Also curious to learn which situations are best to be using topwater baits, such as ploppers, for muskie. How deep is too deep? Over weeds or rock? Time of year/day? How about sunny/cloudy/windy?
Catching bass on ploppers are an absolute riot when they’re hot. Couldn’t imagine the excitement if a muskie hit!
I love using topwater for muskies and have no problem doing it over 15’ of water or more. It only takes two shakes of a muskies tail to go that far. One thing you need to do is slow down on your hook set. That is easier said than done because you get excited. Sometime a muskie will hit the lure so hard it will go flying in the air and it will miss it. If you set the hook too soon when this happens you will get a nice dent in your boat. (my brother was not happy with me) Wait to feel the pull of the muskie to set the hook. If they miss it and you don’t yank it away they will hit it again. Some lures work better in calm water and others are great in large roller waves. Same thing with some work great supper slow and some you can burn. There are lots of great baits out there. Welcome to the sickness and an empty bank account. 
I’m wondering if you experienced muskie anglers think the Ploppers are as effective for muskie as they are for bass?
Yes. Although I’m not a real experienced muskie angler and have not used ploppers for bass. I’m pretty sure that plopper style baits started with muskie fishing and have been downsized for bass after seeing their effectiveness. There are many different brands of plopper style muskie baits.
The problem with a popper style bait for muskies is that you have to work it relatively slow. It’s hard to cover a lot of water with them, same with a walk the dog style of bait. The weagle is my favorite walk the dog bait and I typically use them as a throw back bait or if I saw a fish earlier in the day on a spot. They typically have a poor hook up percentage compared to other baits, but sometimes they will trigger strikes when nothing else will.
My go to top water bait for covering water is a prop style top water. Baits like the pacemaker, top raider, cannonball JR, tally wacker, etc. These baits allow you to still cover water fairly fast and can still be used with moderate wave action. They are more of a bait that can work under any circumstance and are very easy to fish. Just cast and reel.
Thanks for the replies guys. Just picked up a Livingston Head Hunter and Walking Boss to go along with a couple bucktails and double cowgirls I have. Should give me a little variety to start with.
Ploppers are very effective. Top Raider is my go to. Hands down. Like Pat said, you can’t work them slow enough, thus they don’t cover as much water. I like to work the TR so slow the blades are barely spinning.
As an aside…
Don’t get caught up in buying a lot of different baits. I made that mistake. 99% of the time I threw a DCG, (Blue/Nickel, Black/Nickel) TopRaider, (Baby Loon/Anything Black), and pounder bulldawgs in Walleye, or Cisco.
It’s what I had confidence in, and that counts for everything. It keeps you engaged thinking “every cast I may hook up” vs. just going through the motions. Plus you became very effective on how to work these baits.
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