20 Best Topwater Lures For Bass (2023 Updated)

Open any bass lovers tackle box and chances are that you’ll see a variation of this bait, it’s a classic. I’ve caught more fish on this lure than I can remember, and it’s always fun to tie one of these on and watch it pop and churn out on the surface of the water.

It isn’t just for bass either, I’ve caught everything from huge pike and tiger muskie all the way down to crappie and yellow perch on these. Earlier today we went out to a local pond and the bite was slow.

I tied on a baby torpedo and an hour later I had boated 6 fish and missed 2, including a 3 foot pike and a 7 pound largemouth. My favorite color is fluorescent green crawdad, which is a firetiger version of the brown crawdad pattern.

The bullfrog and regular brown crawdad pattern also work well, but you really cant go wrong since the action gets the strikes more than the color most of the time. Cast it out, let it float for a bit, then give it a pop and let it sit again.

Repeat that back to the boat and always keep and eye out for strikes or your plug suddenly vanishing. If they want a more aggressive presentation you can pop it faster or reel it back steadily and let the blades churn the surface, it’s a very versatile lure.

It’s also surprisingly durable, I had a plug catch over 100 fish before being taken by a toothy pike and the only real damage was some nicks and scratches and a treble hook that had to be replaced. In my opinion this is a must have that deserves a place in any anglers tackle box, pick one up and use it when the top water bite is good and hold on.

I’m not sure if mine is defective but this lure doesn’t seem to have any retrieve action that I can see. The prop on the back doesn’t work in the water. The lure just turns on it’s side and get’s dragged in.

I could get a similar effect by tying a hook to a twig and casting that out.

Top water is my most favorite type of fishing so after seeing all the ads about this design l decided to give it a try this year. First, i could’ve bought 4 or 5 of the proven top water designs that have been out for decades.

Second, my new name for it is because 80% of the time or more is doesn’t want to plop. The design is allowing the back trebble to hang the “prop”, not sure if this is the cause but i do know that for this much $ it should work flawlessly.

I’m fighting it constantly trying to keep it plopping, would get my $ back if i could. Bye, bye excitement, hello disappointment!.

This is an old school plug but still one of the greatest. My favorite color’s are yellow, firetiger & black, there is only one drawback too this bait though. The hook hanger’s are well dated on these bait’s & I’ve found they pivot to a certain point, then the hook travel is non existent & the fish throw the bait by using that little bit of leverage.

I have found a way to remedy this i take side cutter’s and i snip the stock hook’s off; get some bass pro red split rings put them through the old hook hanger’s, then this will allow you to put on whichever hook style you prefer; mine being Mustad® UltraPoint™ KVD Elite Triple Grip® 1X Treble Hook but it really come’s down to the personal preference.

I find once the split ring’s are on it will eliminate the problem of the pivot point & hook travel hope this help’s take care everyone tight lines!!.

Great popper style bait. Favorite colors are Baby Bass and Silver Minnow w/Blue back. Good around cover for post spawn bass, and later in the summer when the water warms up.

It’s literally like a mini shark week when using this lure. You see some crazy strikes when using this; once I swear I saw one legitimately breach striking this champ of a frog. At the VERY large pond by my house using this is almost cheating.

Seriously, it’s worth every few pennies it costs. You’ll have a blast.

I have tried other walk-the-dog type lures and never had much luck. I got lots of strikes, from both bass and panfish pecking at them, I’ve even seen bass throw themselves out of the water while taking a swipe at my spook, but neither that, nor the other two baits in my tackle box have ever managed to actually hook one.

I finally decided that most of these lures are too large for the ponds and small lakes that I normally fish and that I should just stick with poppers. When I saw this lure I thought I would give it a shot because it was smaller than most walk-the-dog baits, cheap, and because most of the waters I fish are filled with frogs.

Also, I’ve had good luck with other Rebel lures. I got one in the bullfrog color and tried it at my nearest lake. On the first cast I caught a 3 lb bass! I caught four more bass in the 14-18 in. range in the next hour before it was too dark to fish.

