The Surface Strike: A Guide towards the Heart-Pounding World of Topwater Lures
There are few moments in fishing as purely electrifying as being a topwater strike. It’s a sensory experience that transcends the sport: the quiet anticipation, the visual of an wake forming behind your lure, the sudden, violent explosion of water, as well as the adrenaline that follows. For many anglers, it’s the pinnacle of freshwater and saltwater fishing.
While catching fish is usually the goal, bass fishing gear is about the show. It’s an engaged, engaging, and frequently theatrical method that targets a fish's most primal instinct: the desire to ambush prey from below.
Why Fish Topwater?
Topwater lures can now be worked on the surface of the water, mimicking sets from a struggling baitfish with a hapless frog or a buzzing insect. They excel in specific conditions:
Low-Light Periods: Dawn and dusk are prime time. The dim light gives fish the confidence to advance into shallow water to feed.
Cloudy Days & Calm Water: Overcast skies can extend the topwater bite throughout the day. Calm water is right, since it allows fish to view and track your lure quicker.
Around Cover: Whether it's lily pads, submerged grass, laydowns, or dock pilings, topwater lures can be worked in places where other lures would snag, provoking reaction strikes from lurking predators.
The Main Cast of Topwater Lures
The answer to topwater success is matching the lure and its action on the conditions and the mood from the fish. Here are the most famous types:
1. The "Plopper" or Prop Bait
What it really is: A lure having a propeller (or two) on the front, back, or both.
The Action: A steady retrieve causes the prop to churn the river, setting up a distinctive "bloop-blop-blop" sound plus a significant wake. It’s a aggressive, noise-making lure that calls fish in coming from a distance.
Best For: Actively feeding bass, pike, and muskies. It’s an incredible "search bait" to pay water quickly.
2. The "Walk-the-Dog" Lure (Stickbait)
What it's: A long, slender, often cigar-shaped lure with no built-in action.
The Action: This is a finesse technique. Using a rhythmic "twitch-and-pause" from the rod tip and your line slack, you create the lure dart side-to-side (or "walk") over the surface. It mimics a wounded, zig-zagging baitfish.
Best For: Clear water and wary, pressured fish. The subtle, tantalizing action can trigger strikes when louder lures fail.
3. The Popper
What it really is: A lure having a concave or scooped-out face.
The Action: Sharp, short twitches from the rod make the face to "pop" and "chug," pushing water forward and creating a burbling sound and splash. It mimics a feeding baitfish or possibly a large insect.
Best For: When you want a much more rhythmic, "pop-pause-pop" presentation. Excellent for targeting bass, bluefish, and trevally.
4. The Buzzbait
What it can be: A wire-framed lure which has a propeller-like blade that spins about the retrieve.
The Action: Retrieved steadily, celebrate a constant, loud, whirring noise and a bubbling wake—a pure reaction-strike machine. It’s one in the most exciting lures to make use of.
Best For: Murky water, during the night, or when you require to draw fish beyond heavy cover. A classic for big bass.
5. The Frog
What it really is: A soft-plastic or hollow-body lure designed to imitate a frog, skittering within the thickest cover without snagging.
The Action: It’s worked having a "walk-the-dog" action or possibly a series of short hops and pauses right within the tops of lily pads, matted grass, and slop.
Best For: The heaviest cover imaginable. The strike is usually explosive, as a bass must burst through the vegetation you can eat it.
Mastering the Art: Tips for Topwater Success
Patience is often a Virtue: The biggest mistake is setting the hook too soon. When you see the splash, wait! You need to have the weight from the fish on your line before you cross its eyes with a powerful hookset.
Embrace the Pause: The moment from a pop, twitch, or chug is usually when the strike happens. That pause provides the fish time for it to locate and commit towards the lure. Let it sit.
Match the Hatch (Loosely): Try to mimic exactly what the fish could possibly be eating. A frog lure over mats of grass, a stickbait over open water, or possibly a popper around schooling baitfish.
Don't Be Afraid of Color: In topwater, action and sound tend to be more important than color. However, an overall rule is bright or natural colors for clear water/low light, and darker, more visible colors for stained water or bright days.
Use the Right Gear: A medium-heavy rod which has a moderate-fast tip is perfect. It provides the backbone for the good hookset but has enough "give" to avoid tearing the lure out of the fish with a violent strike. Always use a braided line for topwater; it's no stretch, ensuring solid hooksets and allowing you to "walk the dog" more efficiently.
Topwater fishing isn't necessarily the most consistent strategy to fill a livewell. There will be times of frustrating misses and refusals. But the trade-off is surely an experience unlike every other. It’s a visual, visceral, and heart-pounding style of fishing and build memories even after the ripples have faded. So, the next occasion you're for the water initially light, tie on the topwater lure. Be ready for the explosion, and prepare to get hooked.