Favourite top water lure

[Bassy Tom]

Hi lads,

I am getting into the surface lure side of things for Bass at the moment and was just curious as to what your all time favourite surface lure was. I have the Ima salt skimmer, which i love, but would like to expand a little from there. I have heard great things about the Heddon super spook and the Lucky Craft Gunfish. Any thoughts?

Tom

[Bassy Tom]

Tom you ever hear of the peacock bass lure.

The ones with the propeller at back.

Bass cone up and cause a swell of water behind them
Quick enough retrieval

Brilliant lure. Not just for peacock bass but any bass.

ImageUploadedByTapatalk1414246588.805572.jpg (16.1 KiB) Viewed 2191 times

[JimH]

Hi Tom

The spook is often considered 'old school' but still deadly - they are available from the US ten a penny (Fi Dolla) - will catch you a stack of bass http://www.probassfisher.ie/2009/01/sur ... shing.html -

The action of the particular lure is very unique and still probably the easiest lure to 'walk' get a couple of junior sizes and also a top tip the newer version wit ha concave face (awesome) - a friend of mine has an obsession with them - he recently took an old one sanded it and sprayed it pink, we went fishing and go here and page down a bit https://twitter.com/Jimhendrick/media to September 29th you will see one of two fish > 10 taken that night from the surface.

85% or more of my bass lure fishing is done from the surface Tom, the remaining is done with drift and drop techniques with subsurface stickbaits, its a personal obsession of mine. I'd rather fish for four hours and catch one (or none) fish from the surface than catch ten subsurface, its just my preference.

Surface fishing with noisy splashy lures can be good, personally most of my bigger 'surface' bass have come with the walk the dog technique - a recent weeks fishing in early October saw 5 fish > 10lbs all landed on silent surface walk the dog lures - this will feature in Voyages Des Peches magazine shortly - see some of the fish on my twitter account above in early October -

Have a look here Tom for some short notes and favourites of mine http://www.probassfisher.ie/2011/05/som ... rites.html

At this time of year a Miss Carna is a firm favourite (available Henrys Tackle) - but like everything in fishing its all very personal.

Do not write off the Lucky Craft Sammy particularly the Sammy 85

One thing Tom - the stop is as important as the go........also the ability of the lure to 'stick' in rough weather whilst maintaining a good path is essential

I'll stop now

[roooster]

storm chugbug...has been catching me bass for years,never lets me down at certain shallow marks

[Bassy Tom]

Thanks Lads. As usual Jim you are a treasure trove of information. I am starting to suspect that you might like surface lures just a tiny little bit. lol.

[JimH]

No doubt about it Tom, no problem taking em off the top between now and Christmas Tom.

[Bassy Tom]

Any advice on colour and type of Orion surface lure Jim. I know you are a fan and I would like to have one or two of them for my tackle box. I might be wrong but i think you use the Sticker?

[Eoghan]

I've caught a few bass in the past off the surface and for some reason I never really concentrate much on it. Maybe its a confidence thing. The takes were amazing. I'm surprised to hear its 85% of your fishing Jim..! I really must do more of it. I always liked the Duel Aile magnet as a very easy lure to use and then the Illex Bonnie (Tnks to a tip from you Jim). The patchinko works well too.

[JimH]

Tom - I prefer plan old white with natural eyes in the sticker.

Eoghan - I personally believe that too much 'imagined complexity'is created around lure fishing for bass. From senkos to kiltys, krills to flash minnows, I guess this is all part of 'fishing'

We all have our preferences for both types of lures and methodology. The 'presentation' is probably the key to catching the fish.(time and place too) All presentations are easy in this modern age of bass fishing, but some are more effective than others - bigger fish tend to spend time down near the bottom hence the success in fishing soft plastic, add rocks and weed and a recessed hook and heh presto....

I reckon soft plastic fishing both for its simple ease of angling and deadly presentation is easily THE most effective way of catching bass BUT do I like doing it, not really.

However I love surface lure fishing, not because it's more or less effective (relative) but when I catch a fish on this method I'm very happy.

The danger here is that somehow its perceived that I'm a better angler than a soft lure anger because of my chosen method. Ultimately it's my choice of course.

I've just recently seen a classic example of bass fishing bullshit of this type on an other blog - what seems to be forgotten is that bass eat feed shallows, krills, tobies, gobies, flies, worms, crabs in fact most things that move......if they are in the right place.

