Night time Top water

[brushhawg1]

I'm fishing a small , shallow, clear lake. I have see top water strikes and had two fish blow up on my Slammer, hooked one and then it threw the bait. Any advice for subtle top waters? I have tried Rago rat and Buzz jet at various times but nothing. I'm thinking top water should be going off right now. Thanks for any advice.

[bassbass]

Punker. Glide it smooth right, left, right slowly, then let it sit and then repeat.

[SPEEDBEAD]

Wade Hoggs creeped slow is a damn good bait that you can wake or crank down, Matt's hardgill in SS can be worked faster than normal and it will wake as well.

 

Don't underestimate the approach of cranking a bait just below the surface either in your situation.

[Mountainryan]

Go BIGGER! I fished for hours with a slammer and put something bigger on and wham!

[bigpoppabass]

Good one two strategy imo.

[lunkerglx10]

A matts hardgill heavy floater fished on fluoro is one of my favorites for fishing ponds at night. Especially this time of year. Stays close enough to the top, but still sits low enough to get those pickier fish to take interest. The heavy float lets you try a variety of retrieves to see if they want it burned or slow, all while staying in that same part of the water column generally. I like the darker patterns at night like jacked up, but that may just be a confidence thing for me. I always tend to fish darker patterns at night.

[brushhawg1]

Thanks for the advice. I don't have most of the lures discussed here but I have thought of trying a Gantarel since it's is a Bluegill forage lake. And as far as " bigger' than the slammer, I have a Deps 250 and a Mag Draft 10" both of which I have thought about trying. I just got a rod large enough to handle these baits. What do you think?

[Top Ramen]

My all time best topwater bait for night fishing is a Wake Jr. I don't do anything fancy, I just slow roll it with a pause every ten to fifteen feet.

[bigpoppabass]

I consider the gantarel a finesse bait that tends to get bit when bite is off cuz it sits down on their faces much like a jb....It is topwater or go home for me at night.

[HelpMePickABobber]

My all time best topwater bait for night fishing is a Wake Jr. I don't do anything fancy, I just slow roll it with a pause every ten to fifteen feet.

Just about to post this. Most of my blowups at night happen when it's siting still.

[Ceaser]

8 or 10" floating 316 freestyle barely creeping it. They swim on the SUPER slow crawl and still make noise. Best night wake Ive used for super subtle presentations. Besides that im throwing lipped wakes from Wade Hoggs to a 12" wake but still moving them very slowly. painfully slow handle turns. 

[thastickybandit]

I really like the wake jr for the night bite. I generally fish it on a straight retrieve just enough to get the clack of the tail. Once I think the bait is anywehre near a spot holding fishing I speed my retrieve up through that area and return to normal speed.

[timcauliffe]

9", 10" or 12" Slammer fished slow with pauses

[Top Ramen]

8 or 10" floating 316 freestyle barely creeping it. They swim on the SUPER slow crawl and still make noise. Best night wake Ive used for super subtle presentations. Besides that im throwing lipped wakes from Wade Hoggs to a 12" wake but still moving them very slowly. painfully slow handle turns. 

 

 

In calm water, the floating Freestyles are killer. If it's flat out, I throw a floating Freestyle Trout. 

 

It's too dark to see much in this video, but here's a 7.5 just inhaling the FS Trout in flat water. I was barely crawling it. She slurped it right down and you don't even see the surface break until I set the hook and she started fighting.

 

 

Edited June 24, 2017 by Top Ramen

[brushhawg1]

I appreciate all the feedback. Unfortunately I don't own any 3:16 baits $$$....So I will take the ideas and try to apply them to my slammer as that what I'm working with. Thanks again for the advice.