The best top water lures provide the visual aspect of fishing open water. Your lure is floating on, just at or just under the water surface. You get to see the fish take your bait and the sudden splash and line buzzing off your reel as the fish takes off will not be soon forgoten.  This works very well in spring for pike and walleye in the shallow water and I can see why Bass fishing has such a huge following.  It is the adrenaline rush that instantly brings every nerve and fibre in you to attention especially when you see the strike, feel the tug and hear your line singing. 

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With open water, comes spawning time for walleye and pike, so they move into the shallow bays and running streams to produce future fish. These fish do not completely shut down eating but the period just before spawn is the best time for fishing and finding fish in larger numbers and congregated in smaller areas.  All fish eat large amounts of frogs, dead or dying fish and small mamals. Pike also eat ducklings and small birds so any good top water lures will closely imitate these food sources.  Let us look at the most popular top water lures and the most popular method for using them the "Walk the Dog" system. Poppers, jerkbaits, buss baits, and floating minnows.

Pencil Cigar: Zara Spook, Super Spook Hardbaits and Super Spook Jr. Hardbaits
The oldest of top water lures or surface-plug designs and still one of the best. Introduced in 1939, the Zara Spook’s legendary ”walk-the-dog” top water lure action has been written about more than any other fishing lure.  Check in your grandfathers box you will probably find one or two and they may be worth quite a bit of money as collectors quickly snap up the originals. These lures pull in everything from freshwater bass to pike and even work on saltwater fish. The original Zara is easier to make walk the dog`than smaller versions but with practice all will work.

Poppers: Hula Popper and Pop’n Image Hardbaits
These top water lures and plugs are shallow water classics, perfectly suited to lily pads and weeds. Toss out a frog-pattern popper and let it sit motionless. Pop once and sit still. Twitch very gently to wiggle the soft skirt. Wait a bit and do it again. It’s a slow game of nerves between you and the fish. Be patient, and the fish will lose.

Blades: Floating Buzzbait, Torpedo Hardbaits, and Buzzbaits 
Noisey top water lures have one or two blades that whirl and chop the water. The torpedo style are a slow and easy fishing top water lure. These surface plugs still work well on the weed strewn top water both in frog and minnow patterns. Cast, watch, and listen to the glub-glubs as you slowly and steadily reel it back. Spinner and blade baits, well, they make a lot of commotion when reeled in either fast or slow. The vibration, water churning action are deadly attractants to the fish.

Floaters: Original Minnow, Yum Frog Softbaits, Walkin’ Frog, Mouse, Popper Fly
These top water lures are the true floaters, they float on the surface. Not only does the original floating Rapala work for walleye and pike but for all kinds of fish. Various sizes, but in basic minnow of black and silver or clasic perch work best. Frogs and Mouse are all best to fish these with an slow then fast pace, one second slow the next quick to make them dart. Let them sit then twitch the rod tip or sweep it forward a few feet and let the lure settle and remain motionless for a slow count to 10 then start process again.

Shallow Runners: Swim’n Image, Jointed Minnow, Shallow Shad
These really are not a true floating top water lure, but they do run 0 – 18“ below the surface. Best lures are again minnow and perch colors. Fish with a steady retrieve, mix in a few quick jerks to look like dying fish and hang onto your rod for that explosive run.

How To Walk The Dog:
Cast the lure, after it hit’s the water do nothing wait till all the ripples have disappeared, then give it a few tiny twitches, use a rhythmic, slack-line retrieve that makes the Zara Spook walk from left to right, back and forth. Let the lure stop and sit, then a quick jerk of you rods tip and reel in the slack and repeat, twitch-pause, twitch-pause, you can alter your speeds to help increase its effectiveness The Zara Spook’s plump profile is a tantalizing target for walleye and pike.

Safety:
Two things you never do is give it a hard jerk to move it or jerk hard to set the hook. Both, can have the lure come out of the water and either hook yourself or someone else in the boat. A big mistake is jerking to fast and to hard when you see the fish strike, do not jerk until you feel the actual weight of the fish. Be prepared to duck these lures when not fished safely will fly and they catch trees and fisherman as well as fish.

Other Top Water Lures:
Heddon Lucky 13
Tiny Crazy Crawler
Zara Spook Puppy
Snag Proof Casting Frog
Cordell Crazy Shad
Storm Chug Bugs
Rapala X-Rap Topwater
Rebel Magnum Pop-R

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