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Old 08-06-11, 03:43 PM   #1
LeBron_Hill
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Default Topwater experts please step into my office...

Went out this morning...had fish busting topwater all around me. Started out when it was still dark and fished it til about 45 mins after sunrise. Wind was blowing about 5-10 mph making the trolling motor have to work a little bit. I threw dang near my whole arsenale of topwater baits and nothing even tried to hit any of them...started out with a black jitterbug when it was till dark, then threw an aurora black LC gunfish 95, then went to a 1/4 booya buzzbait in a sexy shad color, then a pop R in a shad color and nothing. Even tried burning a chatterbait really shallow and no luck. What I want to know is, what conditions help you decide on what to throw. What do you throw when the surface is like a sheet of glass, what do you throw when there is a substantial amount of wind, etc...the fish were definately feeding but didnt catch a fish all day. Had 3 bites on a watermelon red razor worm but they just hit it and then never touched it again. Water was really clear for this lake, visibility prolly around 3-5 ft. Oh yeah, I was on West Point Lake in Lagrange, GA. Thanks
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Old 08-06-11, 06:20 PM   #2
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When the water is slick like glass I like popping baits like a Pop R or Chug Bug. Also I will fish walking baits like Sammys, Spooks, and the Gunfish, as well as buzzbaits. For buzzbaits I try and use the ones that make the most noise when the wind is blowing and more subtle ones when it's calm.

Are you sure it was bass that was surfacing? Around here carp will bust the surface and if you don't get a good look at them you would swear they are bass most of the time. If they were for sure bass then it's possible that they had a ball of shad cornered and there was just too much real food in the area to get them to eat an artificial lure.
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Old 08-06-11, 06:40 PM   #3
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yeah i saw a couple of them come out of the water...definately bass...lemme ask another question. I was looking at my gps and saw where alot of contour lines were right on top of one another...i was thinking a good ledge to throw some deep cranks on. I head over and it is 30 ft deep...my entire screen was covered with fish from 5 ft deep all the way to the bottom with most being suspended around 15 ft...how you you approach trying to catch those? I tried crankbaits...rigged up a dropshot and dropped it down there, and even dropped a chatterbait straight down and yo-yo'd it but not even a nibble...maybe a spoon?
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Old 08-06-11, 06:50 PM   #4
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If it were me I would have went after the deeper fish for two reasons. First off suspended fish are just harder to catch, plain and simple. Sure there are tools that can catch you some suspended fish like a dropshot, jigging spoon, or jerkbait. But all things being equal fish that are surfacing or relating to the bottom are just easier to catch. It sounds like the surfacing fish weren't paying dividends so going deeper was your next best bet in my opinion.

Second reason is because generally the bigger fish will be the deeper ones when you find a school like this. They will hang out under a school of fish that are eating shad and just eat the dead baitfish that sink down after being killed in the masacre going on above them.

Keep in mind that I am only reading about your story, and wasn't there to experience it myself so this is just my opinion. But I would have spent more time experiementing with different retrieve speeds and different baits all together going after the deeper fish. Chances are that if you were able to stick one of them the whole school would have come to life. Here on Table Rock it's not uncommon to struggle over a school of fish trying to get that first bite, but once you stick that first one your graph will light up with lines heading all over the place and a lot of fish that you get to the boat will be followed by 2 or 3 others trying to take the bait out of its mouth.
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Old 08-06-11, 06:51 PM   #5
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Oh and I should also add that some days just suck and you can't get them to bite no matter what you do.......that might have been what you were up against as well lol.
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Old 08-06-11, 06:58 PM   #6
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well what would you use to go after the fish on the bottom there when you are in 30 ft of water...im comfortable throwin a texas rig but didnt know if it would work that well in that deep of water...
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Old 08-06-11, 07:02 PM   #7
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also this isnt the same area where i saw the fish bustin the topwater...i just saw this ledge on my graph and thought "hmmm that might hold some deep fish"...
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Old 08-06-11, 09:24 PM   #8
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Quote:
Originally Posted by LeBron_Hill View Post
well what would you use to go after the fish on the bottom there when you are in 30 ft of water...im comfortable throwin a texas rig but didnt know if it would work that well in that deep of water...
A Texas rig will work in water that deep. I caught fish on a Texas rigged Power worm in 30 + feet of water a few weeks ago, just upsize your weight as needed. Also a carolina rig will work as will a jig or even an upsized shaky head.
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Old 08-06-11, 09:28 PM   #9
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Here is a deadly top water system. Choppy, calm,.day or night, this just plain slays em
You need 2 rods for this

Set Up One" a 3/8 ounce Jitterbug , jointed or original or a Musky Jitter bug. I use black, as most of my fishing is overnight, I work overnights and I have learned to utilize my work schedule to be on the lake with very few boats
Anyways: I like to get a steady Blub, blub , blub sound going, so when you get that sound stay at that cadence, or stop and go to the boat

now if you get a good boil,. or an aggressive bite that you pull the lure out of the bass' mouth, or it was a short but aggressive strike

here is where rig # 2 comes in : with a Weedless T rigged/no weight Plastic worm, I like 8 inch Manns Jelly worms, however each of mu friends have their own favorites and they all seem to work about the same.
Put down the Jitterbug rig, and throw that worm to the same spot you last saw the bass, work it slow and MANY < MANY times that same fish will be caught on the worm rig.
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Old 08-06-11, 09:37 PM   #10
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In August in the South your topwater opportunities get fewer as the sun gets higher. Here in Florida I switch from topwater as soon as it's truly light. Some bass will work the surface around water flow, but in most areas they go deeper to escape the hot surface layer.

