(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.)
Bass University founder Mike Iaconelli owes his passion for bass fishing, and his career, to a single topwater strike he experienced as a youth. The excitement that it generated lit a fire under him that still burns today, and surface lures have likely had the same effect on many other ardent anglers. We all like to catch bass on top, but few anglers have distilled it down to a science like Ike. “It’s a lot more than tying on a topwater and throwing it out,” he explained.
There are numerous categories of lures that skitter, sashay and dance across the surface, including frogs, buzzbaits and even floating minnows, but 80 percent of the time when Iaconelli finds bass looking up he’ll focus on making them strike walking baits, poppers or prop baits.
Walking baits are typically long and slender, although they might come with two trebles, like a Rapala Skitter V, or three like a large Storm Arashi Top Walker. Either way, they come into play when he’s looking to cover water, searching for bass that aren’t necessarily relating to specific targets like a stump, a bed or an isolated patch of grass. They’re effective, he explained, not just because they replicate the size and shape of baitfish, but also because they mimic they way baitfish move – “They hardly ever move in a straight line,” Ike said. “They’re thrashing and trying to get away.”
His second favorite category is cupped-mouth poppers like the Rapala Skitter Pop or X Pop. No matter which one he chooses, it’s that “popping, spitting action that’s so key.”
“They have the ability to draw fish up,” he added. Most importantly, they can be fished slowly around targets, keeping the lure in the strike zone for an extended period of time. The chugging sound that they create is a key to triggering strikes because it emulates the “sucking, popping noise of a bluegill or a perch.”
The third member of Ike’s “Big Three” is the prop bait. Unlike the former two categories, in which both the larger and smaller baits share the same basic profile, prop baits come in a wider array of body styles. There are long, slender ones like the Rapala X Prop, and stubbier ones like the Skitter Prop. Some have propellers front and rear while others feature only a rear noisemaker.
The prop baits excel under three conditions. The first is when it’s windy or choppy and the extra noise is needed to grab the fish’s attention. The second is in muddy water, situations where your local lake has the clarity of “Yoo Hoo chocolate milk.” While all topwaters have a role in clear to slightly stained water, once again the prop bait becomes a standout when a little extra assistance is needed to help a bass find the lure.
The third scenario is when either bass or bluegill are spawning. As with the popper, the prop bait works well in this situation because you can keep it atop a bed for an extended period of time, and the grating noise of the prop or props serves as an “anger triggering agent.”
“It absolutely makes the fish mad,” he concluded.
If you want to learn more about Ike’s topwater preferences, including his specific thoughts on “matching the hatch,” and the temperature ranges when topwaters are a crucial part of his arsenal, check out his complete video, available only by subscribing to The Bass University TV.
