~ ~
Time for Topwaters
By Jerry Puckett

July/August 1998

Much like a grouchy junkyard dog, there are times when bass are downright contrary. In no mood for romance and certainly not inclined to have their turf invaded by some pesky object sashaying and spittin’ about in the hood – how rude. This bass knows it’s territory and won’t hesitate to defend it.

At other times, the gang may just be out for a little stroll, a little showin’ off, styling a bit. The group’s mentality is competitive, not that much different from a group of teenagers tossing a basketball around. The blood is up and the gang is cruising brushy flats or nosing into grass-lined pockets and cuts. The 78-degree water temperature has their metabolisms on high and they are looking for any excuse to let the games begin. Shame on anything that even remotely resembles a part of the food chain.

Or, late afternoon may find a mature bass kicked back in the old lounge chair. Twelve hours earlier the bass bid farewell to the shallows after a successful pre-dawn feeding period. The past hours have been spent digesting the early morning snack of a couple of crawfish as the bass lies in 15-ft. of water below a rocky drop off. The first thing the bass becomes aware of that indicates a feeding opportunity is the lowered visibility as a summer afternoon squall generates a heavy chop.

The lower light penetration puts the bass at a decided advantage. An ambush is easier to stage under these conditions. The wind is stacking plankton against the downwind shoreline, oxygen levels are increasing at the same time. Threadfin shad, attracted by the concentration of windblown plankton, enter the shallows only to be subjected to the buffeting and disorganizing effect of the waves. Robbed of their best defense, strength in numbers, the tightly packed ball of shad begins to break up. Confused, stragglers begin dropping out of formation on all sides making easy targets of themselves in their confusion.

Three totally different situations. The mood of the fish in the three examples are not even similar – with one exception. All of them are primed and ready to fall victim to a topwater presentation. Let’s use the information we’ve gathered to formulate a systematic plan of attack.

Topwaters are great target baits. Remember the junkyard dog scenario? When bass are parked on a piece of cover you can use your topwater bait to tempt, almost seduce the fish away from the cover by employing a tantalizing presentation. Our key thought here is to saturate the target zone. The more time your bait spends in the strike zone the higher your odds of getting the bite you’re looking for.

Classic target baits include the Zara Spook, various stick baits such as a Rogue or Rapala, a popper such as a Sugoi Splash, soft jerkbaits such as a Senko and certain of the larger Yamamoto grubs such as the 19 series or the new 20 series grubs. These two baits are well suited for buzzing or weightless twitching.

Each of these baits can be presented in a subtle fashion. Remember, we’re targeting a fish that we assume or have reason to believe is parked on a piece of cover such as an isolated brushy stump at the edge of drop off or a laydown tree on an otherwise barren shoreline. We’re attempting to ambush the ambusher.

Boat positioning played a key role in allowing the best presentation to be made in each of these cases. But the key, in each of these examples, is that the angler as much as forced the fish to deal with the bait.

Topwaters are some of the best call baits. When a competitive school of bass are wolf packin’ it across a brush-strewn feeding flat your bait needs to advertise, create a ruckus. The fish may be 30 yards away and they’re roaming. Give them something to zero in on. Now our goal is not to saturate a target zone but to cover as much water as possible – quickly.

The family of topwater call baits includes buzzbaits, prop baits, rattling stick baits and again, the Sugoi Splash. Each of the baits are presented in such a fashion to "get the word out" by using exaggerated motions.

The buzzbait squeaking and possibly clacking its way across the flat.

A prop bait worked with near violent twitches, the blades spraying water upward – the same with the rattling stickbait, we’re generating maximum sound and commotion.

The Sugoi Splash really shines here. Gone is the subtle spitting cadence, replaced by a very fast, erratic retrieve. You’re attempting to exaggerate the action of a panic-stricken shad as it makes its way pell-mell across the surface in a last ditch bid for escape and freedom.

When the bass are up and on the move, creating a topwater ruckus can call in the aggressive fish from extended range. That’s efficiency.

When weather and wind conditions create an advantageous feeding opportunity for bass, the fish are intent on just that – feeding. The baitfish are in the shallows and vulnerable to attack due to the disorienting effect of the waves crashing the shallows. Security for shad comes in the form of packing themselves tightly into the classic "meatball" configuration. Do the bass perceive the meatball to be one big fish? Who knows. But it does seem that the bass reserve their energies, attacking in most cases when the shad are driven apart by the wave action in the shallows, picking off the stragglers as they are separated from the school.

