Summer is the perfect time to keep a topwater bait handy. While most surface action occurs in the early morning and late evening, a cloudy day may have bass at the top all day long, and schooling bass often provide intermittent action if you're in the right place at the right time.
Most professional anglers, including the king of topwater fishing, Zell Rowland, say that experimentation is the best way to identify the right bait for your situation, but there are a few guidelines to follow that make the initial choice a little easier. If there is a little chop on the water, the bait will need to provide more water displacement and "noise" than a flat calm day. When you encounter a slick surface, more subtle bait like a slowly twitched Zell Pop or even the Spit-n Image excels. As a rule, the calmer the surface the slower you can work the bait. But these are just rules, which are meant to be broken.
A topwater bait like the Spook can be used in calm conditions or when there's a little chop. The new Rattlin' Spook and One Knocker Spook produce sound as well as action, so they are even better for days with a little breeze. Heddon's truck driver, Ryan Stinchcomb, fishes tournaments and had a chance to test the Rattlin' Spook just prior to it hitting the store shelves. He fished a jackpot tournament on Oklahoma's Lake Tenkiller Saturday July 25, and said he had a great day (and won the tournament).
"We fished a wave break made of tires that was about 150 yards long sitting over 40 feet of water," he said. "In the early morning the shad move in and feed off the stuff growing on the bottom of the tires and the bass follow them up there. You don't have to be fishing shallow water to catch a lot of fish on topwater."
Stinchcomb said the bite was on until about 9 a.m., when the clouds rolled out and the day turned sunny. And while he switched lures to one that could be worked deep, he kept his Spook handy.
Early mornings are beautiful on the water. There's nothing like watching the blue light turn into early morning while working a Spook or Zell Pop for big bass. Pros like 2008 Bassmaster Classic champion Alton Jones say that during summer anglers should focus on points, weedlines or areas with lots of cover, but that during low light conditions bass will be cruising about feeding and casts need not be accurately placed directly next to the cover or structure. Anglers are just as likely to get struck next to the boat as they are right next to a boat dock or laydown tree. In the very early morning, or at night for that matter, a weedless topwater like the new Money Frog or Money Hound are best because they can be thrown anywhere and retrieved without snags.
Both the Money Frog and Money Hound provide fish-attracting qualities even in open water. The Money Frog features big paddle feet that churn water like a buzzbait in open water. The Money Hound walks-the-dog as well as any Spook, providing that side-to-side retrieve that is the downfall of many great bass. Few other baits are as effective on top at night -- and in thick cover during the day -- as these two. The how-tos of frog fishing is well documented, but few frogs provide the additional fish-attraction that the Money Frog does with its buzzing, churning feet, and there aren't many weedless topwaters that will come over a laydown log and continue walking-the-dog in open water.
Start the morning with two different types of topwaters, a prop-style bait and a more subtle style such as a Spook. If there's a little wind, focus on the prop bait or big chugger first -- something that kicks up a lot of spray and makes a commotion on the surface.
"Try it retrieved slowly, at a medium speed and fast before you cut it off the line and try something else," Rowland said. "When you get a strike, learn from it. What was my bait doing when that fish struck? Was I fishing it slowly, medium or fast? What cover did that fish come out of?"
Stinchcomb caught the majority of his tournament winning sack early in the morning while the fish were relating to the shad and tire wave break, but his biggest fish, a 4.5-pound largemouth, came during the heat of the day as schooling bass corralled baitfish to the surface.
"We fished the same area," Stinchcomb said. "Those shad had gone deeper but the bass would push them to the surface and attack. Anytime you've caught topwater bass in the morning when they're keying on schools of shad, you should watch that area for schooling action later on." (For another story on using the Spook, see Spooky Makeover at the BASS website.)
Evening, as darkness closes in, is another traditional hot time for topwaters. Again, let the conditions and what you've learned earlier in the day and on previous fishing trips guide your lure choice. One bait and tactic that will always be effective is the classic Arbogast Jitterbug retrieved at a constant speed across calm water. During the early evening most anglers prefer the classic frog pattern, but as darkness creeps in many anglers switch to a black pattern to provide more silhouette on top.
Regardless of your lure choice, catching bass on topwater is the most exciting technique. Heart-stopping surface explosions are the norm, and remember to wait until you feel the fish prior to setting the hook.
Here's a quick rundown on the most-common retrieves used with each type of topwater bait:
Heddon Torpedo: This propbait is designed to spit and throw water when twitched. It can be twitched with plenty of pauses or reeled at a constant speed so both props spin.
Heddon Spook: The Spook is the classic walk-the-dog bait, which is achieved with a constant twitch, twitch, twitch of the rod tip with a little extra slack in your line.
XCalibur Zell Pop: Like the classic Rebel Pop-R, the Zell Pop is designed to chug and spit with every twitch of the rod tip. Twitches can be slow with lots of pause or quick. The Zell Pop will walk side-to-side if twitched rapidly.
Money Frog: When worked over slop, the Money Frog can be twitched and paused, especially in gaps in the weeds, but in open water it can be retrieved at a constant pace like a buzzbait.
Money Hound: Same as the Money Frog when worked over weeds, but anglers should employ a twitch, twitch, twitch when fishing the bait in open water.