At wintertime sports shows, nothing draws a crowd like the bargain bin of marked-down lures. Little do these bargain hunters realize they can find as good a deal throughout the year.

Several manufacturers have designed versatile topwater baits that are two-for-one bargains any time. While most topwater lures are created to perform one task, these special baits can handle dual roles equally well whether it’s spitting, chugging, splashing, or walking. Several classic topwaters like Storm’s Rattlin’ Chug Bug and Heddon’s Torpedo offer two-way action options. Several newer baits including Rapala’s Skitter Pop, The Viva N’ Splasher, Excalibur’s Poppin’ Image, and Ambush Lures’ Pop-A-Long also produce multiple triggers to call bass to the surface.

Twitchin’ and Buzzin’

The Viva N’ Splasher is a 2-inch propeller bait that sits in the water at a 45-degree angle and can be worked as a twitch bait to create a splash or reeled quickly so it skitters across the surface like a buzzbait. North Carolina angler Danny Joe Humphrey notes that the Viva N’ Splasher is perfectly balanced to prevent the lure from rolling during fast retrieves.

Early spring and late summer are prime times to throw the Splasher. In early spring, finicky bass often prefer smaller topwaters. In late summer, the lure matches the size of yearling threadfin shad, a preferred forage in many waters.

Humphrey, a former BASS Masters Classic qualifier, prefers using this prop bait in clear or tannic water. “The size, shape, and natural finish make it so effective in clear water,” Humphrey says. “In murky conditions, you’re better off with a more ostentatious and larger bait.”

The splasher produces best as a twitch bait on overcast days or early in the morning. On windy days, try ripping the Splasher across a choppy surface. On slick water in the middle of the day, Humphrey opts for buzzing the topwater plug.

Employing the same retrieve he uses for a jerkbait, Humphrey twitches the prop bait in a 1-2 or 1-2-3 cadence, then pauses the lure before twitching it again. For fishing specific targets, he twitches and buzzes the lure during the same retrieve, buzzing it up to a stump or other cover, then stopping and twitching it next to the target.

While fishing a sandpit, Humphrey accidentally discovered the Splasher’s buzzing qualities. After twitching the lure near stick-ups to no avail, he quickly cranked in the Splasher to make another cast, but a bass slammed the bait before it reached the boat. The Splasher’s buoyancy allows Humphrey to crank it fast or slow, unlike standard buzzbaits that sink as the retrieve slows. “The neat thing is you can reel it in and then stop it, then reel it 3 or 4 feet and stop it again,” he says. This type of dual action can be accomplished with several other propbaits as well, including Rapala’s Skitter Prop and Luhr-Jensen’s Spin-I-Diddee.

Walkin’ and Chuggin’

The Rattlin’ Chug Bug evolved from Storm’s original Chug Bug during the time of the Rebel Pop-R craze. Pro anglers Jim Morton, Ken Cook, and Cecil Kingsley worked on its redesign to make the lure spit more water. To this end, they lowered the line tie and sanded the plug’s mouth to give it sharper edges. Cook also recommended tail-weighting its body so the Chug Bug would walk from side to side. “We decided to see how much natural action we could build into this lure and make it a user friendly lure that anybody could fish,” Morton recalls. “We called it a ‘do-it-all’ topwater bait.”

The versatile Rattlin’ Chug Bug and its siblings, Big Bug and Baby Bug, can be used in a variety of conditions because of their ability to slightly spit water and quietly walk across the surface, or to chug noisily with lots of water movement. Morton starts trying a Bug when the water is as cold as 47°F in spring. “I’ll start throwing a topwater whenever I believe the fish are relating to the top 5 feet of the water column,” he suggests.

The Oklahoma angler makes the lure spit slightly on calm days during early spring by employing a retrieve he calls piddlin’. “In early spring, you shouldn’t make much disturbance,” Morton says. He achieves this subtle presentation by twitching the lure with his rod tip at about an 8 o’clock position, which prevents the lure from throwing too much water.

From the Postspawn Period through fall, Morton jerks the lure harder and faster. “It chugs and spits at the same time,” he says. It’s a great topwater for fishing in wavy conditions. It can produce a huge bloop when you snap it down hard. It calls active bass to the surface, fish you’d normally cast crankbaits for.”

Right after the spawn, Morton likes to walk the Chug Bug. “As summer progresses and bass start keying on shad, the walking retrieve is much more effective,” Morton says. He makes the lure walk from side to side by twitching his rod in a rhythmic cadence while continuously reeling.

Skippin’ and Piddlin’

In fall, Morton makes the Chug Bug imitate a fleeing baitfish by ripping the lure quickly and then letting it sit. Four or five rapid jerks of the rod cause the plug to spit and skip across the surface.

