Irresistible retrieves for topwater fishing and more.

Cadence can be critical for walking-the-dog, so it’s best to experiment open-mindedly before stowing these baits. Try short, quick rod twitches, changing to longer sweeps, focusing on what draws the most attention. Nothing builds excitement like seeing a big fish stalk and strike a lure at the surface, and if you can repeat that tempo, you may have a pattern that works in similar areas around the lake.

Big stickbaits have a well deserved reputation for fooling big bass. Pro angler Ish Monroe of Hughson, California, chooses a 5-inch Reaction Innovations Vixen under a variety of conditions from Prespawn through fall, coast to coast. His philosophy is that big baits attract big bass. “I’m a big bait, big fish guy,” Monroe says. “I like the Vixen’s size and wild action. In tournaments, it’s the one bait I have ready for all occasions.”

Monroe used a shad-color Vixen in his victory at the Bassmaster Elite Series event on Lake Amistad last March. By combining sight-fishing and twitching a Vixen over ditches where bass were migrating into spawning areas, he boated 20 fish weighing an incredible 1041⁄2 pounds, including a 9-pound 5-ounce sow that ate the Vixen.

With big fish on the agenda, Monroe employs heavy gear. He uses a 7-foot heavy-action fiberglass Daiwa rod, paired with a Daiwa Fuego reel spooled with 50-pound-test Power Pro braided line. He ties directly to his Vixen using a double Palomar knot, feeling that the disturbance of the lure’s action, light refraction, and glare mask the opaque line. “Fifty-pound braid means you never break them off,” he explains.

Tweaking Baits

One modification is to replace a plain rear treble hook with one dressed in chicken feathers. That’s been so popular that the new Heddon SwayBack Spook comes so adorned. Feathers pulsate and breathe in motion and at rest, sometimes turning the tide when the bite slows. A red treble at the throat, imitating a bleeding gill, at times seems to increase bites.

Some baits, including the original Zara Spook, come with large trebles hung directly on hook hangers. Sometimes, a hooked bass can gain leverage and twist free. Split-rings eliminate that leverage. I remove the screws and stock hooks and add split-rings (short-shank trebles mean less chance of hooks tangling) before reassembly. A drop of Superglue sets them securely. Some new models come with split-rings. I’ve found the rattleless action of the original Spook often outproduces rattling topwaters when the sun is high or bass are heavily fished, so it’s worth the extra work.

Drown-the-Dog

An interesting evolution of Spook fishing occurred when anglers began applying a snapping, slack-line retrieve to other types of baits. In 1988, In-Fisherman published Rich Zaleski’s “Rippin’ Spring Smallmouths,” which outlined techniques for triggering pre-spawn bass with floating minnowbaits like Bagley’s Diving Bang-O-Lure and Magnum Rapalas. By sweeping the bait down to its working depth and then imparting a series of aggressive twitches, Zaleski found the lures would “shift angles underwater the way a Zara Spook does on top.” Thus, drowning-the-dog was born.

Today, several baits have been designed to drown-the-dog with ease, like Rapala’s X-Rap and the Lucky Craft Pointer series. They feature slightly longer diving bills than traditional jerkbaits, set toward the bait’s nose rather than at the throat. While Zaleski worked floating baits aggressively to keep them down, suspending baits now allow for extended pauses that are deadly in water below 50°F.

Pauses of more than half a minute contradict the term”walk,” but can lure lethargic largemouth and smallmouth bass under those conditions. Deeper-diving models like the Lucky Craft Stay See, Rapala Minnow Rap, the Goodie Minnow from Dave’s KA-BOOM! Baits, and the new Smithwick Deep Rogue Jr., make this task easier to perform.