Top-water strikes add excitement to bass fishing
Nearly surrounded by open water, Eric Akred cast his lure dead-center on a plate-sized patch of moss and smiled.
Rather than words of frustration, “perfect” was his only word as he gave his rod a twitch. The plastic frog was barely off the floating vegetation when the surface exploded, sending water three feet into the air and a largemouth bass even higher.
“I’ve caught bass about every way possible, but top water gives you some of the most exciting bites you can have on the water,” said Akred. “You can see and feel the strike.”
The man has experience beyond his 36 years with the sport.
Amid his 27 years of bass fishing, he spent 10 traveling widely for tournaments. He did 12 years in angling retail, including being a fishing department manager at Gander Mountain.
Akred has caught bass in finger-numbing cold and on days like Wednesday — sweat rolled down his body like water over some fancy Greek fountain. The latter was perfect for top-water action.
Though top water can be good during the spawn, when bass are protecting nests, Akred said most anglers wait until after the spawn. The good fishing begins, normally mid-May in Kansas, when the bass are guiding their fry. Afterward, they’ll chasing crappie or bluegill fry in the shallows.
Akred said every top-water lure made replicates on one of those small baitfish or frog on the water, twitching as if injured. Rather than burn a lot of energy chasing a healthy food, most fish go for the easier meal.
“They’re opportunistic feeders,” said Akred.
American anglers have been tossing top-water lures to bass for more than 100 years. Since then, most of those lures have been cast around something like lily pads or weeds in shallow water. Akred said top-water lures can often work in much deeper areas.
“In the Ozarks, you may be in 60 or 80 feet of water that has flooded timber growing up,” he said. “Those bass can be hanging in that timber, maybe 20 feet below the surface and they’ll sure come up and take a top-water bait.”
With just one day to fish a private water, Akred and two guests arrived at the pond at around noon Wednesday, after letting a lightning-streaked storm clear the area.
Akred figured recent rains may have cooled the 20-acre impoundment enough to provide good fishing at mid-day. Something certainly had the fish active.
His first cast of the day wasn’t even done bobbing from the splash when a bass took it off the surface. Two more strikes came within his first eight casts.
Many of his fish were hiding beneath floating vegetation. Others rose from vegetation 1 to 4 feet below the open surface.
Along a sizable section of timbered shoreline, Akred used sidearm casts to skip top-water lures under over-hanging branches. The day’s most memorable strike came when the canoe was just drifting, and the lure about only 16 inches from the end of Akred’s pole as it floated into a small patch of shade. The strike of the two-pound bass literally showered Akred and the front of the canoe.
Married and father of young children, it’s rare for Akred to get a full day of angling. Top water usually fits fine into such a schedule, being best first or last hour of daylight. Akred fishing top water on about everything from small ponds to large reservoirs.
Late in the afternoon, he took a break from the canoe to stretch and let his body cool during an air-conditioned trip into town for a large, cold drink.
His return action was a bit slow the first hour or two, then picked up as shadows swallowed the lake. Even areas where he’d already fished three or four times that day held fish. Akred theorized those last bass had spent most of the day deep, before heading shallow to feed.
Fish were still biting when he quit casting. Though nothing large had hit, he’d had fun with lots of action. He estimates he caught close to 60 bass, all crashing lures on the surface.
“I don’t know how you could not get excited when a bass hammers a top-water bait,” he said. “Sometimes if you get lucky they do it all day long. This, fortunately, was one of those days.”
Top-water tales
To look at Eric Akred’s collection, you’d swear he has at least five of every top-water bait ever made. He has scores, but said anglers can get by with one or two of these basic types of top-water lures.
Popper
As the name implies, the flat or cupped front of the floating lure splashes water when the line gets a sharp jerk. They can work under about any conditions but he often throws them if the water is a little choppy, so the bass can more easily key in on the lure.
Propeller
Akred’s favorite top-water lure is a buzzbait, which uses bent blades to help keep the lure afloat, and churning the surface during a retrieve. They’re the most active of all the top-water baits.
Walking
Basically finger or cigar shaped lures that float a little high in the front. A little coordinated twitching gets the lure slowly zig-zagging back to the angler. Akred often throws a similar lure that has a propeller on it’s nose so it creates a bit more noise and raucous. Walking lures are often best to pull bass from deep water.
Frogs
One of the joys of plastic frogs is that the hooks are turned to be atop the bait. That means you can cast the lure into some of the thickest floating vegetation around. Many times Wednesday, Akred had bass bust up through dense vegetation to hit the lure. He often fishes a plastic frog with legs that spin during the retrieve for more action.
Retrieve
With all top-water lures, Akred likes to vary his retrieve. He’ll often pause a lure, especially a frog, just short of vegetation like it’s getting ready to climb atop.
Color
While many serious bass fishermen like to use lures that resemble a water’s baitfish, Akred fishes a lot of black top-water lures. He said the darkness of the lure them easier for bass to see against the surface.
Hook set
To watch Akred fish top water, you’d swear he has snail-like reflexes when he often waits two seconds or so before setting the hook. Often bass don’t get a good bite on the lure when they first strike, but take it better quickly. There are also times when they’ll first come up and slap at the bait, like they’re trying to stun it, then return and actually take the lure.
This story was originally published July 15, 2016 at 6:04 PM with the headline "Top-water strikes add excitement to bass fishing."