Bass Topwater Lures Basics by Randy Rowley 5/13/26 ©
ByYou’ve done it – you’ve finally went out and bought a rod and reel combo for bass fishing and spooled it with good line. Now that the essential gear has been purchased it’s time to move on to artificial lures.
Lures are man-made baits that are designed to entice bass and other game fish to swallow them or at least put them in their mouths. They’re either made to resemble a bass’ natural prey (shad, minnows, crawfish, worms, lizards, etc.) or stimulate a bass to strike from protection of their nest or anger.
Lures are usually made from four materials: metal, wood (usually balsa), hard plastic, or soft plastic. Some are designed to function on the bottom of a water body, some deep-depth, some mid-depth, some shallow-depth, and some on the top of the water. Some are designed to make a lot of noise, some are designed to be silent, some are designed to swim like the bait fish they resemble, and some are designed to attract bass by their smell. There are as many colors for bass lures as there are colors in the rainbow. Wise fishermen keep several different colors of specific lures in their tackle boxes for different water and weather conditions. There is also a large variety of lures sizes available.
All this translates to confusion for fishermen. Fortunately, for weekend fishermen, there are fishermen who fish just about every day of the year. These tour pro’s and other experts all say that top water lures should be included in every bass fisherman’s tackle box.
Top water baits include propeller baits, buzzbaits, dog walkers, poppers, frogs, rats/mice, and ducks. These baits are great for early morning and late evening fishing, especially in the warmer months, but can also produce when it’s overcast. Colors aren’t as important as many fishermen think. That’s because bass will only see the bottom of the lure. Black is great for night, early morning/late evening, and for when it’s overcast. Bone, white, and shad-colored lures are top producers when it’s sunny. Clear is a good choice for schooling bass.
Propeller and buzz baits mimic fleeing baitfish and are designed to be ripped along on the top of the water, making a lot of commotion, which produces explosive surface blow ups. Prop baits can also be jerked or fished with varied retrieves but usually work best when cranked moderately fast to fast.
Popular prop baits include River2Sea’s Whopper Plopper, 6th Sense’s Scramble and Party Prop, Rapala’s Claptail, Skitter Prop, and X-Rap Prop, Berkley’s Choppo and Spin Rocket, Strike King’s Patroller and Clickin Chickin, Heddon’s Baby, Tiny, and Teeny Torpedo, Googan Squad’s Revolver (with the spinner in the middle instead of the back), Yo-Zuri’s 3DB, Smithwick’s Devil’s Horse, and Cordell’s Crazy Shad, but the Whopper Plopper is what shook up the bass world when it was introduced. It introduced bass to baits and sounds that they’d never seen and heard before, and they hit them with abandon. They were so successful that 6th Sense, Rapala, Berkley, and Strike King eventually copied them.
My favorite prop baits include the Whopper Plopper, Choppo, and Baby Torpedo.
Buzz baits are the most productive during post-spawn and during warmer months. Most buzz baits have a single large blade, but clacker models include a metal piece (like a rivet) that hits the blade to create a louder more distinguishable sound, which is ideal when it’s windy. Double prop models include counter-rotating blades that create extra lift allowing the lure to slowly crawl along the surface and produce maximum surface commotion. Popular buzz baits include the Nichols Reflex, Mepps Boggerman, Strike King KVD Tournament, BOOYAH Buzz Blade, Lunker Lure, Googan Squad Hummer, and War Eagle.
Many fishermen include trailers on their buzz baits, which increases the lure’s size and helps with floatation and casting distance, and attracts larger bass. Some fishermen remove the skirt and replace it with a toad soft plastic. I’m partial to Nichols and BOOYAH. As with propeller baits, black is ideal for night, early morning/late evening, and overcast fishing, while white is best for sunny conditions.
Dog walkers are designed to be twitched on the top of the water in a side-to-side/zig-zag motion. They must be fished correctly though, or they are next to useless. You can’t just throw them and reel them back. Most are cigar shaped and large. Heddon’s Super Spook, Super Spook Jr., Super Spook Boyo, and Zara Puppy and Lucky Craft’s Sammy are the gold standards. Other great dog walkers include the Yo-Zuri 3DB Pencil and 3DB Pencil Popper (it walks and pops), Evergreen “Shower Blows”, River2Sea Rover, 6th Sense Catwalk, Strike King KVD Sexy Dawg Jr. and Bitsy Sexy Dawg, Lucky Craft Gunfish, Berkley Justin Lucas J-Walker 100/120 and Cane Walker, Rapala Skitter Walk, SPRO Walking Haint 110, Googan Squad’s Hound, and Excalibur (now Heddon) Spit’n Image.
