Fishing for bass is exciting and a favorite for many anglers around the country.
Topwater bass fishing increases the level of excitement ten fold with the ferocious strikes and spectacular aerial shows put on by some of the most aggressive fish in the water.
When the summer months heat up, the topwater bass fishing does as well so tie on some buzzbaits, poppers, frogs, or even a lookalike mouse and get to your favorite bass spots for some incredible action!
We’ll explain why topwater bass fishing is awesome and why you should load up on topwater lures to experience it firsthand.
Topwater Bass Fishing – The Lures
Buzzbaits, stickbaits, frogs, swimbaits, poppers. There are so many varieties of lures you can use on topwater and for good reason- they’re just way more fun to fish.
My favorites are buzzbaits.
Simple retrieve, you can cover more water more quickly, and you can hear the strike even if you’re not paying attention to your bait. I’ve picked out several different types of baits to choose from, all with their own strengths and weaknesses.
With these baits you’re surely to find your next favorite bass lure. Check them out below
- Unique floating buzzbait: allows you to pause near structure to tease fish into striking lure
- Provides sure hook-set: When paused, the front blade portion rises out of the water and positions...
- Fishing technique: When retrieving at a constant pace, the Buzz Plug produces a wobble and can be...
- Double hook design: The upturned double hook makes the Buzz Plug nearly weedless; Allowing anglers...
- Top water fishing: Buzz Plug is the ideal lure for top water fising
- Weightlessly gliding left and right across the surface
- It has all the attributes to attract BIG fish
- Anatomical accuracy, detailed color and effortless action make this a first to the market
- Use the hollow body in heavy cover
- The weed less design allows it to be worked over the cover without hanging up
- ICAST 2011 "Best of Show" Winner
- Realistic mouse profile attracts BIG gamefish
- Recessed hooks wont snag in heavy cover
- Solid hook ups
- Attract bass out of the thickest cover with its loud popping sound
- Specially designed 3/0 Hooks
- Comes in 16 proven fish catching colors
- Great Shape
- Balsa wood construction under incredible finishes make this the lure big fish find irresistible.
- Shallow Running Lip Design
- Classic Rapala "wounded-minnow" wobble
- Built tough with hard-diving lips and sharp treble hooks, these legendary lures have the power to...
- The Shallow Shad Rap is perfect for fishing skinny water
Topwater Bass Fishing – The Retrieve
Topwater bass fishing requires some finesse to your retrieval.
If you fish buzzbaits or any kind of floating topwater that has built in action, you really just need to retrieve at a consistent pace. But, for buzzbaits they require some additional speed due to their ability to sink.
You want to make sure that blade is chirping and slapping the water with each revolution to coax a strike. Doing that requires a faster retrieve than normal. I try to stay at a speed just barely keeping my lure on the surface. A nice medium gear ratio baitcaster should do the trick.
Check out our best baitcasting reels guide for more information.
For poppers and the like, some twitching action is required. Poppers are interesting because it requires just the right amount of twitch to get subtle popping sounds from the nose of the lure. When the lure gets quickly tugged through the water, the concave shape of the nose creates a nice disturbance on the surface that sounds like a pop. Slow, erratic popping of the lure can be great triggers for bass to strike. The same action can be used with certain frog like baits. A slow, gentle twitch can mimic a frog thrusting with both legs, looking like a breaststroke when swimming. Be sure to pause a few seconds when the frogs head pops up, because that seems to be the optimal time for a bass to make its move.
With stickbaits and swimmers like field mice, the best action is a swaying side to side. A steady, consistent twitch achieves that most easily as you reel in your lure. It gives stickbaits and field mice lures a real life-like action that works extremely well. Randomizing the time between twitches will work too, as it would help the lure appear to be injured.
Topwater Bass Fishing – The Strike!
Within about two seconds, your heart changes from a steady, calm beat to a hard-pounding, racing thump in your chest.
Seeing the action unfold on the surface is exhilarating.
Bass are fantastic fighters and they strike with the same power and ferocity you feel on the line each time you hook into one.
Words cannot describe the unbelievable joy seeing the predator bass stalk your prey lures.
This page was last updated on 2022-08-29. Affiliate links and Product Images are from Amazon PAAPI
