Topwater still working

After throwing some sunrise Topwater w/o luck – I decided to throw my old Buzzbait friend “Rusty Barngate” and got some epic explosions…

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Chunker… don’t bass fish to much but if they always hit buzz baits I think i would fish them more. I always toss one around in my Canadian fishing trips for pike just to see some straight aggression bites.

Ready to throw away all by buzzies after the success I’ve had with Choppo (alot like a whopper plopper) Buzz baits are way more weedless so I guess I’ll keep them. What I like about Choppo is they always seem to connect with the bait, so many misses with buzzy. I’ve had several fish hooked on front and rear trebles, had a pike miss it come around find it and connect. Either way both baits are a blast and as fry shows they seem to excite bigger fish.

Different Topwaters all have their place for sure. Choppos in open water and buzzbaits in light/medium cover, frogs in slop…

Frydog do you throw a trailer on your buzzbait or leave it nekked? I never throw buzzbaits but after seeing how many big bass get caught on them I feel like I might need to give them another go.

I’ve been experimenting a lot on purpose the past couple years on two things – whether to use a trailer and/or a trailer hook. Ive tried every combination several times, and have come to the conclusion if I use the right trailer, I also remove the skirt and go without a trailer hook. So… half nekked I guess

I’m partial to a 3/8 oz Cavitron Buzzbait because I think I can get them on plane faster and moving at a slower speed than other buzzbaits I’ve used (a slower speed helps hook up percentage and therefore less need for a trailer hook). I use a Zoom Z Craw Junior as trailer. That flutter kick of the Z Craw is right by the hook point so if the fish key on its action again it too helps in hook up percentage.

Some guys swear by trailer hooks… and I guess I won’t say I’ll never use one again but they seem to be as much trouble as they are good (they get snagged on reeds/branches when you cast, slimy moss sticks to it, etc).

Lastly, I’m a believer in tuning every Buzzbait because it’s simple and whether it’s confidence for me or makes the fish bite more – a squeaky Buzzbait gets bit. Crimp the rivet, and I file/sand the top of the rivet where it meets the blade to give it that rusty barn gate noise.. lots of utubes and techniques to do this.

I’ll second the cavitron because you don’t have to burn it to keep the blade moving. No trailer hook.

Rusty Barngate works for pike at sunset too –

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Nice! I’m going to get out early tomorrow morning and start with a buzzbait and whopper plopper and see which one does better. Once the sun comes up I’m switching to that crank bite though.

The old bone colored spook has worked for me lately for bass and the pesky pike. Frog bite has died for me. My son claims he gets a few.

By far the worst outing of the year for me today. Started on White Bear at 6 am. Wanted to try buzzbaits on glass around pencil reeds and emergent grass. Picked apart every grass bed or reed island I found. Not even one boil. Figure ok, I’ll hit the point where I crushed with a DT10 Sunday. Two dinks. WENT TO A DIFFERENT LAKE…..Same story.

So depressing. Nothing was getting bit. Neko, crank, topwater, skipping docks, flipping pads. Nothing.

Sh*t happens… sometimes Topwater just isn’t working. Did other techniques work?

I’m not normally a huge follower of Solunar tables but someone told me once that fish don’t hit on top if they’re tentative for some reason. Solunar was at its lowest point of 19% (aka “poor”) today… starting tomorrow for about a week (full moon is Monday/Tuesday) is supposed to be peak period 50-97%.

Curious if you go back to the same lake in the next 4-5 days if it’s any different on top. Could be just voo-doo moon stuff, but I know the Muskie guys watch this stuff and throw a lot of Topwater at certain times.

FryDog62 wrote:

Sh*t happens… sometimes Topwater just isn’t working. Did other techniques work?

I’m not normally a huge follower of Solunar tables but someone told me once that fish don’t hit on top if they’re tentative for some reason. Solunar was at its lowest point of 19% (aka “poor”) today… starting tomorrow for about a week (full moon is Monday/Tuesday) is supposed to be peak period 50-97%.

Curious if you go back to the same lake in the next 4-5 days if it’s any different on top. Could be just voo-doo moon stuff, but I know the Muskie guys watch this stuff and throw a lot of Topwater at certain times.

I saw that after I got off the lake today too. Nice excuse to have in your back pocket. I just couldn’t believe that NOTHING was working. Crazy.

Rusty is out of the Barngate fast this morning… will see how the rest of the day goes…

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Nice, fry

I had the best day of my season yesterday. A friend and I caught 29 bass and 1 pike in about 4 hours on a north metro lake. Mostly skipping docks but also caught some early on moving lures near the weed line. The best part was that I didn’t see a single other boat out there the whole time. Biggest one I caught was 20 inches. Pictures posted in the bass photos. I even caught a blue/silver colored bass (photo), which I’ve never seen before. It was definitely a healthy fish, just had different color.

