As a guide I get to see alot of different styles of fishing and along the ways and I have learned alot from my clients, but on the flip side I have also seen alot of bad habits that have formed as well. Topwater fishing is probably the most exciting technique of fishing there is. It’s also probably the techinque with the most hits and misses.. I have said this many times but some of the best topwater anglers that I know are those that fish for Spots, because spots are notorious for being finicky and they certainly try your last nerve due to their pocket picking nature. Often times they will hit your bait repeatidly without getting hookups. I can’t think of another fish that can slam a topwater or jerkbait full of hooks without getting stuck. It simply amazes me how I can get pricked by a hook with no problem but spots can’t? Last year along I had to pull a hook out of my hand/arm/leg on 4 different occasions last year (a record for me LOL)
I think my record is a spot hitting my topwater on 16 different occasions on the same cast. Yes they are very aggressive but sometimes when you see that explosion you can’t help but to set the hook and often times when you do you end up missing and also scare the fish off from coming back for another strike.
Topwater fishing is probably the hardest method to teach amatuers. I mean when you see the explosion on the surface common knowledge tells you to cross their eyes. Well that works on some occasions, but not all of them. You can try the close your eyes method and wait for the rod to load up, but heck thats no fun as half the fun of fishing topwater is watching the explosion take place right? The absolute key to fishing topwater is to wait until you feel the fish. If your walking a sammy or any kind of bait keep walking it and wait for you to feel the fish before pulling into the fish. This takes A TON of patiences and control on your part. But over time you will realize that those missed hooksets are also missed opportunties on catching that fish. How many times have you set the hook and missed and never got that repeat 2nd return bite? It happens alot. Sometimes you get lucky and the fish is just overly committed, but 9 times out of 10 when you set the hook and miss thats the only shot you get. So by waiting to feel the fish is key here. Just keep that bait walking and popping as you were and wait for that fish to come back for a second or 16th attempt at getting your bait. Trust me by doing so this will land you more fish and you’ll quickly land more fish that hit than you lose.
One other trick. 
. I’m not sure if you guys know this or not but Lucky Craft has come out with a Sammy 105. This is technically a Sammy with THREE treble hooks and only 5 millimeters longer than the popular Sammy 100. When I saw this bait at Icast last year I immediatly said “There is a god!!” For crying out loud MORE hooks is just what we need!! I mean by all means chose the weapon that gives you more bullets (hooks) and your chances increase dramatically. I felt like the good lord was listenting to me all the time I was cussing those spots for pocket picking me for all these years by sending me the Sammy 105.. I now go to the lake with a evil smirk on my face knowing those pocking picking $*$&$# SPOTS don’t have a $*()*$# chance in *#$*# *$*$ in missing my topwater now!! The action of the Sammy 105 is a little flatter than the Sammy 100, but still walks very nicely, still casts like a bullet and best of all my Spots absolutely hate it!! Sweet Revenge!!
Tacklewarehouse has all of the colors in stock
