So we are definitely at or close to our peak water temps here. We have had well over a month of mostly very hot...high 80s-100...degree weather. It makes daytime fishing fairly slow and unproductive. But with the hot weather there always seems to be a morning top water bite. My problem is I never know what to throw. Most of the year I prefer a buzz bait or a frog when fishing cover or grass. This time of year tho the bass act a little different. What are your favorite early morning topwaters?

Spook, buzzbait, popper

Pop-R types, Spooks, smaller props

Pop R , Keep throwing it after the morning too! 

The only topwaters I ever use (not including a hollow frog) is the Whopper Plopper (or Berkeley equivalent) and a Zara Spook.  I have tried the KVD version of the walking bait and found that it doesn't draw near as many fish as a Spook.  Unfortunately the summer early morning topwater is not panning out for us here right now.  It's just as dead as can be in the mornings.  I'm moving to late evenings now to give that a try.  

9 minutes ago, BigAngus752 said:

Unfortunately the summer early morning topwater is not panning out for us here right now.  It's just as dead as can be in the mornings.

Same here. Even going at the crack of dawn doesn’t seem to help because of how hot and dry it’s been here all summer.

Frog, fist and foremost. Whopper Plopper, Chug Bug, buzzbait, whatever other topwater might strike my fancy. I'll fish them later in the day as well if I can keep getting a bite every so often. Hit every shady spot with one. The frog is an all day bait to me. My last two PBs came the heat of summer in the morning. One was on a Chug Bug and the other was a spinnerbait in shallow water.

2 hours ago, gimruis said:

Same here. Even going at the crack of dawn doesn’t seem to help because of how hot and dry it’s been here all summer.

It's the exact opposite here.  We've had over 13 inches of rain in the last 30 days.  The water is muddy, full of floating debris, and water temps go up and down 5-8 degrees as it rains, gets sunny, rains, gets sunny, etc.  The fish are unhappy.  

Cordell Redfin, Smithwick Rogue (either in chrome/black back) - really any floating jerk bait.

 

Also, I like a Devils Horse, buzz bait, or a popper.

Throw them something different. Jackall Pompadour. Talk about violent strikes.

Our water temps have been 84 - 85 which is about the peak temp I hope. We've had a 18 minute from daylight Buzzbait bite for the last 4 weeks. Once the sun hits the water a Spook pulls a few if we've got a ripple on the surface. Our water clarity is 6 - 10' & it's a Blueback herring lake. The last 5 weeks I've been starting at 2am and leaving by 10am and my catch rates have increased. Here's a 4am 4.3.

1 hour ago, BigAngus752 said:

It's the exact opposite here.  We've had over 13 inches of rain in the last 30 days.  The water is muddy, full of floating debris, and water temps go up and down 5-8 degrees as it rains, gets sunny, rains, gets sunny, etc.  The fish are unhappy.  

Where are you located in Illinois? We need the pattern to switch lol. You can have our endless hot dry days on the red planet and we’ll take your monsoon season.

I haven't had good luck this year with topwaters.  It's been an odd year, for sure.  Last I was out, the water temp. was 87 and still no thermocline, which should have happened by now.  

 

Usually, if they're not biting a buzzbait, I'll go slow.  Something like a Spook or Pop-R.  That's my thinking anyway.  

18 hours ago, gimruis said:

Where are you located in Illinois? We need the pattern to switch lol. You can have our endless hot dry days on the red planet and we’ll take your monsoon season.

I'm going to have to pass on your Jurassic mosquitoes...

My stomping grounds right now are just about an even split between textbook buzzbait and frog spots, I can think of a couple places that you could maybe get a treble hook baits down the weedline edge, but mostly it's grass either an inch or so under the surface, or just at the surface poking out, so for right now, frogs and buzzbaits are the option for most of my spots

I prefer something that covers a lot of water quickly as that morning bite is usually on flats. A buzzbait, or a Jitterbug are my go to choices. I actually use another topwater as a follow up on missed strikes rather than a Fluke, or some other soft plastic.  You can't beat two blow-ups from the same fish for excitement.

I hit them with everything I have since the bass may not want the same bait two trips in a row.  Buzzbaits, jitterbugs, spooks, poppers, and prop baits, but when the bite dies on top it is done for the day.

Whopper 90 in bone or Choppo in bluegill has worked well, so has the Lucky Craft Gun fish. But the topwater bite has slowed down a lot the last month or so. I still can get a couple of fish in the evening or AM.

Water temp is 85 on the surface here (gross). Absolutelt choked a LH popper. Poppers, buzzbaits and early frogs right now for me.

Buzzbait . 

Popper, worked slowly.  The deal around here in peak summer is bluegills riding high in the water column over deep water.  The bass are below them.  Consistent pattern every year in any water body where there is a deep basin area.

I swear I talk about this bait more often,, and with higher esteem than my kids sometimes. 

 

I have an Arashi cover pop tied on allllllll summer. I can put it on a flies rear end at 20-25 yards, I can bomb cast it a mile. I can pop it real slow, I can walk it like a spook. 

 

They destroy it all morning, and I still get situational bites on it the rest of the day. 

No one fishes Rats/Rodents..?