There were very few swipes or pecks that did not result in a hook-up. Fish attacked this lure like they wanted it, not like they wanted to know if it was real.

I wanted to keep these a secret but then I figure why not share? There’s plenty of fish for everyone. This lure is amazing, in all shades, and they are the best I have ever used. Very impressed with Rebel.

I use these in a small stream/spillway, and in fall, at 7AM and 7PM, it is lights out with these, in all 4 colors. The smallmouth are insane for them, even smallmouth that are way too small to consume these are caught on them, needless to say big ones as well.

You can fish this in the dark, with a slow cadence, fast cadence, walk the dog motion, anything, just plunk it in like a frog would plunk and. listen for the telltale rattle ping and swirl/roll in the water – you know you got one.

Virtually constant strikes at sunup and sundown. It’s incredible, and what I imagine people are talking about when they talk about the Zara Spook. Only thing I don’t like is that the trees have claimed 3 or 4.

It is worth it I tell ya. I can’t find a Spook locally so these’ll have to do for now.

Great popper for calm waters. It casts like a bullet and has great action with little effort. In choppy waters the three treble hooks tend to get tangled. I removed the middle hook and the problem was solved.

I am partial to floating plugs , less work and fish it real slow. Stripers slam the plug. I love it ! T. McC.

The Sammy is not an easy lure to find up here in New England. In fact, eBay is the only place I have found a selection of sizes and colors. The dynamic weighting (balls that move freely inside) make these cast like a bullet and walk-the-dog better than any other topwater bait.

The weight force the tail down into the water and improve hook-ups too. So these are terrific lures and we pay what we must to get them wherever we can find them. But let’s get real – this lure in this size ought to cost around $7 – $8, not $12.

I was thrilled to find some remaining stock of Sammy 65’s. Now out of production, they are becomming scarce. This size of top water, in an easy to use “walk-the-dog” design is a must when early season baitfish are just this size.

It is an absolute producer.

Cast it, then twitch it a couple times, pause and hold on tight. I fish a very clear water lake. This color seams to work well in slightly overcast

Prior to using the Bullet Pop, I lived and died by the rebel magnum pop-r. This popper quickly became my favorite after on a few uses. It casts great with out tumbling in the air. Can be worked fast in a walking fashion or slowly with a low “blooping” noise.

Solid hardware and can take a beating when tossed against docks and rocks. Even if your a bit interested in this lure, don’t hesitate to purchase it. Great addition to any top water arsenal.

The walking action on this is the easiest ive found and its rattle lures fish like a charm!!! First night using it and 20+ fish in 2 hours!!! Even managed to land a fish 5 CASTS IN A ROW!!! 100 % recomend to any angler.

I am a topwater fanatic and bought the Berkley bullet pop in hopes that it would replace my old larger popping baits that are worn out. The bullet pop has a great sound when retrieving. It walks well and has produced lots of vicious strikes.

This product would receive 5 stars from me, but the paint does not hold up as long as I would expect, but that has not kept the fish from eating it, as a matter of fact, may have increased the number of strikes.

Great overall bait, very satisfied.

I fish off the beaches and jetties in South Florida. I was at the Bass Pro and I noticed this red/white heddon lure. It looked pretty good to me so I purchased it and gave it a tryout. The first thing I noticed was how far this lure casts.

On retrieve I noticed that unlike my other surface poppers, this lure doesn’t give a huge splash and runs right at or just below the surface. Wow, the fish really love these things. The main problem I’m having now is actually landing some of the big fish I’ve hooked.

I’ve already lost three of these lures to very nice fish, one of them was a tarpon.

The Googan Squad Contender 7” is probably, wait, the BEST Swimbait I’ve ever used! I personally think that this bait beats the Storm Arashi Swimbait and many more. I’ve caught Northern Pike, Walleye, Musky, Smallmouth Bass, and Largemouth Bass on this bait and it still hasn’t been destroyed.

The hooks on this bait are extremely sharp and also swivel around so that fish you have caught can’t use the hook as leverage. For example I remember when I first opened my Googan Squad 7” Contender and it literally just by barely even touching my skin hooked me and it got me good.

