Tired of catching the little guys on top water, I’ve recently switched over to bigger top water lures. It seems to be working better for me I think. I do seem to get less strikes, but the average size fish is larger. Blowups seem more aggressive. I have learned to slow it down tremendously for these bigger fish. I’ve lost a couple of big bruiser reds lately due to light leaders, but that problem is corrected now.
Personally I thought this lure would be waaay too big. I was wrong. Still catch the little guys, but for the most part I think the average fish is larger. Does anyone else see size correlation with the size of plug you are using or is this all in my head?
“Another poon dream splintered on the rocks of reality.” --Peepod 07-25-2017
I haven’t seen too much correlation with size. My friend BOSN (Ray) has been using a spook “one-knocker” recently that is a little longer and is a good producer. It’s hard for me to stray from a spook jr and skitterwalk personally. I’ve tried others but they just dont produce as well as those two. I feel like the profile/sound make the most difference. I don’t really believe that color matters much for topwater.
Always amazed at how big a bait they will hit. I have definitely experienced the same, been catching all the same size then tied on some big top water lure and it catches the biggest fish by far
I haven’t seen a correlation with size when throwing topwater baits but I do see a significant difference when throwing “minnow imitation” style baits. I started throwing larger (4.5" up to 6") swimbaits two years ago and while the overall number of bites have decreased while the number of larger fish have increased significantly. I have found that I average larger fish overall on topwater baits than subsurface baits, regardless of the size of the topwater bait.
I once thought that size mattered, but the biggest trout I’ve ever caught I caught on a Spook Jr 10 years or so ago in Rockville…no measure and no weight that day but she was a BEAST.
I have not had any luck with them topwater this year…and can’t find out why, but it’s really discourage me and kept me from topwater fishing a lot of times this year.
The 14-15" trout I kept about a month ago were all full of 4-5" menhaden, so there’s no reason to not throw big baits. Just finger mullet this weekend though. The biggest thing for catching these topwater trout for me seems to be good, sharp hooks. Rarely have I had one get hooked on the first smack. I had one hit my spook 5 times, and he only stopped because I ran out of water and was trying to figure 8 him at the boat like I was musky fishing.
Totally off topic, but does that rod not have a hook keeper? It always makes me wince when people attach their hooks to the eyelets like that. On topic now, I need to get out and do some night time topwater. I typically throw topwater early morning and do pretty well on trout and reds. Size doesn’t seem to make as much difference as does the sound/action of the lure being thrown, at least from personal experience.
2014 Pioneer 197 Sportfish
2012 Malibu Stealth 12 Kayak(SOLD)
“If people concentrated on the really important things in life, there would be a shortage of fishing poles”
Here I thought it was just me who gets a lot of missed hits. I usually fish more sensitive gear but I was using a ugly stick elite because my other small setups broke. I figured the ugly stick was messing me up because of how soft the tip is. Do you prefer calmer water to fish top water? I primarily trout fish the fastest water I can find and in the hot months I reel it fast.
Rod sensitivity has nothing to do with hooking up with topwater baits. The biggest variable is the angler’s ability to NOT set the hook as soon as they see the blow up. Regardless if it’s in salt or fresh water, the hardest thing to do when topwater fishing is not setting the hook as soon as you see the explosion.
For me, it’s not much of an issue when I’m using topwater baits that I use a steady retrieve with, baits like spooks (walk the dog style baits) and buzz baits. It’s the “stop and go” baits (poppers and prop baits) that will get ya.
