Been hammering smallies this spring on th kankakee river in Illinois on whopper poppers. Will be fishing Fall lake the 8th-15th. Any thoughts on the top water action and experience with this plug up north?

I’ve been using it up north from NH to MN with great success. Smallmouths just want to kill that thing! Berkeley also makes a version called El Choppo that works just as good but is a little cheaper in price. I will be heading up to BW in a couple of weeks and plan to throw it when conditions are right.

I know the BWJ uses them a lot with his clients and seems to have good success. I have a few, just haven’t had the right opportunity to try them.

T

They were liking the Choppo late August last year up there. I was throwing the 130 size in the frog color.

QueticoMike: "They were liking the Choppo late August last year up there. I was throwing the 130 size in the frog color. "

Mike you are killing me…now I gotta buy a different color :)

T

Make sure u get a permit to fish all of Fall lake.

Yes, they have been very successful in the BWCA for me. Last year I even had a walleye come up and slam one.

I bought my first two WPs last year. One was the real deal and the other was a cabelas knockoff. The props on BOTH broke but not before catching a bunch of bass and pike on sag. They’re expensive but a ton of fun. I really enjoy the visual component of top water fishing. I have always loved to watch a bobber drop, this scratches that itch but you still get to play around with cast and retrieve. Highly entertaining way to fish.

Me and a buddy of mine slammed the bass with the whopper plopper a couple of season ago. Caught the biggest bass of my life after my plopper was absolutely Tsar Bomba’d. Great action.

myceliaman: " Been hammering smallies this spring on th kankakee river in Illinois on whopper poppers. Will be fishing Fall lake the 8th-15th. Any thoughts on the top water action and experience with this plug up north?"

After telling my brother about how good they are (and fun to use), he tried a whopper plopper for the first time in the bwca. We were in the canoe together and after about 25 min of throwing it around with no success he started to grumble "man, this thing doesn't even work". One second later a 5lb large mouth crushed it 10ft away from the boat. He proceeded to pull in loads of smallies and pike the rest of the trip. It's now his favorite lure.

Another favorite topwater for me is the Heddon Torpedo and Tiny Torpedo.

I use WPs quite a bit, but let me caution you about those hooks. They are scary sharp and nothing that I'd want embedded in me in the back country.
I can't tell you how often a bass will have 5 of the 6 hooks stuck into it.Sometimes 3 in the mouth and 2 back in the body.
I'd strongly recommend using pliers or forceps for unhooking fish. It's easier on the fish and a lot more safe for you.
Better yet, swap out the treble hooks for a single in-line hook or pinch the barbs.

How do you reel these in? I have one and was trying it out last week for about an hour with no success, then I tossed on a Mepps and caught 2 largemouth bass. I tried jerking them a bit, I tried reeling slow, and I tried reeling faster to make a bigger spray. I'm just not sure what the best technique is.

A1t2o: "How do you reel these in? I have one and was trying it out last week for about an hour with no success, then I tossed on a Mepps and caught 2 largemouth bass. I tried jerking them a bit, I tried reeling slow, and I tried reeling faster to make a bigger spray. I'm just not sure what the best technique is."

I just returned from a trip to NH for smallmouth. We used all of the techniques you described at different times to get them to bite. We just kept switching until we found what they wanted. You probably did nothing wrong. Some days bass just won’t hit top water.

A1t2o: "How do you reel these in?"

NDYakAngler using Whopper Plopper

Top water, and especially the whopper plopper are one of this guys favorite lures. He's got lots of video demonstrating how to use.