Could it be that the big bruiser bass that have been around for several years have seen all of the spinners and cranks, after being caught several times on these lures, and now tend to shy away from them? I think this is possible, and if you go down South to Texas or Louisiana, you will see huge bass being taken on topwater lures. I have a good friend who says that the bass have seen the same lures over and over again for so many years that they have the serial and model numbers on the bottom of the lures memorized.
This might be a bit of a stretch, but almost all the bass I have caught that are over 5 pounds are loners, holding on a particular piece of structure in the lake. I won't say that you never see large bass schooling up, but it is a rare occurrence.
Smallmouth bass are different though...they do tend to school up in certain areas, and there can be many large fish all together at one time.
I use topwater baits mainly when the water temperature is 60 degrees or above, but I have caught bass on topwaters when it was in the high 50's. Whenever I see a stump, rock, or maybe a bush, further away from other structure, I throw a topwater right to it.
The best way to provoke a reaction strike from a big largemouth is to cast the bait right to the cover, not beyond it. If you cast past the target, the bass will be alert before the bait gets there.
You may have seen them boil or swirl when you do this, instead of smashing it. They are tentative when you work the bait up to the cover, and then they just swirl at it, or miss. To provoke a big bass into exploding on the bait you must cast right to the cover!
The popper is one of my favorite baits to use in places that have a lot of grass or milfoil that is holding bass. When you retrieve a popper, it requires a fast jerk, which spits water out from the front of the cup-lipped bait, and the bait makes a deep pop or bullfrog sound. You then should let the lure sit for a few moments and repeat this process again.
I will never forget, when I was 11 years old I caught my first largemouth bass over 5lbs on a clear popper with a white bucktail. The lure was a Pico Lil' Pop and what a thrill that was! I watched the fish following my lure, when all of a sudden a topwater explosion occurred, and I was in for a fight. Ever since that moment, I have been a fan of the popper style lure. More>
