Early Morning/Evening Topwater Bass w/more pics added

[Scout'nStripers]

I finally made it out early in the morning to test a few new baits. The wind was out of the east and blowing right down the creek. I found a couple of long points to cast across and went up wind and cast down wind across the point. That was the key and I was able to catch some decent fish in the choppy water casting across points from up wind. On my first cast this morning I brought a nice 2-3lber to the side of the boat and he shook the hook while I was trying to lip him. I was impressed and kept using the popper and kept getting slammed by fish.

One thing I found out was that the new KVD hooks can cut down on hook ups. My blow up to caught ratio was 1 about one out of 5. Some of the blow ups were very extended with some nice bass coming completely out of the water. I'm pretty sure it's that hook.

I will say this about the bait I was using. I don't think the fish have seen this particular pattern before and they were going nuts over it. There were a lot of bigger fish out this morning and I had a few good blow ups on the bait. It has a lot of splash and pop and that's what the fish were looking for this morning.
Here's a couple pics.

 

[Poor Poor Fisherman]

Magic Touch!

You must have the magic touch! Also, I've never seen a lure that color, top water or otherwise!

Congrats!

 

[Scout'nStripers]

You must have the magic touch! Also, I've never seen a lure that color, top water or otherwise!

Congrats!

Thanks Fishermen. It's a pretty interesting combination of blue and green and kinda caught my eye. We'll have to see how it does in the evening.

 

[Scout'nStripers]

Got back out and hit the same areas between 3:30 and 5:30. I made a few adjustments and replaced the rod with a stiffer rod and changed the hooks to nickel plated Eagle Claw 375 trebles. The hook up rate was much better with the Eagle Claw hooks. There were some big boys out today. Same bait with better results. Here's some pictures from this evening. The topwater blow ups were a blast today!

 

[Klag]

Nice fish and great pics!

 

[Todd71673]

That thing reminds me of an old coke bottle... I like it!

 

[Poor Poor Fisherman]

Magic Touch

Dang, you found a real winner with that topwater popper!

 

[Scout'nStripers]

Nice fish and great pics!

That thing reminds me of an old coke bottle... I like it!

Dang, you found a real winner with that topwater popper!

Thanks guys. Yesterday was a blast for me. It reminded me of site fishing the marsh in La. for redfish. Sometimes the blow ups came from nowhere and other times, if I saw a fish surface, I just had to get the bait close and they would come to it and hit it.
A lot of topwater baits I've tested lately have an initial interest from the fish and then they quit paying attention to it. I might get a fish on the first or second cast and then it's like a ghost town.
The fish stayed interested in this particular bait and when they hit it, they were really committed to it. I believe the difference is the translucent bait. The solid colors I've been using get the initial attention with very little commitment, but the translucent bait kept them committed. They would chase and hit it multiple times. It reminded me of the determination and focus of a redfish.

Topwater site fishing in the fall is something we look forward to every year on Lanier. Whether it's stripers or bass, they provide some great entertainment on light tackle.

 

[fish hawk]

Nice spots Chief!!!
Thick.

 

[Scout'nStripers]

Nice spots Chief!!!
Thick.

Thanks Hawk. There were some studs out yesterday. Some of boils and surface chases had me fooled into thinking they were stripers. They looked thick on the graph too. Just one of those days when the bigger fish show up.

 

[Zebco 33]

Cool color Jim. You are teasing me with this topwater bite. We were out striper fishing tuesday and saw some topwater action. I almost switched up but didnt and should have.

 

[burtontrout]

Hey way to go. Also, can you make the lure you were catching trout on at Burton? It seemed pretty productive.

Thanks

 

[Scout'nStripers]

Cool color Jim. You are teasing me with this topwater bite. We were out striper fishing tuesday and saw some topwater action. I almost switched up but didnt and should have.

Thanks Larry. I always like to keep some kind of topwater jig handy this time of year when I'm striper fishing just in case something pops up within casting distance.

Nice lure. Where did you pick it up?

Thanks msb, I made it. I need to come up with a name for it though???

I got back out this morning and hit the same areas. The lake was like glass this morning and the fish were a little more reluctant to hit surface stuff. The poppers work better with a little chop on the water and this morning there was no wind and no chop. I had several chasers and a few missed fish but I still managed a few on a tough morning. The size was considerably smaller than yesterday. Here's a few from this morning.

 

[Scout'nStripers]

Hey way to go. Also, can you make the lure you were catching trout on at Burton? It seemed pretty productive.

Thanks

pm sent

 

[Scout'nStripers]

Hope you make it available soon. Is the Bait & Tackle on Buford Dam Road still open? We tried calling a few times a couple weeks ago to be sure they had herring, but he didn't answer.

I stopped by there yesterday morning on the way to the lake. They are open and have some herring.

 

[FMBear]

Fine catching as always, Jim!!

 

[fish hawk]

Have you thought about piece of white bucktail with a little flash tied to the back hook?Sometimes that helps them key in on the bait and improves hookups.

 

[Scout'nStripers]

Have you thought about piece of white bucktail with a little flash tied to the back hook?Sometimes that helps them key in on the bait and improves hookups.

I have Hawk. Striperhunter sent me a pm and suggested it also. I may tie up a treble with some hair and flash but tying hair on trebles usually means blood loss for me. I'm tying so close to the hook points I usually stick myself at least once during the process. My hands aren't quite as steady as they use to be. I appreciate the suggestion. Thanks.

Fine catching as always, Jim!!

Thanks Fred. It's a learning process with these fish and topwater. Yesterday the lake was like glass and the bass were everywhere chasing bluebacks on the surface. They wouldn't really react to the popping and splashing like the day before when there was a chop on the lake. The fish that I caught yesterday hit the popper when it was barely moving or making a slow wake. It makes sense because the bass have been attracted to the wake the bluebacks are making when the swim on the surface. All I have to do is watch the bluebacks on the surface and get ready to cast. If they are making a wake on the surface, it wouldn't be long till a bass saw it and nailed the bait.
The funny part is that the pattern was exactly the same on Burton 2 weeks ago when we were there. The largemouth and bigger trout were hammering the bluebacks on the surface as they swam along making a wake.
With that being said, I made a little something for them to imitate that wake in the same color pattern as the poppers. We'll have to see how it works if I can get out this morning. Also going to try a new cobalt blue color with the emerald green translucents.

 

[Scout'nStripers]

Caught a few good ones again this morning. It was slow to say the least but I was able to call a few to the surface with the popper and caught a couple nice ones casting to where I saw surfacing fish. I had a lot of lookers again this morning. Even pulled a whole dang tribe of larger spots off a rocky point that followed the bait to the boat. A lot of curious fish. The cool part about the surfacing fish is that all you had to do was get the popper close to where they surfaced and they would come back up and hammer it almost every time. Even after waiting a few minutes you could still bring them back to the surface if you could cast into the right area and pop it a couple times. My cell phone camera decided not to work anymore but I did get a couple pictures of a couple of the fish this morning. This little popper is continuing to get it done and it's mainly been respectable fish with very few dinks. Testing is done and I've come to the conclusion this is an awesome bait.

 

[jzFish]

Those are some pretty sweet looking topwater lures.