For whatever the reason, I haven't caught many bass on smaller poppers this year (One's Bug, Rio Rico, PopX, 3DB Popper ....). A little bigger ones like Chugger Spook, Pop Max and Arashi Cover Pop get more bites. That's why I started using the Pulse Cod, and it gets bites. The same thing goes for walking baits. Smaller walker like Giant Dog X, Super Spook Jr don't work that well. Pretty strange year, so far.
A totally different topic, but another strange thing about this year is this. I've been fishing the same lake since the late 90s. Crawdads used to be everywhere, until about 10 years ago. They just disappeared. In June, this year, I caught a 6 pounder, and there was a decent size crawdad in his mouth. It was the first time I saw one in this lake, since they disappeared. Then, I started seeing more of them. And, most of them are bigger than the ones I saw 10+ years ago. I just don't get it. They disappeared (or at least, I didn't see any) for 10 years, and they came back (less numbers, though), and they're bigger.
I saw a real big crawdad this morning. So, I started throwing a crawdad plastic bait, which was 4", much smaller than the big one I just saw. After a few casts with it, I didn't get a bite, and was bored. So, I went back to topwater.
Here's another weird thing about crawdads. I don't use soft plastic baits much, but Jackall Cover Craw was/is my favorite for this lake. All the crawdads I've seen were red, and I used green pumpkin Cover Craw. It caught more bass than any other plastic baits (Fat Ika being a close 2nd.) The Cover Craw and Fat Ika caught many fish, after I stopped seeing crawdads, and the colors are different from the actual crawdads. So, I've been wondering if bass actually thinks those baits are crawdads or not. My guess is they just bite them, because they look good to them.
Any Good Newer Topwater Lures?
Re: Any Good Newer Topwater Lures?
Last edited by MK49 on Sun Sep 17, 2023 6:44 pm, edited 8 times in total.
Re: Any Good Newer Topwater Lures?
I have two original size Buzzjet and a 1/2oz one for many years. I've caught less than 15 fish with them. I don't know why, but I don't have much confidence in any topwater baits with props.
Oh, I caught plenty of fish with Lucky Craft popper that has a prop on it. That's probably 14 years ago. I totally forgot about that one. It was the only prop that I liked. It's more like a popper than a prop bait, though.
Re: Any Good Newer Topwater Lures?
OK. I just ordered two new (to me, at least) bigger poppers, both in 80mm size. Nories Tough Bug and Berkley Bullet Pop. I'll find out how they work next week.
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Re: Any Good Newer Topwater Lures?
Man, if you can get your hands on one, those new Imakatsu Uma Death Rollers look sick. They went so fast I was caught off guard. Very cool concept.