As the largemouth bass spawn winds down a very productive pattern will develop.

The fish that were striking bottom lures are now looking up, feeding toward the surface. It’s top-water time. There’s nothing more exciting than watching a big old bass bust a surface lure and tail walk across the lake at the crack of dawn.

When water temperatures rise into the 70s baitfish like bream and shad will hold near the surface. For the next several weeks, if not months, the bass will look up for food rather than down.

There are basically five types of surface lures. Poppers, chuggers, walking lures, buzz baits and the plastic rats and frogs that are designed to slide over matted vegetation and lily pads. Each style has their time and place. Learn when and where to use each and you’ll become addicted to top-water fishing.

Poppers like the Rebel Pop R or any one of the many imitations are deadly in the hands of an expert. On calm days in clear water, use a very subtle retrieve. Cast the lure out, let the rings disappear and just barely nudge the lure with a light twitch of the rod tip. Let it sit for a few seconds and repeat. Strikes will usually be very light, much like a big bream sucking in a popping bug.

If there’s a chop on the surface a faster, louder presentation is in order. Hold your rod tip low to the water and twitch the lure three or four times, pause, then repeat. Keep a controlled amount of slack between the rod tip and the lure. Use this slack line and the rod tip to work the lure. The more wind, the harder you need to jerk. I’ve caught bass over 35 feet of water using this presentation.

Buzz baits are weird lures. Just looking at one and makes you think, now why would a fish strike this?

Cast a buzz-bait out. Raise your rod tip just before it hits the water and start a steady, slow retrieve. Some buzz-baits squeak, some clatter and others like the overlooked in-line buzzer have a quieter plop, plop sound. Buzz-baits are great lures when you need to cover a lot of water.

The walking lures are my favorite. Most are copies of the original Heddon Zara Spook. The Zara Spook was introduced in 1927 and continues to produce fish to this day. It resembles a cigar with treble hooks.

Cast the lure out and reel it in and it does nothing. Lower the rod tip and began twitching with a quick rhythm and the lure walks from side to side with an action that drives bass insane. The walking lures are considered the most difficult to master yet they are the most productive.

Chuggers like the Heddon Lucky 13 have a concave face and when retrieved with a hard long pull of the rod tip they make a sound much like a bass feeding on the surface.

These lures imitate feeding bass that in turn attract other fish to see what all the commotion is about. Chuggers, like in-line buzz baits, are often over-looked but very productive surface lures.

Toward the end of summer the moss, lily pads and water hyacinths will create a mat on the surface. Bass love to hang out here. This is no place for lures with treble hooks.

The hollow body lures shaped like rats and frogs will skim right over the mat and draw vicious strikes from big bass.

Eddie Roberts writes a weekly fishing column for The Natchez Democrat. Reach him at

fishingwitheddie@highstream.net

.