For glassy conditions I like a popper. You can play with your retrieve interval, vary the popping noise and action to switch things up until you find what they want.
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Old 08-07-11, 04:07 AM   #11
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One of the local lakes around here turns into a war zone during the summer time after the shad hatch and start schooling in the middle of the lake, bass blowing up everywhere. By far my most successful bait for these fish has been a super spook Jr. Color doesn't really matter but I like using shad colors. The key for me is to get the bait just past the fish quickly after they blow up and walk it fast so they don't get a good look at it and it just gets a reation strike because they think it's a shad trying to get away. Weightless flukes and flukes on scrounger heads can be good to but I like the spook for casting distance. You can try to catch the bass under the school but they usually get a better look at your bait and tend to be a little pickier in my experience, but they are often larger. Swimming grubs, white tubes with insert heads, or flukes on heavy scrounger heads are some of my best baits for these fish.
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Old 08-07-11, 10:11 AM   #12
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Quote:
Originally Posted by bluebasser86 View Post
One of the local lakes around here turns into a war zone during the summer time after the shad hatch and start schooling in the middle of the lake, bass blowing up everywhere. By far my most successful bait for these fish has been a super spook Jr. Color doesn't really matter but I like using shad colors. The key for me is to get the bait just past the fish quickly after they blow up and walk it fast so they don't get a good look at it and it just gets a reation strike because they think it's a shad trying to get away. Weightless flukes and flukes on scrounger heads can be good to but I like the spook for casting distance. You can try to catch the bass under the school but they usually get a better look at your bait and tend to be a little pickier in my experience, but they are often larger. Swimming grubs, white tubes with insert heads, or flukes on heavy scrounger heads are some of my best baits for these fish.
I have to agree with bluebasser here. We have a lake here with the same situation. And the Spook Jr works great. But I also work an Xcaliber 3inch popper witch gets even more strikes than the Spook Jr. Both work well. And the weightless fluke type baits are side by side with my topwater to use as a follow up bait, or as a subsurface bait. And I will fish the popper with a faster cadence through those surface slashing bass.
Now we have lakes here also without the shad and it's a diiferent story for those bass. When the water is calm, I prefer a more subtle approach. I usually grab a Heddon Baby Torpeo and work it with soft short tugs in order to just make that small blade spin and make the body of the lure dance in place softly. It's a tug tug pause method. I just want that lure to look like a large bug thats trapped on the waters surface. A floating stickbait like the original Rapala or a Rattlin Rouge worked in the same manner also is still a killer bait. Looks like an injured or sick baitfish struggling at the surface. A combo retrieve of twtches and tugs with the stickbait usually works best. I will also try a Spook Jr in calm water, but I use a slower cadence than I would in choppier water. A very slow walk the dog for the spook in calm water. I've just recently started tossing buzzbaits with regularity so I won't comment on those much as I'm still learning those baits. However I do use them now in calm water, but I downsize to the 1/4oz, size for a quieter surface buzz. And as the others have said, a popper worked in calm water is also a good go to bait. AND, I am with Ebbet with calm water at night when it comes to using a Jitterbug. A slow cadence when the jitterbug is used at night is essential, or so it seems from my experience. That slow plop plop plop like Ebbet described is right on. But the Jitterbug has only worked for me in low light conditions. As soon as the sun starts to lighten the water, the other baits seem to work much better for me.
When there is some wind with a bit of chop on the water, I reach first for my Spook bait. The Spook worked with a walk the dog retrieve really can bring those bass to the surface in some chop as it will create enough commotion to draw their attention in choppy water. I water that has a chop to it, I work the Spook with a faster cadence than I would in calm water. AND I have a Fluke type bait to follow up with missed strikes! Buzzbait also are in my bag of tricks now with choppier water, though like I said, I'm still learning about using those. One of my favorite surface baits for choppy water is a large 3" popper! But instead of the slower subtle pop pop, I work it like a popper with a bad attitude! Cast it out, and let it rest a couple seconds. Then I retireve it with a faster retrieve of quick jerk/pause/jerk/pause back to the boat. I'm making that popper spit and dance like it's on steroids. You wouldn't believe the explosive strikes I've gotten using a popper this way. But that has only worked for me in water with some chop, and never in calm water. And lastly, if the water gets very choppy, I go to my spinnerbait and other subsurface baits and drop topwater altogether. Not because a topwater can't catch bass in choppier water with more wind, it's just that I have better success with subsurface baits in that situation.
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Old 08-07-11, 11:22 AM   #13
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very good information here...sounds like I was doing everything right, they just werent interested....any day on the water is a good day, but it would have been nice to not have been shut out...kinda hurts ur self confidence a little...been shut out on this lake the last 2 times out...
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Old 08-07-11, 11:50 AM   #14
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probably already been said, but try a smaller top water bait. if ya got one, use a fly rod and a popping fly.
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Old 08-12-11, 09:58 AM   #15
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Size matters... start big and move to small.
Water movement matters start noisey and then try subtle.

Adjust between the two...if that does not work go sub surface..

Wake baits or a horny toad just pushing the water will sometimes work best.

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