I remember the big boys (or was it the old wives?) telling me about the phenomenon of baitfish being "blown" into the shallows, there to be helpless before the onslaught of the hungry bass and the crashing waves. Of course that’s not true. The shad follow the surface pastures of sun-generated plankton bloom, downwind, and eventually into the shallows. It’s the old follow-the-groceries trick.

In this case it’s not a matter of finding the bass, if the shad are there, and they usually are, the bass are there and ready. We don’t need to entice or attract them, we only need to feed them. Certain topwater baits excel at this task. The Sugoi Splash, worked vigorously in the trough between wave crests works remarkably well.

In this circumstance color choices may pay big dividends. Bright red and brilliant chartreuse are good choices, even in the clearest of water. The lowered light penetration levels brought about by the action of the waves puts an additional emphasis on trigger colors. The bass want to eat it, they’ve got to be able to see it.

Another star performer when the bass are actively feeding in the shallows is the Senko. The soft jerkbait appeals directly to the feeding instincts of the bass. They are looking specifically for disoriented baitfish that have lost touch with the formation, having fallen out of the ranks and struggling to maintain their equilibrium along the wave-washed shoreline.

What with the wind and waves you can be reasonably sure that you will be dealing with some slack line. With the Senko that’s not necessarily a liability as the erratic dart, dive and glide-action of the bait are what will attract the bass. However, the soft texture of the Senko works heavily in your favor as the bass mouth the bait, finding the consistency and salty taste to be to their liking and allowing you ample opportunity to gather your slack and make a solid sweep-set.

There is a definite advantage to be gained by employing the Tex-posed rigging style for the Senko. As you know, by rigging the hook point parallel to the body of the bait instead of buried in the center of the thick body, you can bring the hook point to bear with only moderate pressure. The hook will be penetrating fully with much less pressure than would be required in a standard Texas rigged bait. Choose a hook style that is designed specifically for the Tex-posed method. Our choice is the Sugoi hook. It sets up perfectly for this method. That’s the purpose for which it was designed.

The Senko is now available in four sizes (4 1/4 to 7 inches) and a wide variety of colors. Choose an attention getting color and a size just larger than the average baitfish in your area. Color and size are used to exaggerate the forage base and draw attention to the Senko. The active bass will be happy to do the rest.

As is the case in many of the other general categories in bass fishing, attempting to narrow down your choices for a topwater bait can be overwhelming – there are literally thousands of styles, colors and designs that fall into this classification. But they are not, as we all know, the same. Each grouping of baits is designed to shine in a certain condition brought about by season, water clarity or weather condition.

But why throw a topwater at all? In my book there are only two reasons. First and foremost, it’s fun. Or better yet, it’s lots of fun. Second, in the right situation a topwater bait will produce fish faster and more efficiently than any other bait.

Develop a systematized topwater program. By employing a logical approach that matches your bait offering to the mood and mode of the bass you will have armed yourself with the number one tool in any successful fisherman’s arsenal – confidence.

Ringing a Spook

The venerable Zara Spook has, many believe, one major shortcoming. It concerns the hardpoint hook attachments. Because the hard mounting points limit the hook’s ability to articulate, it’s possible for a hooked fish to twist around until he gains leverage on the hook against the body of the bait. I have lost enough Spook-hooked fish to be a believer.

One nifty cure is to remove the original hooks by snipping them off or by removing the attachments. Next, add a pair of heavy split rings between the attachment point and the hook. While one ring helps, I think a pair of them are just about perfect. You then have a hook that can freely pivot through nearly 360-degrees of rotation. No binding, fewer dumped fish. Try this for yourself and see if it doesn’t improve your catch rate.

Senko Rigging Tips

You can significantly alter the action of the Senko by a change in hook size and location. The most subtle actions are to be achieved by the choice of a smaller hook. The larger the hook the more quickly the bait drops it’s nose. You can generate much the same effect by moving a larger hook further back in the body of the bait. This gives a more neutral fore-aft weighting and a more gentle glide path.

Buzzing the Grub

When you need a "stealth topwater" you can’t beat a big grub buzzed across the surface. The use of fairly heavy line will allow you to throw the bait in the heaviest of cover and will add buoyancy, helping you keep the bait on the surface. With a long rod, fast retrieve reel, no weight and a Tex-posed Sugoi hook (skin hook the point) you’re all set. Rig the bait so that when the hook bend is riding down, in the normal position like a keel, the curled tail of the big single tail 19 or 20 series grub is pointed down.

This method forces the tail to straighten at even the slowest retrieve rates. In this position the ribbon-like tail generates the maximum surface or buzz. This little detail makes a difference.

~ ~