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Fished for smallmouth on a Brainerd area lake last night. It was slow for much of the night. Right at sunset I was thinking about leaving, but as a last ditch effort thought I’d try a small spot of shallow rocks that I always find fish on. I immediately marked fish off the edge and caught one on a tube. Made about a dozen casts with a prop bait but just one bite. Pulled out an old trusty popper that is no longer made and caught a nice 3 pounder on the first cast, and proceeded to catch another half dozen in the next 20 minutes. I didn’t notice the other couple of boats in the area catch anything, but since it was dead calm and quiet I know the closest boat could hear the splashing of the fish I was catching. It’s awesome when you can match up the right bait with those often-times picky smallmouth.

Mix it up, stay late, yup, yup.

FryDog62 wrote:

Rusty is out of the Barngate fast this morning… will see how the rest of the day goes…

No wind at sunrise is good for Topwater… no wind when the sun is overhead not so good. Got a few more under docks… then had to resort to the Nerd rig again..

If top water stuff ever stops working, I might give up fishing altogether. I sit in the basement all winter concocting big ugly streamers and bottom bouncing flies. Then I spend all summer throwing top waters.

The whole month of July, at least where I’m fishing, I’m getting these real delicate dainty little bites. It looks like an ambitious Bluegill grabbed a rubber leg and just slowly pulled the bug down. No big splash, no commotion, no “toilet Flush”…and then it turns out to be a nice Bass. It’s strange.

SR

“I sit in the basement all winter concocting big ugly streamers and bottom bouncing flies. Then I spend all summer throwing top waters.”

Good for you Steve, this is a bleak climate for 6-8 months of the year and I’m with you – I spend 2/3 of the year thinking about how to cram 12 months of living into 1/3 of the year.

I need to learn how to tie flies, make lures, craft rods, etc during the long winters here…

gim wrote:

I had the best day of my season yesterday. A friend and I caught 29 bass and 1 pike in about 4 hours on a north metro lake. Mostly skipping docks but also caught some early on moving lures near the weed line. The best part was that I didn’t see a single other boat out there the whole time. Biggest one I caught was 20 inches. Pictures posted in the bass photos. I even caught a blue/silver colored bass (photo), which I’ve never seen before. It was definitely a healthy fish, just had different color.

Cool blue/silver fish Gim, looks like you’re having a career year!!

Hate to say it, but it’s nice to hear that someone else lays an egg somedays. Ive had plenty of humble pie, but the next day can be dynamite. Go get em.

ssaamm wrote:

Hate to say it, but it’s nice to hear that someone else lays an egg somedays. Ive had plenty of humble pie, but the next day can be dynamite. Go get em.

You are so right Sodaksan… been a tough year in terms of extra pressure, weather, etc… requires resiliency, but makes us better..!

ssaamm wrote:

Hate to say it, but it’s nice to hear that someone else lays an egg somedays. Ive had plenty of humble pie, but the next day can be dynamite. Go get em.

My last three trips out have been egg laying sessions. I even left a lake to go to a different one my last trip out only to find the same terrible fishing. Been a brutal last two weeks for me. Hoping tomorrow morning changes that.

mahtofire14 wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>Sodaksam wrote:</div>
Hate to say it, but it’s nice to hear that someone else lays an egg somedays. Ive had plenty of humble pie, but the next day can be dynamite. Go get em.

My last three trips out have been egg laying sessions. I even left a lake to go to a different one my last trip out only to find the same terrible fishing. Been a brutal last two weeks for me. Hoping tomorrow morning changes that.

Well, my egg-laying sign was in my yard yesterday under a tree I was trimming. Some creature burrowed a hole and dropped a large one a little bigger than a normal sized chicken egg…

…might be a sign from the Bass gods that I should take up golf or something

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Have not crappie fished in a while, wanted to try a new slip bobber set-up-One fish! Was complaining to the DNR weed inspector, he says: …kidding everyone has been hauling in fish! So really bad when everyone else is bringin’ them in.Hang in there! I’m going back to bass tomorrow, crappie revenge on Thursday.

FryDog62 wrote:

Well, my egg-laying sign was in my yard yesterday under a tree I was trimming. Some creature burrowed a hole and dropped a large one a little bigger than a normal sized chicken egg…

Saw that on Facebook Frydog. Pretty funny.

tim hurley wrote:

Have not crappie fished in a while, wanted to try a new slip bobber set-up-One fish! Was complaining to the DNR weed inspector, he says: …kidding everyone has been hauling in fish! So really bad when everyone else is bringin’ them in.Hang in there! I’m going back to bass tomorrow, <strong class=”ido-tag-strong”>crappie revenge on Thursday.

I haven’t had much luck on crappies lately either Tim. I’ll be going to a lake tomorrow where I’ve been able to find them fairly easily and hope to get a combo bass/crappie day out of the trip. Of the AIS inspectors I’ve talked to lately it sounds like not too many people are coming in with good reports. Hopefully this cool down will help a little.

Good luck!

Killed it on Choppo topwater-went back to the same lake, same time of day, same choppo, water temps, weather about the same, NOTHING, not even a pike. At dusk think I would still like that topwater fix, would you switch to something more subtle or skip tops altogether? Did well on cranks got my first 20incher (have had many 19”s ) Fair amount of pressure but nobody was throwing cranks and the spot where I have caught big ones a few times now does not even get fished I think because its not set up too well for jigworms.