Proper use of Topwaters

[imhammer]

Take a topwater, throw it as far as you can, wave your rod around like a madman, catch fish, repeat.

LOL.....What he said......I fish tops almost exclusively year round. I have every color, shape and size in the book but generally stick to SS Jr, SS, Skitterwalk and She Dogs. I change retrieves and colors until I find what they want and I am comfortable with. I threw tops all morning today and caught a lot of fish and on all different sizes and colors but they would only hit it on a really slow erratic retrieve and only on long pauses. Sometimes they will only hit small or big and only certain colors but usually they will hit what you are most comfortable throwing because you will stick with it which will produce better results.
If I had to pick one top to throw it would be a SS Jr in either clown or Bone, but I also like the reverse Rodman (Chartreuse w/Black head), Jimmy Houston, Chrominator and solid black. In the winter and in dirty water I throw pink a lot also.
Don't be afraid to throw big tops just because you think only big fish will hit them. I caught a bunch of 12-14" trout this am on Super Spooks.
Leave everything else at home and you will learn really fast unless you give up. Good luck!

[lurefisher]

It's not a 100 cast Sneeky told me it's 1000 cast deano keep throwing it ....

[Borabora]

Number one you need to be " in " the fish.


X2

[fishingrx]

you can also modify a topwater bait action just by changing the hooks, for an example the jumpin' minnow: I would change out the rear treble with a little bigger hook (made the bait a little more *** heavy, thus seemed to walk a little easier in choppy water). same thing for the skitterwalk, etc. you just have to experiment!

[scumLORD]

its all about them skitterwalks they have the sound. bone treuse, pinky, redhead, chartreuse, black and gold, etc. Also the spooks work good I read clown in there which is a killer color, bone, and charlie murphy aka crackhead all black with red eyes, that crazy holographic color that is all chartreuse on top and blue and green on the sides, I call that one the big nasty. the all hot treuse spook jr and the pink head too. someone mentioned gulls trying to hit it, i had a gull following my skitter walk once and i was yelling at him and started speeding my retrieve up and the fish decided to blow the top water up a few feet from me and it was so violent i got soaking wet. keep throwing them, funnest way to catch fish and usually solid fish at that.

[TroutSupport]

All great info... X ++++ you have to be in the fish.. we forget that dynamite doesn't even work when we are not in fish. I know, I tried it... LOL. Also, speckled trout are surface feeders... what? yes, speckled trout are naturally surface feeders and sound feeders.. not sight feeders. So topwaters are perfect for them. Surface and sound. Now yes, they don't always feed only on tops but if there is enough surface activity around you ... pods of bunch up mullet, flippin mullet, a small pop here or there.. it's worth throwing a top. And it doesn't matter what time of day either. I have caught trout in July in the middle of the day on top. Now, do i through a top all the time.. no... I like to use what will get me the most hits and as soon as the top bite slows i'll move to plastic. Also, a topwater is great for locating fish since you can typically cover more water with it and tease out the most aggressive fish in the school... then switch to plastic and catch the rest of them. i think after you catch 3 solid specks on top you'll feel more confident. But you gotta be in the fish or else your just beating the surface into a froth...yay...

have fun,

[Jerkyourcroaker]

I really appreciate everybody's input. I'm headed down this afternoon to fish the twilight and into early evening. I'll report back on the results.

Now, about this whole getting 'in' the fish thing..........

[Milkjug]

Yep, just gotta keep trying until you get it. I remember setting my goal of a topwater trout a few years back. It took 3 trips of fishing with them exclusively until I got one.

They are great lures, once you get a few you will have better confidence in them. I still prefer them early, and especially when there is surface action and nervous water.

One tip I heard was to walk the dog to the tune of "Mary had a Little Lamb". Singing along is optional.

[BayPounder]

One tip I heard was to walk the dog to the tune of "Mary had a Little Lamb". Singing along is optional.

For me that option is not valid. I would scare away every living creature for miles around.

[Jerkyourcroaker]

I went out last night in Yates Cove/Yates Bayou and fished the deep channels of the bayou where they feed into the marsh lake. The SSW wind was howling so it put a damper on conditions. I caught one speck in a marsh drain on a pink skitterwalk. I fished the skitterwalk and a white/red super spook jr. exclusively. I switched back and forth and used the skitterwalk in big water that had a little chop and the SSjr in the calm/flats.

Worked on my technique to the SRV version of Mary Had a Little Lamb.

Thanks again for all the tips.

[lurefisher]

Sometimes when its choppy you need a louder top. When you cast out and cha cha cha cha that topwater like 12345 pause 123 pause 12345 pause dont be reeling in and stop and let the wind and curent take your top back out away from ya .Like working it in a five to six foot area The reason being the fish can hear it but if you are reeling in to fast they can't find it in time .Working the top in one area they can find it .hope it helps.

[Swells]

There are all kinds of floating topwaters and I like the Storm poppers too like the Chug Bug ... the bone Heddon's She Dog Jr. ain't bad ... some of the old-style jointed ones were pretty good too ... stick lures that are real skinny are a blast ... some have a diving lip meant to be jerk-fished. Each style fishes slightly differently and the "walk the dog" won't work in all occasions.