Throw them right at daylight and right at dusk. I get most bites on them when the water is calm. You’ve got to be throwing them over the top of vegetation or some sort of structure holding fish, don’t just throw them into open water unless you know there’s something underneath or if you happen to see some shad fleeing on the surface. Switch up your retrieves and speeds. Sometimes on the spook you want to walk it fast and sometimes you want to pause. Just depends on the day.
The previous posts regarding the time of day and conditions needing to be to right for successful top water are all correct.
When fishing top water, I have to commit 100% to it in order to make it work. Sometimes, there will be fewer(or no) bites, but generally the bites you do get will be from bigger bass. Unless bass are bitting on almost every cast, I rarely have success when switching back and forth between top water and other techniques. Just my 2 cents.
Where in the country are you and what kind of water do you fish? I am in the ozarks and have some kind of topwater tied on from late March through Christmas.
One of my favorite topwaters growing up and pond fishing was the spittin’ image. It’s a great relatively inexpensive bait that’s easy to walk. Not good if you have emergent vegetation.
A zoom horny toad or z man goat frog is great for ponds too. Much more subtle than a whopper plopper or buzzbait. Super easy to use and I caught my PB on one about 15 years ago.
Throw it right against the bank and retrieve along the bank. At dawn and dusk bass will pin bluegill up against the shore so they’re facing in, not out. Black is my favorite.
This is very important. Give it a full second to improve your chances for a better hook up. Easier said than done given the excitement of top water bites
Not always. I tend to fish the shallows at dusk and I get a lot of hits on frogs. However, a lot of the hits come from small fish. They seem to be attempting to “punch up above thier weight” per se.
Still though it makes a difference. I don’t do a ton of top water fishing so I don’t have much advice as far as not getting bites. But if you were getting bites and just missing or losing fish that’s a different situation that would be more gear related than technique.
You have to get the action correct. With poppers you go very slow, and make them twitch like a bug on water.
With frogs, depending on the type, you want to twitch it on the edge of a lily pad or moss.
Just play around and have fun.
If you're really bored they used to make these incredibly small poppers. You will catch other fish on them and won't cast past ten feet (which you don't need to) but can also catch monster bass if the hook doesn't break.
Anyway, imitate what they eat.
Throw them right at daylight and right at dusk. I get most bites on them when the water is calm. You’ve got to be throwing them over the top of vegetation or some sort of structure holding fish, don’t just throw them into open water unless you know there’s something underneath or if you happen to see some shad fleeing on the surface. Switch up your retrieves and speeds. Sometimes on the spook you want to walk it fast and sometimes you want to pause. Just depends on the day.
Sunset with a glass smooth pond and they cannot resist biting a medium-slow moving whopper plopper.
The bigger issue for me is that there needs to be a fish there willing to bite it
The previous posts regarding the time of day and conditions needing to be to right for successful top water are all correct. When fishing top water, I have to commit 100% to it in order to make it work. Sometimes, there will be fewer(or no) bites, but generally the bites you do get will be from bigger bass. Unless bass are bitting on almost every cast, I rarely have success when switching back and forth between top water and other techniques. Just my 2 cents.
black plopper at night when the water is dead calm, they can’t resist it
Where in the country are you and what kind of water do you fish? I am in the ozarks and have some kind of topwater tied on from late March through Christmas.
Midwest. Lakes/ponds.
One of my favorite topwaters growing up and pond fishing was the spittin’ image. It’s a great relatively inexpensive bait that’s easy to walk. Not good if you have emergent vegetation. A zoom horny toad or z man goat frog is great for ponds too. Much more subtle than a whopper plopper or buzzbait. Super easy to use and I caught my PB on one about 15 years ago. Throw it right against the bank and retrieve along the bank. At dawn and dusk bass will pin bluegill up against the shore so they’re facing in, not out. Black is my favorite.
Morning or at night. Learn walk the dog
Wait an extra beat to set the hook, especially if you have your hook concealed inside the bait
This is very important. Give it a full second to improve your chances for a better hook up. Easier said than done given the excitement of top water bites
It feels unnatural every time
It really does but that’s when you know you are doing it correctly
Yeah I did but I'm sure it was a gear issue
Not always. I tend to fish the shallows at dusk and I get a lot of hits on frogs. However, a lot of the hits come from small fish. They seem to be attempting to “punch up above thier weight” per se.
Are you not getting bites or are you getting bites and just always missing? Those would be two totally different answers.
Couldn't say "never" gotten bites on topwater because I've gotten about 4 on a frog once. But all the other times I've tried topwater, nothing.
Still though it makes a difference. I don’t do a ton of top water fishing so I don’t have much advice as far as not getting bites. But if you were getting bites and just missing or losing fish that’s a different situation that would be more gear related than technique.
Googan bandito bugs crush top water. Just throw it and reel slow.
You have to get the action correct. With poppers you go very slow, and make them twitch like a bug on water. With frogs, depending on the type, you want to twitch it on the edge of a lily pad or moss. Just play around and have fun. If you're really bored they used to make these incredibly small poppers. You will catch other fish on them and won't cast past ten feet (which you don't need to) but can also catch monster bass if the hook doesn't break. Anyway, imitate what they eat.
The topwater bite is almost year round under the right circumstances on the right lakes.
Whopper Plopper!! I just started using it this year and it has been a win every trip.
You also need a rod that's meant for frogs/topwater. Heavy, fast