tcbass

My only gripe about the Whopper Plopper is they foul up so easy. That's where the Whopper Frog kills them. Even in open water.

Love them. Been using them for years. Much stronger than regular snaps and easier to put on.

I always use Mustad KVD swivel Fastach snaps and I've never had a problem with either although I don't use the Toadrunner anymore I use the Homemade Whopper Frog. I have used the non-swivel Mustad KVD Fastach also and not had problems with spinning. Friend has straight tied Whopper Ploppers and Homemade Whopper frogs and never had any issues. As above said, the knock-off WP, Berkeley Choppo, also works. Here's what I always use: You could have defective lures but having both a WP and Toadrunner defective would be rare.

They tend to do that sometimes. lol

Hello, Hannibal Lecter.

Looks a lot like where we fish. We fish Whopper Frogs (Booyah Padcrashers) and do well. We don't bend hooks out since it might not be as dense as where you fish. You might want to give it a try! The Whopper Frog has just really produced better than the regular hollow body frog for us and doesn't get hung up as much.

Ah. Ic. How does topwater work there?

Why does a crankbait ruin a spot? The way it lands?

So I bought some Zman Chatterbaits last year and didn't get a bite. I was determined to catch something this year. It's the end of the season for me so the other day may have been my last day out. We went out and I told my friend that I wanted to catch a fish on this lure and that I hadn't had any luck with it all last year. Well, 1st cast I caught a small bass which was pretty cool. After that, nothing. But I did get caught up on weeds a lot, in places that a spinnerbait would have been able to rip through or gone through without getting hung up as much. So, what does a Chatterbait do that a Spinnerbait can't because I can't see a time when I would want to run a Chatterbait over a Spinnerbait?

We are really down to 4 lures; 2 for topwater and 2 for underwater. Topwater: 1.) Whopper Plopper 2.) Whopper Frog Underwater: 1.) Nose-hooked Zoom Super Fluke 2.) Wacky Rigged Senko

Nice! I actually tried these before I switched to Teckel replacement tails and they caught fish too.

You catch a lot with that?

O rings didn't work for me but a fellow fisherman suggested rubber hose and it works great. I've had one Senko last nearly all season.

If I didn't lose Senkos, Super Flukes, and give frogs away I wouldn't have had to buy anything. Flukes and Senkos are like gas, an expendable resource that constantly needs replenishing every year.

I've been doing my best to not buy any new tackle as I have new tackle that's never been out of the box. Last year I mostly bought replacement tackle such as Senkos and Zoom Super Flukes. Although I did buy a bunch of frogs to experiment with when I was making Homemade Whopper Frogs. Last year the only new lures I bought were 2 Berkely Choppos and 2 Whopper Plopper 75's; both worked awesome. The WP 75 my favorite Whopper Plopper and the Choppo also worked well and at 1/2 the cost of the WP. I'm a topwater fanatic am willing to accept 2 topwater bites over 10 regular bites. My favorite topwaters are the Whopper Plopper and Homemade Whopper Frog/Teckel Sprinker Frog. This year I only bought Senkos and what I needed to make Homemade Whopper Frogs. I had to buy Homemade Whopper Frog parts because I gave all of mine away to friends because they were working so well. I hope I bought enough! At least I can say I finally beat the Bait Monkey.

Should look like this:

I had a lot of misses with Teckel Sprinker and Booyah Toadrunner. I started making my own and had been killing it ever since all season long.

Top water fishing is my favorite. I'll take 3 top water over 10 underwater bass. I had some luck with hollow body frogs and a lot of success with Ragetail Toads. But when I started using Whopper Frogs it was game on and never the same. All I throw for top water now are Whopper Ploppers and Whopper Frogs. I don't even bring my buzzbaits or KVD Sexydawgs anymore.

If you can store it and pull it always get bigger. No one ever got out on the water in a boat and said, "Man, this boat just to safe and spacious." There's water shrinkage, where boats seem a lot smaller on water than on land.

Yeah, end of production will definitely make something obsolete. lol

I thought that too and after a year of packing along my box of buzzbaits and never using them I took them out. If I get to a point where I wish I had them I'll be able to throw them back in the boat. For now they were just taking up precious space and the Whopper Frogs and Whopper Ploppers have been killing it for us.

KVD Sexg Dawg for me until the Whopper Plopper consistently outfished it by a ton.

