Topwater Tips
 

I've never caught on Topwater, laugh it up. But, it's definitely not a confidence bait for me. I've thrown it early and late in calm water.

When do you throw it? If it's cloudy or drizzling, does it open up the whole day to chunk TW? Is it more about time of day, or type of day?

I've thrown she dawg, too dawg junior and spooks, all in pretty natural coloring except the she dawg is a chartreuse/silver.

Obviously the best time is when fish are hitting the top, and when fish are around... Hopefully you TW masters can help me out with some more in depth tips.


Sent

My first time fishing top water for trout was this summer so take my advice with a grain of salt, but this is what I learned. Most baits catch fishermen not fish, so just get one with a bright color on the belly. My best luck has come on bone color spooks and super spooks. Also had my best luck in the first 45 minutes after daylight when the water was fairly clear. Don't be too eager to set the hook, let them run for a second or two.

The past 3 years I've almost been pure top water. Withe the exception of school trout. I throw topwater any time of day. Favorite baits are skitter walks and she dogs. Mostly pink, chrome/chtrse, or speckled trout. Sometimes they want it fast, other times slow and I've caught plenty with it just paused. Let the fish take the bait and when you feel him you basically just lift your rod.

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Tie one on and don't take it off. Don't change baits. Put on a bone spook and stick with it. Certain times of year that's all I will throw all day. Once you catch a fish u will gain confidence. Fan cast. Throw every direction as far as you can.

Make short cast and learn to walk the dog w/ the bait. once you learn how then make longer cast. once you can walk the bait practice at faster and slower speeds .
the guy that taught me could walk a spook around pilings and stumps.

Fish will either be in one of three moods. Aggressive, neutral, or negative. When fish are aggressive everyone's a hero and the trout will usually eat just about any lure and presentation. Of course they will only be in an aggressive mood for a short duration of the day. For the other 95% of the day lure choice along with presentation can be key. Pertaining to top water lures, presentation to me is the biggest determining factor. Large, small, noisy, and quiet are all factors that can be fine tuned once you establish lure presentation. The mistake i commonly see made is a rhythmic steady walk the dog retrieve. In nature very few things act this way especially an injured bait fish. Topwater lures can be thrown successfully all day depending on the structure you are fishing. As far as wind I think it is easier to fool a trout in rougher dirtier water when they are not feeding than clear calm.

You could try putting market shrimp on the treble hooks.:D Big confidence booster.

Lmao walk the shrimp


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Get a skitter walk or top dawg and throw it under birds! Seriously! It'll pick up ur confidence in it. And when u see a specks reaction to it you'll be hooked


"Go ahead, share your opinion! I won't cry"

Under birds if you are fishing for gulls!

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Throw tops under brids all the time... Have only caught one gull ever... They do go for it some times... But under birds throwing topwater helps weed out the baby trout sometimes

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I concur


"Go ahead, share your opinion! I won't cry"

They must like my presentation. They always go for it.

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Top water is a special kind of fun for me. It's my favorite way to fish. Nothing like watching your bait disappear to a sound like a toilet flushing on a calm morning in the marsh. I have had similar success with all of the surface walker baits. Don't be afraid to try baits like Scum Frogs and Buzz Baits for reds too. This bull inhaled my BaDonkaDonk well before sunrise. I got a 20 minute Cajun sleigh ride out of it. I prefer calm water top water fishing, but I don't think the fish care at all.

http://i55.photobucket.com/albums/g1...psa8547c8a.jpg

I like to fish black/chart early then switch to bone/chrome. I also like white skitterwalks. Look for baitfish in schools and throw it in the general area. Fan cast a reef. Tell yourself you will only throw tops for a whole day, do it more than once. Vary your speed and rhythm

I always use a rhythmic action covering water. After a few blow ups and I'm confident the fish are there i will slow it down or change it up.


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i have more confidece in topwater than any other way to fish now. From fishing with ChrisD and thats all the throws 98 percent of the time. 20mph winds fish dont seem to care one bit!

It takes a lot of practice to get a tight wobble out of a spook, most people work them way to slow. Kade gave me some lessons couple years ago and have been catching on them every since.

always tie a loop knot to the lure for much better action.I take off the o-ring off if there is one ,and tie loop to lure.

I've come from the bass world so I love throwing top water, but I have to say that specs are a different kind of animal. I always have a hard time trying to decipher what color they want. I've tried many natural colors as well and cant seem to get my confidence up with them. My favorite lure so for has been a solid white skitterwalk for specs. I prefer to throw topwater when there is some ripple on the surface and its an overcast day. I think a darker colored top water would be better on an overcast day, but I haven't found the right combination in color in the skitter walk. Corky has a sweet black/orange color combo that I wish skitterwalk had. I didn't buy the corky since it has barely any rattle to it, but I do like how they are soft and fish may come back for a second hit. I'm still debating going spend $8 on that darn corky.