they want and the topwater is always my first to tray at anytime.

[RoLo]

Audible Feeding

Regardless of the time-of-year and regardless of the current water conditions, the most promising time-of-day

for topwater fishing is when there is audible surface feeding. The sound of bass feeding on the surface

is unmistakable, and can range from a strident slurp to the sound of a piano dropped from a low plane.

The topwater bite generally reaches an annual peak during the post-spawn period, but irrespective to time-of-year,

the instant I hear any audible feedback from surface-feeding bass, the topwater combo is in my hand.

A bass actively feeding on the surface, is the easiest bass in the lake to catch.

Underwater Visibility

We all know that topwater fishing pegs the needle on the Fun-Meter, but after the post-spawn period

and in the absence of audible surface feeding, it's usually best to wait for favorable topwater conditions.

Conditions that favor topwater fishing are those that degrade underwater visibility.

All fish are more likely to strike a topwater lure during periods of reduced visibility. Two natural factors

that degrade underwater visibility are "low-light" (low luminosity) and "surface turbulence" (high refraction).

Low-Light

Favorable periods for topwater fishing based strictly on low-light levels include nighttime, dawn, dusk & midday overcast.

Surface Turbulence

The flat, ripple-free surface that often accompanies dawn, dusk and nighttime is merely a byproduct

of those low-light periods, but by no means a necessity. On the contrary, the more turbulent the water surface

the more reduced is lure visibility. As the day wears on, increasing winds cause increased water refraction

that tends to compensate for increasing light levels. For this reason, the middle of a sunny day will often provide

excellent topwater fishing. This is especially true in a choppy surface beside heavy cover.

Bass are not intimidated by water turbulence, but the greater the disturbance, the more reduced their vision.

When water turbulence exceeds lure disturbance, the bass's ability to home in on the lure

is sharply compromised (but now of course, we're getting into lure selection).

Roger

[farmpond1]

My best two days for topwater have been on the brightest and hottest days of the year (so far).  If you fish "slop" or heavy lily pads, hot and bright don't seem to deter a hungry bass.  But ordinarily for summer time bassin', I'd say early mornings and late evenings.