Fishing with topwater baits provides anglers with an exciting and fun way to fish for bass, especially during the fall and summer months. You get to see the bass strike, and then the acrobatic show they’ll put on as you are bringing them to the boat is one that will get your heart racing. Using topwater baits to target bass isn’t just done for the above reasons, there are times when the location, water temperature, and action of a topwater bait is exactly what you need have a banner fall day on the water.
The topwater bite does well when that water temperature gets above 60 degrees, but when the bass are hungry and the conditions are just right, they may just hit a topwater bait in the fall even if that water temperature is close to that 50-degree mark.
Here are my top eight topwater bass fishing lures…
Buzzbait
The buzzbait is a great topwater lure to use when bass fishing, in numerous situations. From when the bass are ultra shallow on a plain Jane mud or sand bank, to laying along or under laydowns, or roaming a flat that has sparse vegetation. The noise and disturbance that a buzzbait makes on the water’s surface will catch the attention of a hungry bass. A buzzbait is also very snag resistant, so you can put it around wood, weeds, or boat docks and not have to worry about it getting snagged, as often as you would a topwater bait with treble hooks. One way to change up the size and sound profile of your buzzbait in the water is remove the silicone skirt from the bait and rig a soft plastic toad on it instead. This will give your buzzbait more weight, so it’s easier to cast in the wind, and give the bass a bigger target to strike.
The most common size buzzbait is 3/8 ounce, which is a great all-around choice as it can be cast easily and comes over vegetation easily. But it is good to have some smaller sizes (1/4 ounce) for when the bass are feeding on small pin minnows, or a black one for when the bass are eating dead mayflies off the top of the water. Larger ½ ounce buzzbaits are good when you need a larger profile bait when the water is murky, or there is some wave action from the wind.
My Pick for best buzzbait: War Eagle Buzz Toad
Popper
One of the original styles of topwater plugs, and today it is still a great bass fishing topwater lure is the popper. Its splashing action and compact profile allow for easier casting and gives the bass an easy target to key in on. There are various sizes of topwater poppers available, which makes matching the size of the baitfish you are trying to mimic very easy. When going to small streams, or farm ponds, you can use a smaller popper, whereas when you are fishing around vegetation on a massive river system that has large shad in it, you can use a full size or magnum popper. A popper allows you the angler to control the cadence and action of the bait based on the bass’ activity level and preference. If they want the bait to sit there, then give your best bass rod a quick downward stroke, and then let the bait sit motionless on top of the water. Or if they want the bait constantly moving you can do that as well.
When fishing river systems, or lakes that have current, a popper is a great topwater bait choice as you can let the current sweep your bait along, just as the current would move a live baitfish, and then when the popper is by a rock, or your desired target, you can start retrieving it back.
My Pick for best popper: Rebel Pop-R
Prop Baits
There are two styles of prop baits that a bass fisherman can use when targeting bass with topwater lures, the first being a very subtle one. A subtle prop bait is a stickbait with a spinner blade on each end of the bait, that spin when moving across the top of the water. This style of topwater bait is a good choice for when the bass are tight-lipped, or a longer pause is needed. They work great to be fished around boat docks, shallow water that has wood, or a scattered rock.
Now for the aggressive approach, commonly used when you are fishing topwaters along a windblown bank, point, or massive flat and you need the extreme action of the topwater bait to call in a bass. These prop baits, or more commonly referred to as ploppers are a two section stick bait, where the back half spins around, with a section of curved plastic that churns the water’s surface. These baits are extremely loud, and call bass in from a distance, which makes them a great topwater bait choice when the water is dirty, or as I mentioned above when it is windy out, and there is already a good chop on the water’s surface from the wind.
Rigged on my rod for a subtle prop bait: Northland Fishing Tackle Bang-O-Lure Twin Spin
My pick for best aggressive prop bait: Berkley Choppo
Topwater Frog
Anytime there is vegetation in the water, it is likely that at some point during the fishing season it will become dense enough where you won’t be able to get a fishing lure through it. This is when the topwater frog is a great lure choice as you can work the bait on the surface that now has a canopy of vegetation that the bass will hide under. Some areas that I’ll use this technique are over and around lily pads or matted hydrilla, eel grass, or milfoil. It is important to look for key features in the vegetation to find key stretches of vegetation to fish a topwater frog. My favorite topwater frog of choice is the Northland Fishing Tackle Reed-Runner Frog, and it is important to note, that when you are fishing a topwater frog, that you’ll want to use of a braided line that has no stretch and will cut through the vegetation, such as 65 lb Seaguar Smackdown.
If there are pockets of open water within the matted vegetation, or the bass are holding just off the edge, I prefer to go with the popping’ style frog. This way I can impart some additional fish attraction with the frog by making it splash and chug in the open water. This style of frog is a great topwater lure choice for bass when you want to fish a popper, but a traditional style one would get snagged. A great example of this is when you want to work a topwater bait under over hanging trees, or under boat dock. A popping style frog can be skipped into these hard-to-reach areas and worked back like a normal popper would be.
My Pick for best topwater frog: Northland Fishing Tackle Reed-Runner Frog or the Northland Fishing Tackle Reed-Runner Poppin’ Frog
Walk-the-Dog Style Plugs
Shower Blow
This larger sized, walk-the-dog plug, has a great darting action across the top of water, and its unique concave face gives the bait the ability to spit water forward as well when worked by the angler. The weight of his bait is exceptional, so even if those bass are schooling on the other side of a flat, you can hit your target.
What is nice about fishing a big topwater plug like the Evergreen Shower Blow is you can work the bait as slowly or as fast as you need to, since the bait won’t sink you can keep the bait in the strike zone for longer periods of time. If the weather is warm and the bass want the bait to be moving quickly, and a lot of surface commotion, I can work my topwater bait quickly. While if it is on the water is on the chiller side, or the bass are tighter lipped, you can work your topwater bait slower, such as a very slow and methodical plug that you bring in by walking-the-dog in slower cadence to call bass up to the surface.
My Pick for best shower blow: Evergreen Shower Blow
Spook
Anytime the water temperatures are above that 60-degree mark, bass are actively feeding, and I’ll always have a topwater rigged up and ready to go, and the Heddon Super Spook is a great choice. The soft side-to-side cadence of the Spook is attractive to a bass, both when they are chasing bait and want something splashing over their head, while also still being able to get their attention when they are not wanting to chase a fishing lure very far. Topwater baits work well up around and adjacent to shallow water cover like emergent vegetation, and laydowns, along with working the lure over offshore structure like weedlines and underwear points.
My pick for best spook: Heddon Super Spook
It is important to use a high-speed (7.2:1 or higher) gear ratio casting reel when fishing topwater plugs, especially the Spook or Shower Blow as the high-speed reel allows me to bring my line in if the bass start busting in another area, and I want to put my topwater bait in that spot. I like to fish my topwater plugs on 40 lb Seaguar Smackdown Braid in Stealth Gray, as it allows me to make long casts, and it helps me rip a bait out of vegetation.
I like the Trika 8:1 reel, as it has a very low profile, so it fits in the palm of my hand, and lets me fish a topwater plug all day, and since it only weighs 5.5 ounces my wrist and hands won’t get fatigued.
If you want to get a kid, or someone new hooked on bass fishing, I would highly suggest tying on one of these topwater lures for them, as after a few blow ups on a topwater bait, they’ll want to go bass fishing again. If you want to look into a more broader approach to finding lures, check out my article on the best bass lures.