Well, the KVD Sexy Dawg was my go-to topwater hardbait and now the Whopper Plopper is. I used the Cavitron and frogs in weeds too but the Whopper Frog does that now and is so much better at it.

I started really bass fishing about 12 years ago when a friend got me onto it. He got me onto Senkos and everything else I learned on my own. Two things that came standard for me were buzzbaits, specifically Cavitrons, because they are awesome and produce. The other thing was the KVD Sexy Dawg (basically a Zara Spook knock-off). I love topwater as you can tell. Both buzzbaits and KVD Sexy Dawg/Zara Spooks are famous/standard topwater baits for many people and for me were replaced by the Whopper Plopper. Over trial and error I've really paired my tackle down to 4 lures that for the last 2 years have killed it. Because of this I no longer even bring any buzzbaits and I've haven't taken the KVD Sexy Dawg out of the box in 2 years. The second is the Whopper Frog which has been even more productive because many places I fish have topwater vegetation making the Whopper Plopper a poor choice. I used to walk-the-dog with hollow body frogs and did well and also used toads specifically the Strike King Ragetail Toad which was even a better producer but got caught up a lot after a few fish because the toad would get torn up. Also, you could go through a lot of toads quickly in a day adding up in cost. So my two new baits replaced buzzbaits, walk-the-dog style hardbaits, and frogs/toads which are famous and standard baits for most anglers. What are these two lures that made famous/standard lures obsolete for me? 1.) Whopper Plopper - replaces Walk-the-Dog style hardbaits and buzzbaits (KVD Sexy Dawg/Zara Spook and Cavitrons) The Whopper Plopper has been awesome since I started using it. Even though the KVD Sexy Dawg caught a ton of fish I catch far more with the Whopper Plopper and it covers a lot more water faster. No more walk the dog, simply casting and retrieving and awesome blowups. My favorite size is the Whopper Plopper 75 followed by the 110. 2.) Whopper Frog (Homemade Teckel Frog) - replaces Hollowbody Frogs/Toads (hollow body frogs and Ragetail Toad) The Whopper Frog which is a homemade Teckel Frog is a Booyah Pad Crasher (I've tried almost all other commercial frogs and the Booyah Pad Crasher was the best one and fortunately also one of the cheapest and most readily available) with a Teckel Frog Tail made with a 3 way swivel and Owner CPS Centering Pin Spring. It, like the Whopper Plopper vs. the KVD Sexy Dawg is great because it is a straight retrieve bait that covers far more water, faster than a walk-the-dog style bait. I do catch a lot of fish on the landing also. I caught a decent amount of fish with hollow body frogs and more with Ragetail Toads but I've caught a tremendous amount more with the Whopper Frog. The Whopper Frog also has a much higher catch ratio than hollow body frogs and I think it's because the frog is moving forward fast causing an instant hookup where with a regular hollow body the fish may hit it and knock it away rather than get hooked. Went on a weekend fishing trip with friends and tried 3 different lakes. The fish have already gone deep but we wanted to concentrate on topwater. So we fished docks, shoreline, and lilly pads and we caught 90% of our fish on the Whopper Frogs and a few on the Whopper Plopper, only 2 on Senkos. My friend who only fishes a few times a year said the Whopper Frog is his new favorite bait so I made up a few and left them for them. For open water top water my bait is the Whopper Plopper and for weeds my bait is the Whopper Frog. For underwater I use Wacky Rigged Senkos and Nose-hooked Zoom Superflukes. Those are really my 4 basic lures that I use now and they really work for us. * Honorable mention: Berkeley Choppo (Whopper Plopper knock-off). We actually caught quite a few fish with this lure also at the same time as the Whopper Plopper so I'd say that the Choppo is a cheaper alternative to the Whopper Plopper that also works. This was the smaller size Choppo also. Also, I tried the Teckel Sprinker Frog and Booyah Toad Runner and just couldn't get consistent hookups, with the Whopper Frogs we have about a 90% hookup ratio. Lastly, common thinking is that topwater is for morning and evening but on many lakes in different regions in MN we have caught fish on topwater all day long which is nice. So, what lure's have made famous/standard lures obsolete for you?

What I've learned about frog fishing: I fished frogs for over 10 years with moderate success. Started using Whopper Frogs and killing them. Won't go back to regular. Try it out. You might have great success.