Between Progressive Bassmaster Elite Series tournaments I’ve been fishing a lot on Sam Rayburn Reservoir, and I’m glad we had this break because it’s prime time for one of my favorite bites of the year – topwater. In fact, there’s a fantastic topwater bite throughout much of the country right now, so if you’re out on the water and not chasing it you’re likely missing out.
Obviously, it’s one of the most exciting ways to catch fish, but that doesn’t mean it’s not a viable tournament tactic. During my many years of fishing team tournaments I won quite a few solely on topwaters, and while it doesn’t always dominate on tour, you can be sure that it plays with key fish – especially some really big ones.
This is a tactic that gets strong when the water temperatures rise up into the 70s and 80s, and it’ll stay strong throughout the warmer months. If you keep at it, you’ll eventually catch some really big ones. That doesn’t mean it doesn’t work when it gets cold. You won’t get as many bites, but the ones you get are often giants. Still, this is my favorite time for consistency. It doesn’t take much to dial it in, but if you miss a few key pieces of information you won’t maximize the bite. I keep it remarkably simple with three key lures.
The first is the Strike King Sexy Dawg, which catches fish north, south, east and west. You can take it to Lake Murray and fish it at warp speed for bass feeding on herring, then take it back to Rayburn or Toledo Bend Reservoir and tempt trophies with a slow retrieve. That’s when I typically switch to the Hard Knock version. And of course it’s an absolute killer on northern smallmouth fisheries. You’ll want to master this one early because it’s an absolute bass slayer.
My next choice is a hollow-bodied frog. In open water I prefer the Sexy Dawg, but there are places where a treble-hooked lure is going to result in a lot of frustration, so these two options complement each other. Obviously it’s great in mats, but I’ll keep it on the deck as I go down any old bank waiting for heavy cover situations where the walking topwater won’t work.
With both of those lures, there are days where the bass simply won’t commit. You’re not doing anything wrong when they miss it. However, most of the time if you dial in a few key elements you can increase your hookup percentages. I see a lot of guide clients who can’t walk the bait properly. They’re pulling it instead of letting the rod do the work. When they fix that and dial in the cadence their success level increases substantially.
Color is also a factor. You wouldn’t think so with lures where the fish mostly get a look at their bellies, but often times I’ll have two guys in the boat and one of them will catch three or four times as many fish as the other. A simple color change sometimes fixes that. I’m a stickler for having some red or orange accents on every topwater I throw. I believe it helps substantially.
My third go-to topwater is a buzzbait, generally a 1/2-ounce black or black and blue model from Strike King. Unlike many other pros, I generally fish it straight out of the package. I’ve used a Strike King Menace or Toad on the back, and those make it more castable or easier to skip, but otherwise I think the provided skirt is just as good. I might trim it a bit to make it more compact, but that’s about it. With the right color and the proper retrieve you don’t even need a trailer hook. They bite it aggressively and tend to get really well-hooked – and you seldom lose them when they’re hooked.
One of the biggest misconceptions about topwaters is they only work in the morning, in low light or in rainy conditions. It’s definitely true they almost always bite it early. After that there’s often a lull that convinces people to put it down. That’s a mistake. Quite often the bite revs up again in the middle of the day. In fact, I’ve had some of my best days with the three lures listed above between 9 a.m. and 3 p.m.
I use Seaguar Smackdown braid for all of these lures to maximize casting distance and hookup percentages. I like 50 for the frog and 40 for the others. Sometimes with the Sexy Dawg I’ll add a short length of 20-pound test fluorocarbon leader, which makes it easier to work and less apt to foul on the retrieve.
The most important thing, though, is to get out there and start throwing these lures. It’s not only a very visual style of fishing, which is both exciting and educational, but it’s one of the best ways to produce big summertime bites. It’ll help you remember why you fell in love with bass fishing in the first place.