Youch! Another part of this wonderful bait is the pattern I find in my 18 years of fishing (My whole life). I’ve seen thousands of baits and have never seen such good patterns on a Swimbait before. For example the Storm Arashi Swimbait has 5 patterns, Blue Back Herring, Oikawa Mesu, Rainbow Trout, Black Silver Shad, and Threadfin Shad.

None of those patterns are helpful for where I fish, I am from Ontario, Canada and I fish at Kashe Lake, Muskoka, Ontario, Canada in the summer and my baitfish is Blue Gill (Sunfish) and Googan has really nailed it on the patterns with Gizzard Shad, Baby Bass, Blue Gill, Crappie, and Bone.

Their patterns actually resemble a fish unlike other companies, and also the Googan Squad Contender’s all come with this special paint on them and it feels like rubber but it’s actually a hard plastic bait, also I find that fish hold on to soft plastic swimbaits like the Storm 360० Searchbait and the Googan Squad Contender has nailed it with that special texture so that you get the feeling of a soft plastic but also get the strength of a hard plastic.

Another thing for a good Swimbait bait is the eyes. I love when the eyes take up a good percentage of the head of the bait unlike Rapala how their lure’s eyes are tiny and also are unreflective unlike the Googan Squad Contender.

And it also adds a more realistic look to the bait when it is of good size and is also reflective. Another thing is the tail and body. I love the body and how it’s not just some flat, measly little baitfish.

It has actual gills, a mouth, plastic around the eyes, and a good texture for the belly of the bait. And finally the tail, the tail is strong and durable yet is actually a soft plastic which I find if a fish hits it in the tail when they go to eat it they will commit to the bite more often because it feels like an actual fish tail not just a chunk of plastic.

Also the action of the Googan Squad Contender is also super realistic and also just looks so nice. I remember watching the video for it and in the clip of the underwater footage it just looked so real that I was just tripping.

And it also falls very slowly through the water column. I like to cast the Googan Squad Contender 7” very lightly as it already weighs 1 ¾ ounces and it already goes very far. Don’t try and force it further because if the bail closes or it stops feeding the cast line you can just say goodbye to your bait.

So just cast it very carefully and you’ll do just fine. Also on another note don’t underestimate the size of this lure because when you’re ordering it you think well 7” isn’t that much but that’s actually huge, it’s almost as big as some of the Musky Spinner Baits I use.

Another thing is to think about water depth, weedbeds, and structure in the water. You have to be very careful when sending it into shallow water as it is huge and will get stuck. It is also a year around bait where you can cast it year round at any time of the day and still productively catch fish.

One final recommendation is if you’re fishing a pond get the Googan Squad 4. 5” and if you’re fishing a lake I’d get the Googan Squad Contender 7”. So overall a wonderful bait which is ready to catch your PB right out of the package, the only thing is that they’re kinda pricey but it’s quality matches swimbaits that cost much more then it.

And finally experiment with the bait, don’t just buy one 7” Contender buy both a 4. 5” and 7” in your baitfish pattern. Well, actually buy it in your baitfish pattern plus the Baby Bass in both sizes and I guarantee you will catch your PB!.

I’ve been a big fan of googan since I started using Bandito Bugs. Wanted to try using some other googan products so started with jigs and frogs and liked them alot. Moved on to some hard plastic with the Blooper popper, got about one morning in it before I broke it.

Bought the Revolver, the revolving fin broke off in 30 minutes. Wanted to get into swimbaits and figured the Jr. Contender was a good starter swimbait. It looks really good in and out of the water, the action is fantastic, and it only took me 6 casts to get my biggest bite of the year.

Unfortunately, the fight only lasted about 5 seconds before I lost the fish. Upon investigation, I found the bottom hook hanger had broken off, leaving one of my bigger fish swimming off with a treble in its mouth.

Googan products look great, come in very pretty packaging, and fantastic marketing. But when push comes to shove, they will fail. Might not be on the first fish like it was for me, but it will eventually.

So if you like googan, stick with bandito bugs, unless you like losing fish.

