Best Topwater Lures for Bass Fishing

The Whopper Plopper 90 is the most consistently productive topwater bass lure released in the last two decades. The rotating tail prop creates a churning surface disturbance and an audible plopping cadence that bass home in on from distance. The key advantage over walk-the-dog lures is technique simplicity: a steady retrieve at a speed that keeps the tail spinning is all it takes. Beginners and professionals fish it with equal effectiveness. It produces on largemouth, smallmouth, and spotted bass in lakes, ponds, rivers, and reservoirs. We ranked it first because it is the topwater lure we would choose if we could only bring one. The 90 (3.5 inches) is the standard size; move to the 75 for finesse situations or pressured fish, and the 110 for targeting big fish in low-light windows. Also ranked as the best topwater pick in our Best Bass Lures guide.

The Zara Spook invented walk-the-dog topwater fishing in the 1930s and remains the benchmark lure for the technique 90 years later. Walk-the-dog means alternating left-right rod tip twitches with slack line to make the lure dart side to side across the surface. The Spook’s body length and weight distribution produce the widest, most natural side-to-side glide of any topwater lure — when bass see it coming from 20 feet away, they come up from depth to eat it. The technique takes practice but produces strikes that pure-speed baits like the Whopper Plopper don’t get from negative fish. Wired2Fish lists the Zara Spook as the topwater lure they would choose for fishing open water flats and points where bass are feeding on shad near the surface.

The Arbogast Hula Popper combines a cupped face that spits water on a rod-tip twitch with a rubber hula skirt that adds trailing movement during pauses. The spitting action produces the most visible surface disturbance of any popper at this size — a loud, explosive pop that calls bass from cover at range. The skirt continues to move during the pause that follows, keeping the lure looking alive when it is sitting still. Bass that follow a moving bait without striking often commit during that pause. The Hula Popper is most effective in morning and evening sessions around visible structure — dock corners, laydowns, rock piles — where you are pitching to a specific target and working it in place rather than covering water quickly.

KVD’s Sexy Dawg is a modern update to the walk-the-dog style that adds an internal rattle the Zara Spook lacks. That rattle is a meaningful addition on stained water where bass are locating the lure by sound and vibration before they see it. The Sexy Dawg also comes in a larger variety of natural shad, bream, and frog patterns than the Spook’s more limited lineup — which matters on clear-water lakes where pattern matching to local forage increases strikes. Tournament anglers on waters with high bass pressure often choose the Sexy Dawg over the Spook because the added rattle calls fish in conditions where a silent bait gets ignored.

The Rapala X-Rap Pop uses Rapala’s X-Rap body design to achieve casting distance that exceeds most poppers its size. The aerodynamic body and weighted balance produce a long, stable cast that lets you reach bass holding on offshore structure — beyond the range you can reach with a shorter, lighter popper. For bank fishing, pier fishing, or any situation where you need to cover distance between you and the fish, the X-Rap Pop outperforms the Hula Popper for placement. The cupped face produces a sharp, focused spit rather than the Hula Popper’s wide splash — a different sound profile that can be more effective when bass are responding to a subtle presentation.