just get your standard frog or shad popper. by rapala, zara, or excalibur. find some reeds or sticks and try to pop it right next to the reeds. if u make a good cast meaning like a foot or two beyond the reeds, then pop it 2 or three times and just wait. alot of times depending on the lake, fish wont chase poppers or any of those surface plugs. these are usually the lakes that have a lot of pressure. its worth a try.
when i dont get bit on a popper i try something else. get a good wide gap hook and put on of those swimbait bass assassins on it. i perfer white for an all around color, but experiment, im sure green or blue would work. with no weight this bait will dart and sometimes jump. you can work it quickly on the top for a huge explosion, or you can work it like a popper, and just twitch it, but the advantage of this is that it sinks really slowly. let it sink, and usually a bass will hit it then. most of the times you can see the bass take it and you dont have to pay attention to the water, but if you happen to lose sight of it from glare or something just look for a boil under your bait. with this method there is one good advantage. the bass will hold on to it alot longer than a surface plug like a torpedo or a popper. also you rig it like a worm and stick the point in a little slot to make it weedless. you will spend no time gettig two treble hooks free. hope this helps.

also remember you are not going to catch many fish in the heat of the day. about an hour and a half or maybe more after the sun comes up in morning and about an hour before the sun goes down are the best topwater times. a good way to sort of know when to start fishing top water is when the sun is just starting to come over the hills, when it comes over the bite usually starts to weaken. also in the evening wait till the bugs come out and the sun goes over the hills...it will still be light but the bass will know its time to get active. during the day you can try a buzzbait through cover. that can sometimes be very productive.

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