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[Lat22]

I've caught bass on topwaters but never a saltwater species. I went out yesterday morning and threw every Mirrolure and Skitterwalk I had. Every single lure got hits (some more violent than others) but none of the fish got a hook. I'm just walking the dog and stopping every now and then. The strikes seem to come right after I stop reeling. It's still very exciting but I'm in the mood to eat some fish. Am I doing something wrong or do I just need to keep after it? Thanks.

[Topwater Jig]

Keep pluggin and you will have luck. The key is to use the plug in low light conditions and switch to a tout later in the day. If all you want to do is catch a monster, throw the plug all day or switch to a corkey. If you want tablefare, throw the plug for the first hour or so of daylight for topwater fun, then switch to your plastic of choice. Good plastics for specs include all colors of assassins, troutkillers and various paddletales. For Reds your best bet is a paddletale or a spoon.

Stick with Top Dogs and Super Spooks, others work fine but those are my plugs of choice. Always vary the speed of your retrieve. If you are getting quite a bit of misses, sometimes it is a good idea to speed up the bait to try to induce a more aggressive reaction from the fish that are biting. Often when drawing strikes from Reds you won't get hookups because of the placement of the mouth on a Redfish since they were built to bottom feed.

Another key is to stop the bait after a missed blowup. Give the fish another chance to regroup and come back on the attack once again. If you aren't getting strikes, just try all sorts of different retrieves. The other key is that for best luck on top you need to be wade fishing. You need to cover large amounts of water.

Fishing topwater plugs, subsurface lures and plastic touts can create some of the most exciting spectacular fishing an angler can enjoy.

[Guest]

Get yourself some white or yellow bucktails that are tied on a treble hook.
Tie that bucktail on a 6" to 8" mono drop on the back split ring of your
topwater. It works like a cheater hook when the fish are short striking, when you stop your bait the bucktail sinks just under the surface. Most of the time trout don't like to break the surface of the water but they will come back and get that bucktail!! You can also do the same thing fishing
a gold or silver spoon.
Tried a proven from the old days

[GoinCoastal]

Tyler should jump in here... he is as good as anyone at hooking up on topwaters.

I have found that it is different from freshwater to saltwater when working topwaters. In the salt, you have to WAIT for the hookup and not strike the fish on sight!!! You have to let the saltwater boys take the lure before you stike them. Unlike bass fishing where you set the hook immediately you have let the trout and reds take it. You set the hook when you feel his weight not when you see the hit. And it is still hard for me to do!!!!!
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GoinCoastal aka Cap'nSherbet

[rabbit]

Usually when I use topwaters I dont feel anything on the line I have to wait for the splash to settle to see if the topwater is there or not before I can tell if they have it.
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Fishing and Kayaking its a rough life but somebody has to do it.

[apbtnick]

all i can say is practice. its good u notice the hits when u pause. trout can hit fast. i like corky's (the real ones "BandL") just like 51 mirror lures. ssloooow sinky.
but nothing is more exciting than that top water explotion.
top water in the summer= late after noon a lot of the time
but fall its on
just get out there and do it and think about whats going on; water temp, wind speed and direction, time of day, clouds, water clarity, depth, what the bottom is like, etc..
keep your eye on the plug
I of my favorite books " the Plugger"