A couple of line-tying tricks help these retrieves. “If you want the Chug Bug to walk in a continuous walking and spitting cadence, use a loop knot or a Duo-loc snap,” Morton recommends. “If you want a fast, splashing retrieve, tie it direct to inhibit the lure’s walking action.”

Tying the knot toward the bottom of the line tie improves the lure’s skipping action. “If you can make the bait skip three or four times during a retrieve, you’re doing it right,” Morton says.

During the prespawn, Morton prefers Rattlin’ Chug Bugs in obnoxious or gaudy hues such as pop frog, fire tiger, or red-hot fire tiger. He tones down the colors during the spawn and postspawn, using natural hues such as Tennessee shad, black-and-white, chrome-and-blue, chrome-and-black, or perch.

To piddle a lure, Morton uses a 61⁄2-foot medium-action graphite baitcasting rod with a fast tip and a reel with a 5.1:1 gear ratio. He employs the same rod for other retrieves but relies on a high-speed reel (6.3:1 gear ratio) for skipping the Chug Bug across the surface in fall.

The Rapala Skitter Pop is a finesse topwater lure Morton relies on when skittish prespawn bass have moved into the shallows. The balsa lure enters the water quietly and displaces little water when it spits or walks. “It doesn’t scare the fish nearly as much as a noisy bait does,” Morton advises.

The Oklahoma angler makes the lure spit by twitching it with his rod tip up and walks the lure with the same cadence as his Chug Bug retrieve. Morton uses the same rod and reel for the Skitter Pop as he does for the Chug Bug, but scales down to 12- or 14-pound test.

Rippin’ and Buzzin’

Kentucky pro Mark Menendez chooses a Heddon Torpedo for ripping or buzzing on top. “I use the ripping action more often,” Menendez says, “because smallmouth love the ripping sound created by the Torpedo. Pull the bait hard with a fast sideways rod motion.”

At times, though smallmouths like a buzzing bait. “On a trip to Lake St. Clair, four or five 3- to 5-pounders refused to strike,” he says. “So I started cranking in the Torpedo and a 4-pounder stomped it. I figured if I reeled it as fast as I could those fish would eat it—and they did.”

The mood of the fish determines whether Menendez rips or buzzes his Torpedo. He usually starts by ripping the lure and sometimes employs both tactics in the same retrieve. “If I see a bass approach and it turns away, I speed things up so the fish doesn’t get a good a look at it.”

When ripping the lure, Menendez jerks the Torpedo 18 to 24 inches to make it splash and spit. “Every day you’ve got to figure out how long you need to pause between rips,” he says. “Some days you have to wait 6 to 10 seconds and let the ripples disappear. Other days, the bass are more active and you can fish it faster.”

His favorite Torpedo is the frog pattern model (green with yellow belly), which he modifies by adding a yellow tail feather. He also uses a chrome-and-blue version with a white tail feather. Menendez suggest tying your line directly to the lure to generate the best action from a Torpedo.

A 61⁄2-foot medium-light-action Pflueger Trion Series rod and Pflueger Trion LP baitcast reel (6.3:1 gear ratio) are Menendez’ choices for ripping and buzzing the Torpedo. He selects 14-pound monofilament, light enough to cast well, yet stout enough to handle a hefty bass.

Poppin’ and Walkin’

The Excalibur Poppin’ Image features some unique qualities that make it one of Menendez’ favorite topwaters. “I love that bait for target fishing,” says Menendez, who likes to work it over stumps and under brush or overhanging trees. “The thing I like about that bait is that it stays in the strike zone. You can twitch it and make it walk side to side without its moving far.”

Menendez rates the Poppin’ Image a great postspawn lure to tempt bass resting in shady areas. He reaches these fish by making 15- to 30-foot roll casts with a 6-foot Shakespeare Ugly Stick rod with a fiberglass tip. These short, accurate casts shoot the lure into tight corners in brushy tangles where bass rarely see lures.

The Poppin’ Image performs well as both a popper and a walking surface bait. Menendez prefers walking the lure during the Postspawn Period when bass are protecting fry. Steadily twitching the rod with slack in the line turns the lure 10 degrees to each side without moving it away from the cover. “I try to keep it in that strike zone—next to a cypress tree and over a stump—as long as possible,” he says.

Popping the lure produces better for Menendez in fall when threadfin shad are larger. “It’s a large-profile bait that matches the hatch then,” Menendez says. He twitches the bait at a faster cadence than the walking presentation and also constantly reels to make the lure pop and roll more.

When your local tackle store has its big spring sale, remember to stock up on these two-for-one topwater bargains. You’ll get more than your money’s worth when the bass start surface feeding.

*John Neporadny Jr. is a writer and angler from Lake Ozark, Missouri, and a frequent contributor to In-Fisherman and Bass Guide.