My favorites include the Yo-Zuri 3DB Pencil Popper, Evergreen Shower Blows SB-105, Lucky Craft Sammy, Excalibur Spit’n Image, and Heddon Super Spook and Super Spook Jr. (I throw dog walkers a lot). For schooling bass, it’s hard to beat a Evergreen Shower Blows, Heddon Super Spook, or Heddon Super Spook Jr in clear color.
Poppers have big lips and are designed to be jerked or popped on the top of the water, although you can walk the dog with some of them. They make a lot of noise and commotion and mimic a fleeing or dying bait fish. They’re best when fished on calm or slightly choppy water. The Arbogast Hula Popper is the gold standard, being introduced in 1941. The Rebel Pop-R has also survived the test of time – being around for around five decades. Great poppers include the Yo-Zuri 3DB Popper 3 inch, BassMooch Poppa Chewy Topwater Killa, Heddon Chuggar Spook (discontinued in the early 70’s), Storm Rattlin’ Chug Bug (which also walks) and Arashi Cover Pop, Rapala XRP-07 X-Rap Pop and Skitter Pop, 6th Sense SplashBack, River2Sea Bubble popper (which also walks), Googan Squad Blooper, Berkley Bullet, Strike King KVD Splash, and Booyah Boss Pop.
Many fishermen, after casting a popper, wait for a count of two-Mississippi before popping the lure again. Some even wait until all the ripples have disappeared before popping again. Compared to a propeller bait or a dog walker, poppers are fished much slower. As I prefer a moving bait, I don’t use them very often. My favorites include the BassMooch Poppa Chewy Topwater Killa, Heddon Chuggar Spook, Storm Rattlin’ Chug Bug, and Yo-Zuri 3DR-X.
Frogs are designed to mimic a frog (surprise), complete with skirt-style or swimming legs. They excel when fishing on top of or besides lily pads and over or by grass mats. They can be hopped along on the top of the water, dog-walked, popped, and fished like a prop bait (such as the Lunkerhunt Prop Frog, a hollow body frog with propeller feet and a large trailer hook). There are two basic styles – solid body (aka toads) and hollow body.
Solid body frogs, like the Stanley Jigs Ribbit Frog are best for buzzing in open water and twitching in heavy cover, while hollow bodies, like the Lunkerhunt Combat Frog and Livetarget Ultimate Frog are best for dog-walking.
Hollow-body frogs with concaved or flared lips attached to their fronts, like the Booyah Poppin’ Pad Crasher, are great for popping. Most hollow body frogs have skirt-style legs, but some have swimming legs, such as the Lunkerhunt Combat Frog.
Other popular frogs include the Scum Frog Launch Frog, Frog Factory Ribbit Top Toad, River2Sea Bully Wa 2 and Phat Mat Daddy, 6th Sense Vega, SPRO Dean Rojas Bronzeye Frog, Strike King KVD Sexy Frog, Berkley Swamp Lord, Toad Thumper Lure Swamper Walkin’ Frog, and Strike King Hack Attack Pad Perch (which looks like a panfish). My favorite is the Lunkerhunt Prop Frog – some fishermen consider it to be a gimmick, but I’ve caught more bass on it than all my other frogs combined, including my personal best.
No matter the style, bass must be given time to eat a frog. If you try to set the hook when you see a bass hit your frog or you feel the bass’ weight, more often than not you’ll jerk the frog out of the bass’ mouth. Therefore, I count to two-Mississippi before setting the hook, but that’s no guarantee that you’ll hook the bass. I probably average one bass caught for every three frog hits, and I’m not alone.
Rats and mice behave somewhat like frogs – the main difference is their tails sway back and forth like a live rat, creating a wake. They’re best worked with a slow, steady retrieve to create a zigzag or a walk-the-dog motion. Some Rats, like the Savage Gear 3D Rat, offer a top-hook rigging option to avoid snagging in lily pads, thick weeds, or grass. Some rats, like the Bucca Brand Bucca Baby Bull Rat, have no rear legs, but many do, like the Savage Gear 3D Rat. Other popular rats include the SPRO 30 Rat, BBZ Bio-Rat (with spinning legs), Scum Frog Bass Rat – Sewer Rat (with a skirt-style tail), Lunkerhunt Yappa Rat Hollow Body Rodent (which looks like a hollow body frog with a flared/popping lip and a skirt-style tail) and Furenzy Mouse (which looks like a hollow body frog), and the LIVETARGET Field Mouse (with skirt-style legs).
Ducks are the black sheep of the topwater family, as there aren’t many options available. As live ducks are migratory, bass usually don’t see ducks during the late spring to early fall, so if you try to fish one then, they’ll possibly ignore it. The main duck lures that are available are the Savage Gear 3D Savage Fruck (a hollow body duck with swimming frog legs) and 3D Topwater Suicide Duck (with spinning legs and a customizable top and bottom hook configuration).
Happy shopping and tight lines!