top water lures?

[FishingOC]

Any one tried top water lures for salt water?

I.e. poppers or floating hardbaits.

I know the east coast uses them alot but I havent heard of anyone useing them in socal.

I was thinking of trying it for bonitas or other fish.

Would like some input from others that have tried it.

Thanks

[Liteliner]

We have surface iron. It catches the bonito, cuda, and the yellows. If the fish are boiling your probably gonna get bit with surface lures. I had good luck with the xraps last year for the cuda on bones.

[Ricky-Ray]

I think it's more of a different style of fishing out here. Majority of the people that fish on the salt go on open party boats where there can be as little as 10 to as many as 80 on a sport boat depending on the type of trip. Imagine your tossing a popper out there and everyone is is flylining bait. Your going to get back alot of people's line. Yeah I know you'll say "if your on a sport boat tossing iron's you usually head to the bow" but you know there's always that one or two people that don't listen.

East coast guys usually fish on smaller boats and have only a few people on the boat. That makes it more room for them to fish on the boat and gives them greater flexibility of what they can do.

[ghetto dad]

Many times, I have used Pili poppers on offshore tuna trips, the 8 inch versions. I have caught yellowfin, albacore, a couple dorado, and 1 small bluefin on them. I fished them with a 100J and 30 lb test (kinda painful, lol). I have also caught bass on poppers at the islands, along with bonita and barracuda.

[ghetto dad]

oh, and btw, on what ricky said. He is correct on the tangle factor, IF you fish the same side as everyone else on the slide (im just talking tuna trips here), if you do it offshore, fish the OPPOSITE side of everyone else....if you fish the island, fish the BOW of the boat, and you should not have that problem.

GD

[jerryG]

OH YEAH! When the tuna go in to a frenzy I love throwing pili poppers. Lots of fun. You need a long stick. Most people who throw the pili like rods that are 10' or even longer.. I would not recomend throwing it at fish over 30lbs for that reason. In addition to the pili I've done well on some walk the dog type lures such as a modified Super Spook with saltwater hooks and rings. I've used pili and spooks to catch yellowfin, skippies, bonito, baracuda, and calico bass plus a few incidental mackeral when throwing at inshore targets. I hooked a dorado on a topwater but as all dorodo do it went air born immediately and with a vicious head shake it fired my lure right back at me at high velocity. I managed to duck it but I decided to fish a bait after that. I saw Ghetto Dad chime, that guy always good information..

JerryG

[Fish Dog]

I've never tried surface lures in the salt but just throwing a floating rapala at times I have had trouble keeping it away from the sea gulls if I don't get to reeling real quick so it will dive below the surface.

[ghetto dad]

OH YEAH! When the tuna go in to a frenzy I love throwing pili poppers. Lots of fun. You need a long stick. Most people who throw the pili like rods that are 10' or even longer.. I would not recomend throwing it at fish over 30lbs for that reason. In addition to the pili I've done well on some walk the dog type lures such as a modified Super Spook with saltwater hooks and rings. I've used pili and spooks to catch yellowfin, skippies, bonito, baracuda, and calico bass plus a few incidental mackeral when throwing at inshore targets. I hooked a dorado on a topwater but as all dorodo do it went air born immediately and with a vicious head shake it fired my lure right back at me at high velocity. I managed to duck it but I decided to fish a bait after that. I saw Ghetto Dad chime, that guy always good information..

JerryG

i miss you homie...home things are going great for you man.....which, i know you, and i know they are......peace man

[twin22s]

i have used a few fresh water poppers and spooks to catch bass and halibut in harbors at night. as far as the open ocean goes tho, unless you have your own boat with just a few anglers just wanting the thrill of top water action its not very pratical. even when top water is working there are other baits that work just as well in those situations and like alot of ppl have said are more managable. but im all for seeing a big fish fly out of the water after the bait.

[reckless_m@]

If the bass are going off in the kelp.....throw a texas rigged fluke in the middle of the kelp and hold on. twitch....pause in the pockets.

Cuda topwater on the spooks and bigger Sammys is TOO much fun.

[jerryG]

If the bass are going off in the kelp.....throw a texas rigged fluke in the middle of the kelp and hold on. twitch....pause in the pockets.

Cuda topwater on the spooks and bigger Sammys is TOO much fun.

I fish the soft jerk baits (flukes) in salt as well. I like to fish them weightless (right on the surface) and as Reckless has mentioned they are good for throwing in and around the kelp. I use them when the water is warm and the calicos are up chasing bait on surface. I rig them with a weedless (which is why they are so ideal for fishing the kelp) with wide gap hook and fish them weightless.

I like to throw right on top of the kelp and walk them across the top of the the paddies. The calicos will crash through the thick kelp to eat to the fluke. Needless to say these lures can be a lot of fun when the conditions are right. When I reaches edge of the kelp I will often twitch the fluke off the edge of the weeds and let it fall along the edge of the of the weed line. Although at that point the bait is no longer a topwater it can be very effective on the fall as well.. It's more of a private boat, or kayak technique but I supose it can be done from a sport boat.

Ghetto,

What's up brother. I miss fishing with you guys and I hope you been doing well and catching many big fish my friend. I'm doing well myself and still fishing every chance I get. You know that never changes but I just don't get as many chances as I use to. You know how it goes work, wife, kids, and if I'm lucky I get to do some fishing. I can't complain though I still make it out to fish just about every week. We should hook and go catch some fish. Shoot me a PM.

JerryG