Topwater lures brought in bass like the one Justin Giles displays. Several fish like this one were boated by Justin and his uncle Mike Giles.

Arriving at the lake before dawn, we quickly launched our boat in an attempt to beat the heat and catch a few bass. We had only gone a short distance for our first stop of the day when Justin Giles cast out a Heddon Pop’N Image and started working it back to the boat in a steady rhythmic motion.

    Kawoosh! A hungry bass exploded from the depths and crushed the lure as it sailed out of the water and back down onto the bait. The veteran angler worked the Popping lure enticingly in a walk-the-dog retrieve that the bass just couldn’t pass up. The lure mimics the antics of a dying or injured shad both in the lure presentation to go along with the popping, spitting sound effects that it gives off also.

More explosions

    Continuing down the flat located right along a ledge and drop-off area, we continued fishing topwaters. Justin fished the Pop’N Image and I fished a Rattlin’ Chug Bug as I was out of Pop’N Images. We hadn’t gone very far before the young angler drew another strike from a hungry bass. This time he set the hook on his Skeet Reese rod and drove the hooks home! This bass also came up and tail walked across the water time and time again before being subdued and boated.

    Following the young angler’s lead I began walking my Chug Bug in a side to side popping, spitting motion also. And it didn’t take long before I had my first strike and catch of the day. Though there was virtually no surface activity, something about the chugger type baits drew the bass up out of the depths and enticed them into striking. And they usually did so with a ferocity rarely seen from bass. It was almost as though they hated these handy topwater lures and wanted to punish them as well as eat them.

    As we continued fishing, the bass clearly preferred the Pop’N Image as they were striking it twice as much as my chug bug, and I didn’t even own one of the shad colored Pop’N Images. I have purchased a couple to go in my tackle box since that trip, however, and am now ready the next time the bass take a notion that they want a chugger or two. This was the second such trip I’d been on where the bass preferred the Pop’N Image though it had been a few years since the young angler had schooled me on the bait.

Getting caught short

    If you’ve never been fishing when the bass preferred one lure over another and you didn’t have that “special” lure, then you may count yourself lucky. There’s not much worse than being in a boat fishing with someone that has the “preferred” lure. On days like that, it’s best to have quite an arsenal at your disposal to offer the bass other alternatives.

    As the morning progressed, the top water bite slowed and we turned to crankbaits and soft plastics. We switched gears and started catching bass on mid-running Strike King and Bandit crankbaits in shad and bream patterns. Once we located the bass and pattern we started hammering them again. Though the action only slowed somewhat, we decided to call it a day as the heat was beginning to take its toll.

    Before we left our last spot Justin pitched the Pop’N Image out one last time and a bass promptly nailed it. Setting the hook once again on his Skeet Reese rod he drove the hooks home and caught one last lunker bass. Hot topwater bass action is hard to beat, try it for yourself!

    Contact  Mike Giles at 601-917-3898

or e-mail him at Giles1958@bellsouth.net