Bass Week 2025: Top Choices for Topwater Lures

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With more than 40 years of professional fishing under his belt, Florida pro Bernie Schultz knows that spring offers some of the year’s most concentrated big-fish opportunity. Keen to maximize this seasonal abundance, Schultz does his best to stay on top of the action.

No question, topwater fishing can yield eye-popping strikes, but there’s no one do-it-all option. To this point, Schultz outlined his topwater lineup and explained the role each one plays.

Buzzbait (clacker)

For covering water and locating active fish, Schultz relies on the HeadBanger that he designed for Hildebrandt. Central to this bait’s form is the tin head.

“The tin makes a (sharper) clacking sound than lead,” Schultz said. “Lead dampens sound and tin amplifies sound. I like this bait because it can call fish out of cover and from a longer distance than a more subtle buzzbait.”

Schultz said his top scenarios for the HeadBanger are thicker vegetation, flooded brush or laydowns. The irritating commotion typically draws aggressive attacks, but even if the fish only boils or wakes on the bait, that’s enough to mark a target for a quick follow up with a Texas- or wacky-rigged soft stickbait.

“I like that bait because it runs true at any rate of speed,” Schultz said. “The retrieve depends on the attitude of the fish and I try to let the fish let me know what they want.

“I like the HeadBanger because you can cover water so efficiently. It’s not always going to work, but when it does work, it’s my favorite way to catch them on topwater.”

Buzzbait (squeaker)

Schultz also worked with Hildebrandt to develop the SqueakEasy buzzbait for sparser cover and bare banks. This one gets the call when fish are less aggressive, in which case a slower, less boisterous retrieve does the trick.

Both the SqueakEasy and the HeadBanger are made with durable skirts. The former’s skirt includes a longer section of strands that extend past the main section to conceal an included trailer hook.

Popper

When he’s targeting a particular area and needs a flashy, attention-getter, Schultz turns to the Shimano World Pop. This 2 3/4-inch, 3/8-ounce bait is built with Jet Boost (internal weight) technology that comes in handy when success demands distance.

“I can cast this bait a long way and work it more aggressively,” Schultz said. “Say the shad spawn is starting to happen in late spring and the bass are starting to key in on this (feeding opportunity), you want the bait moving at a brisk pace where it’s spitting more than popping.”

Another appealing feature is the World Pop’s Flash Boost, essentially an internal flash maker created with piece of foil suspended on micro springs. The nearly perpetual motion ensures a steady flash, even with the bait sitting still like a wounded baitfish.

“I like that for fish when they’re lethargic,” Schultz said. “Especially Florida bass a lot of times will get under a bait and study it for a long time. That’s why topwaters require a lot of patience with that species of bass.

“When a bass is looking at that bait and it’s flickering, you have a better chance of connecting.”

Reeling Toad

Favoring the Stanley Ribbit Toad, Schultz uses this bait as his utility player. Various speeds, various densities of cover — it’s the go-anywhere choice for spring topwater action.

“This bait can travel through super-dense cover like matted vegetation, flooded brush, over terrestrial grass when a reservoir floods and bass over up with the water,” Schultz said. “It can be retrieved at different speeds, depending on the mood of the fish.”

The ideal presentation here is a weighted EWG hook. Schultz likes the Gamakatsu version and he uses a 3/0 to 5/0, depending on which size Ribbit he’s using.

“The weight depends on how dense the cover is and how far I’m trying to cast the bait,” Shultz said. “If it’s super-dense cover and I want the belly of the frog to sit down in the cover, I’ll put a little more weight on it. If it’s sparse cover, like scattered pads, I’ll use minimal weight. I’ll use everything from a 3/16- to 3/8-ounce weight.”

With any of these topwater baits, success comes through the combination of persistence and perception. The presence or absence of aggression is a pretty clear metric but also pay attention to how you’re hooking the fish.

If they’re barely getting the bait, you may need to adjust profile or presentation. If they’re choking it, keep on doin’ what you’re doin’.

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