Tagged with ' topwater fishing lures'

Schooling fish in the early Fall can be a huge kick in the pants to most anglers because of their tendency to turn their noses up to any and all baits you toss out. 

 This can all change with the help of a little old springtime hero known as the soft plastic jerk bait! My favorite is the YUM Houdini Shad, and we will go into greater detail about why further in the blog.

Splashy surface lures and rattling corks call in fish, allowing you to cover more range. Use this lethal 1-2 punch for redfish, speckled trout and more.

“Topwater should be good here,” Chris Holleman said, as he put down the trolling motor and eased into a cut. The bottom was shallow and snaggy, with a mix of shell and downed trees, and those snags typically hold snook and redfish, Holleman has found, and the tide had good movement to put the fish in feeding mode.

My second cast with a Super Spook Boyo confirmed the suspicions of Holleman, who operates Blue Cyclone Fishing Adventures in Jacksonville.

Having redfish and speckled trout violently attack topwater lures is extraordinarily fun. Anyone who has sampled this action knows that. Topwater virtues extend past being an extra exciting way to catch fish, though. In many situations, a noise surface lure provides the finest option for working an area and prompting strikes, and at times the topwater lures produce larger fish than subsurface offerings.

Brutally strong fish and vicious topwater strikes make a fabulous combination. Here’s what you need to know to get in on exciting bluefish action this summer.

Pound for pound, bluefish are known as the hardest fighting inshore fish along the Northeast coast. Blues demand respect, punishing rods, destroying lures with knife-bladed teeth, ripping drags, and blowing up reels with powerful runs.

Ask other anglers: Topwater popping for any gamefish typically tops the list of exciting ways to fish. When you get topwater blow-ups from 10-, 15- and even 20-pound alligator bluefish, the adrenaline meter goes through the roof.

If you choose the right lure styles for the situation and go at the right times, summer topwater fishing can be outstanding. Here’s what you need to know.

Late summer can be a tumultuous time to fish due to ultra-hot temps and uncooperative fish, which seem to turn their nose up to every presentation possible. The one saving grace is the topwater action you can find early in the morning or late in the evening, when bass have their short feeding periods. These periods give way to some intense action, if the right lures are chosen for the given situation. Detailed below are my top picks, by action, for late summer topwater bassin’!

The fish pictured above isn’t the largest I have caught in my short span of searching for these beautiful green fish, but it is by-far the most memorable bass I will ever catch due to the story behind it.

You don’t need to fish from a boat to catch snook. You can wade fish the flats and take the “dog” for a walk, too.

Can you walk the dog? No, not the four-legged kind. I mean a cigar-shaped topwater lure that launches like an arrow and walks and talks to gamefish on the way back. The walk is twitch left, twitch right, twitch left, twitch right. The talk is clickity-clickity-click. It’s a dinner bell for predators. Florida’s saltwater snook come a runnin’.

This is far from “deep sea” fishing. It’s casting light tackle in mostly knee-deep water. You can use your boat to motor to the a, then hop out and wade. But you don’t even need a boat. Drive your car to a waterfront park. Hike to the shoreline. Put on wading boots. Wade in. Walk the dog. Map and satellite imaging on your devices are terrific for finding places to park-and wade

Topwater lures come in all shapes, sizes, colors, and actions – so how as a typical fisherman do you know which one to grab for certain situations? Quick answer is you probably don’t, you just tie on the most reliable option you must save time and energy. Topwater fishing has been my Rubik’s cube for many years and I have developed a simple three step approach to identify the perfect lure for your situation. The three steps are extremely simple and can just about be identified at the boat ramp; they consist of water clarity, wind, and type of baitfish.

The “brown bass”, formally known as the smallmouth bass is one of the greatest natural resources, we have swimming in the waters across our country. Even more special is the fact that this hard-fighting species roams abundantly in the smallest creeks and streams offering excellent wade fishing adventures for anyone who seeks! Finding and catching them though can be a task worth researching though, because smallmouth aren’t everywhere in creeks and won’t bite just any particular lure. A sense of stealth needs to be implied and some fishing skill must be put forth.  I’m going to give you a three-part system in this blog to hopefully provide enough information for you to be successful and have some lasting fun this summer wading creeks for smallmouth bass.

Learn why Bassmaster Elite Series pro Micah Frazier keeps a Devil’s Horse handy throughout spring and how he fishes this classic topwater lure.

If you think the Smithwick Devil’s Horse is a one-trick pony, listen to what Bassmaster Elite Series pro Micah Frazier has to say. In his view, this three-hook prop bait is a bona fide attention getter with broad bass fishing applications — particularly during the spawning season.

Effective at riling up big bass in all three stages of the spring ritual, the Devil’s Horse employs a bold, intrusive presence that quickly wears out its welcome. Far more flamboyant than a walking topwater, this bait’s drawing power and deal-closing potential is unquestionable.

Pre-spawn bass fishing approaches are pretty straightforward: Cover water and look for fish staging on docks, laydowns, rocky points, grass lines, etc. Once the spawn begins, the fish will move much shallower, and while sight fishing certainly plays a big role, it’s not the only game in town.

“In the springtime, this bait is one of the best ways to catch the big females without looking at them,” Frazier said. “A lot of times, if you can get that bait over a bed, or around a bed, a lot of times, the fish will bite it before you get up there and spook it. With a blade in the front and the back, it aggravates those big females into biting.”

Regarding locations, Frazier said, “When you’re in a spawning scenario, you want to throw that bait where you think there’s a high likelihood of there being a bed. If there’s a hole in the grass, a little protected pocket on the bank, or a laydown — just something where you think the odds are that there’s a bed.”

Some lures don’t get talked about much, but not because they don’t produce fish. In truth, the opposite situation sometimes prompts silence. Because certain lures catch so many fish, anglers in the know want to keep their secret a secret. That is, until such a lure goes out of production because not enough anglers knew of its magic. Then everyone starts talking about that lure, clamoring for its return, and the longer it remains gone, the louder the chatter grows.

Such is been the story of Cotton Cordell’s Tail Weighted Boy Howdy, and the buzz from fishermen all over the nation eventually grew so loud that Cotton Cordell decided to bring back this topwater classic, which has been described “the most effective do-nothing lure ever created.”

Unlike the traditional Boy Howdy, the Tail Weighted Boy Howdy has no blades. It is a pencil-style topwater lure, and tail weighting makes it stand up when not in motion.