Top-water lures can induce bass strikes

APEX -- Not long after dawn Friday, Adam Petty was slinging top-water poppers toward the shore of Shearon Harris Lake from the deck of his bass boat.

The Four Oaks man is a member of the Raleigh Fire Department, and he also has a small landscaping business on the side.

"And then I fish," Petty, 28, a sponsored tournament fisherman, said, joking. "I make time for fishing, and I find time for my work."

And right now, before spring sizzles into summer, is when he makes extra time to fish for largemouth bass using top-water baits, that array of lures worked on water's surface that can elicit some of the most exciting strikes in the sportfishing realm. This is one of the best times of the year to fish on top at Harris, Petty said.

Chris White, owner of The Tackle Box in Fuquay-Varina, set me up with Petty.

In bass fishing, there's nothing like having a hefty largemouth ambush a surface lure, seeing a wake come up behind the lure and witnessing the fish leave the water completely.

Such a strike induces a rush that keeps many bass fishermen on the lookout for the quintessential top-water conditions from spring to fall - calm water and thick surface vegetation such as lily pads, where frogs tend to hang out and, in turn, attract big hungry bass, even on hot summer days.

Petty does enjoy fishing that way. But he doesn't limit himself to those conditions.

Fish structure

Early Friday, Petty sought structure beneath the surface. He went to spots where he knew there were steep ledges and points close to shoreline. In the summer, big bass feel comfortable and safe in deep water, but they often, especially during the cooler periods of the day such as morning and evening, move shallow to feed.

On Harris Lake, Petty said, some bass tend to go into that deep-water summer pattern later in the spring than on other lakes, such as Jordan and Falls. But some are transitioning to that pattern. Early in the morning, he targeted those fish.

"They've move out of the back of the [coves]," Petty said, referring to post-spawn bass. "They're on their way out to deeper water.

"These fish on the points will travel. They'll be out in the deeper water and will come up at night and the morning. That's why they like the steep points; they don't have to travel far."

In a spot that lacked vegetation, Petty positioned his boat over the deep side of a dropoff and cast a surface popper, a bait fashioned after the Rebel Pop-R, near the shallow water close to shore.

"There's a lot of submerged vegetation that you don't see - some people don't realize it's there," he said.

The water's surface was still, and thick fog hung over the area on the cool morning.

Pop, pause, pop, pause, pop, pop, pause.

Swirl.

Bass tend to "boil" on these baits without the acrobatics often displayed when a fish strikes a top-water frog, but it's clear when the bait has been taken.

With a pair of exposed treble hooks, poppers aren't to be thrown into thick vegetation, but hookup rates are high.

Petty put the boat into position to hook into several fish, including one weighing about five pounds.

Know the patterns

It will be another three weeks or so before the bass get into a solid summer pattern, Petty said.

Not all bass do the same thing.

"They're just like people," Petty said.

For a good portion of the warmer months, some bass will stay shallow at Harris. Instead of retreating to deeper water for a sense of security, they'll head to the thick hydrilla, primrose and lily pads that are often credited for Harris' reputation as a trophy largemouth bass lake.

"Those fish in the grass have pretty much set up residence there," Petty said.

The angler prefers a 7-foot, heavy-action casting rod outfitted with 65-pound braided line.

"It'll cut through the grass," he said.

All that vegetation attracts small fish, which feel safer there, too. So it's a good place for bass to feed.

Time for the frogs

As the fog cleared and the sun rose, pushing the temperatures higher, Petty headed for those spots, hoping he could find a 6-, 7- or 8-pounder holed up somewhere.

Then he switched to the top-water frog that everyone associates with fishing thick weeds.

Improvements have been made in these baits, which have a reputation for drawing strikes but not hooking the fish.

The latest wave of top-water frogs employ chemically sharpened hooks, much sharper that those found on the frogs made several years ago. The lures still require a good hookset. When a fish bites, it's best to methodically lower the rod, reel out a little slack, and then sweep the rod up for a solid hookset, waiting up to two seconds to set the hook after the initial strike.

"You've got to give them time to eat that frog," Petty said.

After about every other cast, he squeezed built-up water out of the frog.

And, finally, before long, he found what he was looking for.

"There's my frog bite," he said, slamming the hook into a fish that was 7 pounds, give or take, putting the best five fish of the morning at around 20 pounds.

"When I set the hook, she didn't move," he said, minutes later, after releasing the female bass. "God, my hands are still shaking."