Topwater Tactics For Lake of the Ozarks Bass
by John Neporadny Jr. 

    The greatest thrill in bass fishing occurs when you're watching a calm surface suddenly explode and your topwater lure instantly vanishes. This scene will be played out many times this month on Lake of the Ozarks as the waters become warm enough to activate bass into feeding on top.  A number of factors stimulate bass into striking at objects on the surface during spring. They are up shallow after a long winter's nap; they’re aggressive and hungry. They will also go into an area where they are going to spawn and clear out anything else in that area. 

    Their aggressive nature during the spawning cycle make bass susceptible to a variety of topwater lures including chuggers, stickbaits and propellor baits. Two popular lures for most for surface action at Lake of the Ozarks are a Rebel Pop-R and a Heddon Zara Spook.  The Pop-R will bring up all sizes of bass, but the Spook is more or less a big fish bait in the spring. 

     Clear-water areas in the middle to lower ends of the lake produce the best topwater action during the spring.   You need to have at least a foot of visibility to get anything on the Pop-R. The fish will be in 3 to 5 feet of water, but they will come up for that lure.  The best springtime topwater spots include long, rocky points, pockets in coves and main channel cuts. In April, the fish move into the backs of coves where they can be caught in pockets and around any stickups. By the end of the month and throughout May, the fish migrate back to deeper water, but can still be caught in the shallows around wood cover in main channel cuts and along extended main lake points. 

    Mornings and evenings are the best times for topwater action at Lake of the Ozarks.  Any low-light conditions work better than bright sunshine for topwater fishing. When you get cloudy weather, you can fish topwater all day long with the same success. When the sun gets high they will leave those lures alone. 

  Wind also prevents you from working a Zara Spook effectively, but you can still throw a Pop-R if there's a chop on the water. 

    When the water's calm, retrieve the Pop-R as slow as possible. Just barely twitch it every couple of seconds. When a fish strikes at it start moving the lure otherwise the fish will turn around and leave it.  After casting a Spook, let it sit until the ripples from the splash disappear, then retrieve the lure in the traditional walk-the-dog fashion. 

    The Pop-R and Spook work best before and after the spawn, but another topwater technique produces better when the fish are on the nest. One of the best lures during the spawn is a (Rattlin') Rogue because bass think it is a perch or a sunfish coming into their nest. Jerk the lure down in front of a nest and lets it sit there until the bass can no longer resist snapping at the Rogue. 

    Throw both the Pop-R and Spook on heavier line (15- to 20-pound test) to bring out the best action in both lures. Lighter line causes the lures to sink down under the water some when you jerk the rod, which especially hampers the action of the Pop-R. The Rogue works better with 12- to 14-pound test line. 

    The topwater bite usually starts the first part of April if the water temperature climbs into the mid 60s. The pattern usually lasts until about the middle of May or even the first part of June during a cool spring.  If you get cool rainy days, you can still use that topwater in the early summer.

For information on lodging at the Lake of the Ozarks or to receive a free vacation guide, call the Lake of the Ozarks Convention & Visitors Bureau at 1-800-FUN-LAKE or visit the Lake of the Ozarks Convention and Visitors Bureau web site at funlake.com.

Copies of John Neporadny's book, "THE Lake of the Ozarks Fishing Guide" are available by calling 573/365-4296 or visiting the web site www.jnoutdoors.com.

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