[Crevan]

I have to agree with Jim here-surface kicks ass!! Im not a fan of soft plastics...I fish them but they bore me. Nothing...and I mean nothing beats enticing a bass to take a lure from the surface. Nothing keeps me as interested in watching my lure along the top waiting eagerly for a splash swirl etc. Even a splash and a miss gets the blood running!

Id trade 5 sp caught fish to one from the surface!! I love it.

@Tom...pick yourself up an Illex Bonnie 128 in bone colour. Simple to use and very very effective.

[Tanglerat]

Now I wonder - is it possible to buy/design/construct a soft plastic surface popper? A spsp, like.

Ever since I heard that manufacture of the Alie Mag surface popper has been discontinued, I've been wondering what will eventually replace it as my "go-to".

The things that I worry about......

[Crevan]

Not a popper but....

I was told by a Dutch angler before that if you put a sluggo into boiling water for a minute or two the properties of the plastic change and it becomes a floating surface Sluggo.

Haven't tried it yet mind...

[ATF]

a weedless surface lure would be ideal for lot of places i fish
check this guy out http://www.sovereignsuperbaits.co.uk/Lures/Weedless/Hollow_Baits/hollow_baits.html

[Tanglerat]

Gotta get those SPs to speak, guys! I reckon you'd need a hard surface area insert on the face, to make it pop, spit and gurgle......

[Bassy Tom]

try this one, the zman pop shad.

http://www.tacklewarehouse.com/Z_Man_Po ... ANPOP.html

[Tanglerat]

try this one, the zman pop shad.

http://www.tacklewarehouse.com/Z_Man_Po ... ANPOP.html

Now that looks sexy.

[Ronnach]

I still haven't really used proper top-water lures (or learnt how to walk the dog for that matter), but by pure accident about half the bass I caught this year in the dark were caught using a shallow diving lure on the surface. The old reliable Feed Shallow accounted for all these, when I was doing a slow retrieve and just waking it along the top, then pausing for as much as 10 seconds a number of times on the way back - a lot of fish took the FS just after a pause, or during it whilst the lure was stationary at the surface - it was an eye opener for me.

Next season I'm going to have to put some proper time into the dedicated top water lures..

[JimH]

stopping is as important as moving - sometimes more so (for long periods too)
Late October bass 2 feet of water 50 yards out - Z-Claw http://www.henrystackleshop.com/product ... ts_id/3576

[Eoghan]

Jim would you mind putting a figure on "Long periods". Even a rough idea. Every little bit of info helps..!

[JimH]

E

With NO current I will do something similar to below

Walk the lure with no stop through full retrieve - ALWAYS trying to eliminate 'dragging' in other words letting the lure swim side to side completing and returning at precisely when it should

Walk the lure with a count say one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, STOP wait ten, then walk to five, STOP wait five, walk to twelve STOP and wait for two then walk for three and STOP wait for twelve - the waits can be very long 30 seconds OR

If the location has a little current and ambush sites I will walk the lure to just before the site and then STOP and drift and then walk again knowing the depth will help your timing - if fish are deep they see the lure earlier and for longer, (tease time) if they are shallow they see it later and for a shorter period (aggression time) - this can influence your STOP time and your speed - I like slow for deep and fast for shallow, dark for deep and bright for shallow, noiseless for deep and noisy for shallow BUT.....its fishing it changes

With a biggish lure like a bonnie 128 say in AYU in current - make a cast perpendicular to the current lets say running right to left - cast -land -splash wait and walk only a little and wait till the lure drifts past twelve o clock to just before the eleven o clock position - avoid a bow in your line, walk the lure against the tide with NO retrieve through a window of say from 11 to just after 10 with NO stop - this window moves with tide speed, tide co-effecient and depth - this is the ZONE then try it with 10 second stops and increase to 20 - move to your left for two paces and repeat - I call this quartering. Do it with or without current

With the same lure same position its very possible to 'dead drift' with the technique above - cast- land -splash - walk and STOP and wait for the entire drift to just after ten o clock maybe 60 seconds or more the lure bobs in small waves - cast high and cast with lifelike colours - this achieved in my favourite fly technique with big ten inch flatwings NO retieve just a swing.....

Of all the things try to learn the cadence of the lure that completes its 'swim cycle' without drag - try this and achieve it went its really rough and your on a BIG fish winner