Daily routine: Topwater or Bust

zen fisherman

It's almost June and I have yet to catch a fish on topwater. I have been throwing a couple of different plugs but I haven't exactly made it a priority until now. So yesterday we decided to hit a couple of ponds that are thick with grass perfect to throw frogs and get my first  topwater fish of 2016. The first pond we hit is surrounded by parking lots that drain into it so it has warm water that is really good for the grass to grow. I have identified at least 6 different types of grass here ,but it still holds good fish even though it gets choked with growth at times.


I threw a ribbit frog I got 3 hits but no hookups. Meanwhile Collin was using a mini buzz bait that works well for the small mouth but works equally well for small pond fish. He took a couple casts and hooked a 12 inch large mouth on his only hit at the first pond. The bite was slow so we decided to hit another nearby pond in Ashburn. I had good catches here last year on a buzz bait so I knew this would be the place to catch them on top. The grass here was a little more sparse so Collin switched to a weightless fluke he has been having good days with. He quickly dialed in the perfect speed to work it and he caught a fish every other cast the only problem was they were all less than 10 inches. I started with a jitterbug but I couldn't buy a hit on top so I tried a couple different tactics. First a Texas rigged worm and hooked one but after that it went dead. Then I tried to use the fluke but I didn't have the patience to fish weightless and I didn't get a hit while Collin continued to catch them. By this time the sum was getting lower and I had yet to catch my topwater fish. I was in about my third last cast when I finally got one to connect on the torpedo.