(Editor's note: The following is the latest installment in a series of fishing tips presented by The Bass University. Check back each Friday for a new tip.)
Nearly a quarter of a century after the tournament ended, Shaw Grigsby still vividly remembers his 2nd-place finish in the 1992 Oklahoma Invitational. While he bundled up in the sub-freezing temperatures and plied the frigid waters of Grand Lake with a spinnerbait, winner Jim Morton beat him in less than 2 feet of water with a buzzbait.
That got him thinking: Topwater lures aren’t just one of the most enjoyable ways to catch bass; they’re also one of the most productive in a wide variety of conditions. He’s been successful with them around the country and in temperatures from below 50 degrees almost to triple digits.
Of course, the topwater that you choose depends on forage, water clarity and wind, but he has certain rules that he applies no matter which one he throws. First, he prefers braided line for most of them, because it floats, casts a mile and doesn’t have any stretch on a long cast. The one exception to that may be topwaters with a front propeller, although even there he’s taken to using braid with a 1-foot leader of 20- to 25-pound fluorocarbon, which is “stiff as a board.”
The Strike King KVD Splash popper is one of his favorites. He usually throws it on spinning gear. He also uses the Sexy Dawg frequently. Those are some of his more conventional choices. In recent decades, he’s expanded with some more nuanced options.
The first is his choice of buzzbait, which increasingly is the Strike King Swinging Sugar Buzz, a lure that is hinged between the head and the hook.
“The hook stands up so it runs through everything,” he said. “It’s really good in muddy water and it’s pretty good in clear water.”
No matter which buzzbait you use, he recommends that you employ a trailer hook. He prefers that his trailer hooks be free-swinging rather than at a fixed angle and affixes his stopper with a tool called the Trailer Hook Pal.
When the cover’s too thick for the Swinging Sugar Buzz, he likes a Rage Toad, which he likened to “a buzzbait that can go anywhere.” It provides a good, consistent noise and if the fish blows up on it you can drop it in place and often get them to come back and eat it.”
He’s also become a huge fan of frogging in recent years, and calls his frog stick “my happy rod.” Specifically, it’s a 7-foot-2 Quantum EXO with a high-speed Smoke reel, and that enables him to winch fish out of slop and cheese with ease.
“It’s as good as the old Sexy Dawg is in open water,” he said in regard to the frog, but noted that learning to walk and pop it, and varying the cadence, is the key to unlocking a particular day’s secrets.
While some anglers might think that prop baits are a new addition to tackle stores, Grigsby has been fishing a Bang-O-Lure for decades. He’s also a huge fan of the original Rapala. “You can still use jerkbaits as topwater baits,” he advised. Just twitch them along on top and no hard bait is more subtle or more closely resembles a dying baitfish.
Grigsby is a master of knots and uses different ones for different lures, but noted that his favorite with braid is the double uni. He doesn’t like split rings on his hard baits, instead preferring a loop knot.
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