UL Topwater Fishing

[John G]

Anyone here do any UL topwater fishing? I can't wait to try these out.

The Smith Puppet Surface is a little more than 1.4g. The Smith Camenusi's (aka Turtle Lord) are 2.5g. The Megabass Tiny Sigletts are 2.7g and the Nano Sigletts are 1.7g.

[ras]

Nano Sigletts and GH Haruzemi are very well crafted top water baits. I think I have a full line-up of both, but I have only used them for trout fishing. They produce a surprising amount of surface disturbance for their size, but I don't have a lot of experience with crawler baits.

PS. I use top water baits often for trout in slow or standing waters. Stockers are also very receptive to the smallest of those baits. Daiwa Presso Poppin Bug and Mukai Burbble are some of the ones that stands out to me, but there are also a lot of area cranks who run on the surface or right below. These get hit by pretty much everything when presented at local lakes/ponds/streams.

[LowRange]

Yep. One of my favorite relaxing ways to fish on a summer evening. Take the kayak out to any small body of water and throw little topwaters. I like the Reble Teeny Wee Pop R, Imakatsu Fujii Spider, yanma abe and some other similar baits. I'll also fish small floating plastics with a drop shot hook.

[LowRange]

I also have a single treble black 1/8 oz wake bait shaped like a grub. I'll also fish a "crappie buzzbait" too for fun. Last year I forgot my tiny topwater box on a trip and had to imporvise with a ned rig plastic and a weightless hook I had. I used a BPS Hustle Bug 3 1/4 inch in some laminate color with a ton of green metal flake on a small hook with a wire weed guard. It wouldn't float unfortunately but cicadas had been dying off and falling into the water. This bait matched the look and sound of one falling into the water then slow sinking. Every cast seemed to get bit a few seconds after sinking and watching the line move off. Fun evening.

[toddmc]

I did a lot of ultralight fishing in the late 70's and early 80's as a kid. The Rapala Floating Minnow in size 5 was a staple. So was the small Pop-R. I caught just about everything that swims on them. I target bigger fish more often now, but when the bass are on tiny bait i still break them out. The smallest Sammy catches them also.

[mrpao]

I enjoy throwing tiny poppers on 4 lbs line in the summer time. Small walking baits and prop baits are also a pleasure on light line.
Bass and panfish love them. Have also caught the occasional channel cat underneath trees and brushes.
Looking forward to this spring and summer.

[Randingo]

I occasionally dig out an old Heddon Tiny Torpedo, and it seems like everything that swims wants to take a swipe at it. I’ll have to pick up the even smaller Teeny Torpedo to try when using BFS as well. And tiny poppers are always a blast.

[Bronzeye]

I’ll have to pick up the even smaller Teeny Torpedo to try....

Try this lure when a wind is blowing off a grassy shoreline where grasshoppers are plentiful. The hooks are small, but I've landed two three-pound smallies that took a Teeny Torp near the riverbank under these circumstances

[John G]

I'll add these to my list of UL topwaters. The Jitterbug is a little bit heavier at around 3/16oz but it will fit in just fine.

[slipperybob]

Hula Popper...and lose the whole skirt thing. Casts better and finesses way better.

[John G]

Hula Popper...and lose the whole skirt thing. Casts better and finesses way better.

I'll admit that I have never used it but I will take your advice and remove the skirt.

[Smalleyez]

The Zara Spook Puppy has produced lots of smallmouth bass for me. It’s probably at the upper limit of BFS and weighs 1/4oz.

[LowRange]

I like these classic plastics in the teeny size. They are either 1/10 or 1/8 oz. Walmart will carry them. That pop r is a fun bait and gets bit by everything. Gills love them. I catch way more on it than my Baby PopX. That little Wee R crank is a fun one too. That's a nostalgia shallow crank for me before "square bills" were a thing and this teeny one has a great action. I'll crank it along rip rap banks and catch everything that swims. The hopper can be waked and paused and it works well too but my favorites are the Pop R and Wee R.

[slipperybob]

The Zara Spook Puppy has produced lots of smallmouth bass for me. It’s probably at the upper limit of BFS and weighs 1/4oz.

Too bad they stop producing the Pooch. 2" and 1/8th oz.

[toddmc]

The Zara Spook Puppy has produced lots of smallmouth bass for me. It’s probably at the upper limit of BFS and weighs 1/4oz.

The Puppy fishes well on a light casting/BFS setup. I've caught limits around 25lbs. on it when my home lake has a stable water level all summer and grass mats are able to develop. The fish come out from the matts to the outside edge to crush it when small baitfish is what the fish are eating. It is super fun to watch donkeys crush a tiny bait. Most of the tiny topwater baits don't regularly catch many big fish, but the Puppy and small Pop-R catch quite a few big ones also.