The Googan Squad contender Jr has a phenomenal subsurface retrieve. I had no problems with the bait turning on its side and having a bad action. I was able to take it out on pre-spawn and was able to catch a 3lb bass.

Even for the $20 I spent on two of them I would not regret buying it because it brings in bass. The durability of the bait is very good and holds up well. The hooks are very sharp and sticky. Overall it does what I asked which was to catch fish.

I look forward to using it more this summer!.

I have had great success catching bass (and some bluegill) with the Sexy Dawg Jr. in Sexy Shad Chrome finish. I have also found this lure to be pretty durable when accidentally hitting hard objects while casting.

The hooks are sharp and strong! I can testify. I had to have one of the hooks removed from my finger at the emergency room recently. The bottom has white and chrome color for visibility and flash.

Good product. No issues with quality. I would say the hook sizes are random and not attached with a split ring. The hooks can be snipped off as required to attach the appropriate size hook, to flush waters where treble hooks are not permitted, or to replace a bent or dull hook.

I’ll reattach with a split ring so in the future swapping hooks is easy. Great crank baits tho, wide variety of weights and colors.

The lures were as advertised and for the money a good value. The lures action was good and provide a broad range of colors. The only downside for me was the lures are on the small side. Not really a lunker bait.

I can say that the ones I have used so far re great. They work as expected. I cannot a 100% review because I have NOT used all of them in the week or so That I have had in possession. I believe certain items should have a seasonal review!! No one is going to give a honest and accurate review of artic -100 degree boots in July.

Walmart needs to think about the shopping revirews.

Bass hit this topwater lure hearded than any other topwater i have thrown. it is like they are MAD at it. gotta love it

These baby poppers by Spro are the best frogs out there. I am pulling big lunkers on these luers. Nasty Shad aka “old Faithful” never disapoints. Leopard, Rain Forrest Black and Tropical are also great colors.

The bass just LOVE these frogs and can’t resist slamming them. I am looking for the Spro baby frog regular as well, hope I can find them. The only complaint I have is that after getting beat to hell by 5-7 pound bass, the belly of the frog starts to tear away.

This cause the hooks to sit to high on the frog and allows them to sink. I wish they had a reinforced hole on the belly for the hooks that resists tearing. Good problem to have though and that means I am catching plenty of bass! LOL Great bass bait.

i’ve been fishing spro frogs for about eight years now and they work , very durable and great selection of colors , the popping frog is my fav. it walks easy and pops and fish inhale it better than the regular 65 frogs they don’t always eat but the popping frog on a good day is 100 percent hookup ratio very seldom do they miss the popper , i like killer gill color or red ear because the color of the bottom but white or black will work any color will produce but killer gill and red ear is magical.

I have used many hollow bodied frogs over the past 5 years and it has quickly become my favorite and most productive lure in my boat. I have used approximately 6 different manufacturers of frogs and this is the one I’ve settled on as the most productive.

The leopard pattern is specifically my favorite in the month of May. I catch more numbers on this lure than any other with consistently larger size, the biggest being 22″ and 6 lbs 1 oz. I always buy 2 of them because the leg skirts get pulled off by some of the short strikes.

If your curious about how I use it, I’m throwing it on 50 pound braid on a 7′ heavy action rod bait caster. Good luck, Scott Overton (North Carolina).

I stand by the blooper and it is the only popper I use anymore, between throwing ghost Gill bloopers In the evening or night club in absolute darkness the blooper never fails to catch fish! The blooper has the fastest reaction of any popper I’ve ever used meaning it takes the least amount of effort to get the desired popping noise.

And paired with excellent hooks it allows you to reel into fish without having to set the hook and risk pulling it out of the strike zone of a fish that missed your bait the first time!.

It’s my favorite top water lure. Have caught many big fish on it. The nightclub color works great on cloudy and sunny day. And the style of the bait gives both a great walking and popping presentation.

Overall, it’s an amazing bait.

Really enjoy fishing with the blooper. Love the style and the look of the blooper. I have 3 different colors of the blooper just missing the nightclub. Can’t beat the top water blowups this lure produces.

It’s a must to have this lure tied on spring through summer.