At night, slow intermittent retrieves give bass the opportunity to approach the lure and then strike. Bass may strike but miss fast-moving baits, especially if they move erratically.

When fished over deep water, for example along the edge of a bluff bank, a loud bloop summons fish from below, as well as from cover. I've learned that Mexican bass fancy a mega bloop-and-pause retrieve. After watching my fast-spitting retrieve along the edge of a cliff that dropped fast into 30 feet of water, my guide Arturo approached the bow and beckoned for me to hand over my rod.

He cast and began savagely blooping the lure, letting it settle between pulls. I followed his advice and more than doubled my topwater strikes on that trip and subsequent ones. These semitropical largemouths, with their aggressive strikes and awesome pulling power, have some of the savage tendencies of those jungle marauders, the peacock bass.

Fast Retrieves (Spittin'): Another key retrieve for poppers is the spittin' skittering action that's become standard for summertime fishing on shad- filled reservoirs. Rick Clunn's introduction to this action came more than 20 years ago as he guided a client on Lake Conroe. The man worked his Pop-R frantically fast, the bait spitting water and bobbing unpredictably from side to side.

At first amused, Clunn was soon impressed as bass attacked the bait all day. Later, Clunn experimented with the 1/4-ounce bait and did a bit of filing and sanding to produce the secret bait he used to win well over $100,000. Many modern poppers, including most of the Japanese editions, are designed more for spitting than popping. The mouth is moderate size, and the lower lip is considerably shorter than the upper lip, and its leading edges are sharp.

But versatile topwater anglers should view retrieves as a continuum of speeds and actions between the extremes of a fast spit and a bloop-and-die cadence. On a given day, a special surface dance can make a major difference in the bait's attraction. While it's good to have a few time-tested retrieves that need no concentration to execute, breaking the mold can pay dividends.

Rod Choice: With a bloop-and-pause retrieve, rod position isn't critical, so anglers can select rod lengths and actions according to personal preference and fishing situation. With experience, you'll learn the best angle to hold the rod, based on the lure's characteristics and its distance from the boat or shore. In general, the rod should be gradually lowered as the lure approaches.

Match rod action and line strength to lure size, cover conditions, and potential size of bass. For tough-battling potentially monstrous Mexican bass or giant Floridas, heavy-action trigger sticks with abrasion-resistant mono or superbraid lines are the ticket. On heavy tackle, bigger, heavier poppers cast farther and tend to attract the biggest bass. But make sure the hooks don't bend under the strain. Some of the super-sharp fine-gauge Japanese hooks must be changed for this application.

Night fishing, too, calls for stout equipment as outsize bass roam open pockets in vegetation or maraud along breaklines to flush preyfish from cover. Their first reaction to your hookset is to return to the densest cover around, and you must stop that initial run or lose most of the big ones.

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