Topwater fishing lures deliver top-tier action
Few lures in fishing inspire more exciting mental imagery than the topwater. Anglers dream of violent crashes from hungry fish leaping into the air to grab a well-placed surface offering.
A topwater is a lure that floats along the surface, enticing a fish to come from underneath. While a few fish provide a timid sip like proper English tea, most crash the surface with the reckless abandon of a Cajun gulping perfect gumbo.
May is a great month for topwater lures, less so for your blood pressure. You’ve been warned. Anglers may not remember the three-item grocery list from their spouse’s 10-minutes-ago request, but they can repeat every detail of a 5-pounder rising through the water column like the Red October slamming a Whopper Plopper 5 years ago on Lake Ouachita. It’s why anglers don’t need to go jogging; 30 minutes of telling topwater fishing stories gives them all the cardio a heart can handle.
Here are two types of surface lures that should enhance your chance for a great cardiogram:
1. Buzzbait: These are relatively simple to throw, basically a propeller spinning on the water as you retrieve it. Start with a smaller one and get comfortable with the cast, and start your retrieve as soon as it hits the water. What keeps this bait on top is the propeller turning as you wind it back.
2. Popper: These lures have a concave front and will sit on the water after the cast. Then you pop them back with short bursts with your fishing rod. Each short slap with the rod brings the popper back toward you a few inches, making a gurgling sound and attracting fish from below. It imitates an injured baitfish with its erratic stops and sputters. Bass can be vicious predators but can’t resist a lazy meal.
One final tip for topwater fishing: Don’t set the hook based on the violent crash you see; wait until you feel something pulling back. It takes discipline and a few lost fish to realize that sometimes those fish are so excited to eat they miss, and sometimes you can pull it away from them while they are in the act of reaching for your lure.
There’s no more exciting way to fish!
Watch Carlton and Arkansas Democrat-Gazette Outdoors Editor Bryan Hendricks fish topwaters on the Maumelle River on “Arkansas’ Great Outdoors” Episode 62. Good luck. Your cardiologist will thank you!
Carlton and Leigh Wing host the “Arkansas’ Great Outdoors” weekly television series.