There may be no more exciting way to fish than with topwater lures.
I don’t care if it’s bass, pike, or muskie. The anticipation you get from watching a lure dance across the surface is palpable. The shark-like “V” that pike make as they approach can send tingles down your spine. The explosion of water from a bass can cause grown men to shriek like children. Premature hook sets are common, but when you connect a few times it can be memorable.
We took two trips to the legendary bass destination Kentucky Lake. Click here to learn how to plan a trip there for yourself. One for the Association of Great Lakes Outdoor Writers Conference and one to cover some Minnesota boys fishing the Bassmaster Open.
While we were down there, I jumped in the boat with local guide and tourney angler, Brandon Hunter. Brandon cashed some checks on the FLW before turning that into a guide and electronics guru career. Now he takes clients out who want to get their Garmins, Humminbirds or Lowrances tuned up and dialed in. Plus, catch some big bass along the way.
“I always tell people that August and September are the toughest months for this lake,” Brandon said. We were heading out on a calm, sunny morning in early Fall, so that wasn’t the most encouraging thing to hear.
After a slow start, the wind picked up and it clouded over. Soon Brandon was setting the hook on three largemouth bass. He was using a bone-colored Dogma from 6th Sense.
“I throw two different types of bait this time of year, “Brandon said. “I throw a plopping style of bait and something I can walk over structure with.”
Not only is the topwater fun to use, you can fish it fairly fast. This allows you to cover water. Fall is transition time and the fish can be scattered, so moving quickly to find them is essential.
Brandon found bass up shallow chasing small emerald shiners. So moving along the shoreline searching for structure like big rocks and stumps paid off.
After boating a number of nice largemouth, we called it a day and did AGLOW conference stuff. Two days later, we hit the water again in search of smallmouth. We fished the same way, but in rockier, clearer water. It paid off.
You can see us catch these fish in the video below. You’ll learn more about Brandon’s techniques and where on the lake we fished. We went back to Kentucky Lake in March of this year to cover Joe Titus in the Bassmaster Open. While Dan was filming them, (video is also below), I jumped back in the boat with Brandon, this time on a private lake. We used LiveScope to search for fish, but it was one age-old technique that caught us the two biggest bass of the day. Find out what it was in the video here:
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