I was at ftd bay pier last night with the original intent of catching blue crabs. Since not many floated by I started to fish with a jig head and a paddle tail. Some fish chased it but no hits. Decided to switch to topwater so I tied on a mirrolure top dog. For the first time ever, after many attempts, I finally got a few blowups on topwater. Not sure what kind if fish they were cuz it was dark. I got one to barely hookup but quickly spit the hook. I actually saw some fish totally miss the lure lol! Is that common? I'm just glad I finally got something to hit my lure lol!

I'm not a big artificial guy but I know that happens to me a lot. Maybe slow the retrieve a little or I've read some people like to move it a few times than let it sit for a sec, then repeat. Give that a try Fernando

Totally missing the lure....is it common? yea, it happens all the time. It amazes me too sometimes to see a trout come fully out of the water 5 inches behind or in front of the lure....maybe it was anticipating it to stop or speed up. But that is part of fishing with topwaters that makes it exciting. Hookthis1 my 3 guesses on the type of fish would be ladyfish, trout, mackeral.

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This is only a guess, but if you were in deep water off the pier, it might have been ladyfish. If you were in shallow water like 2-3-4' It could have been real good fish like reds, snook, trout. IMHO.

Ok definitely gonna try all those suggestions. I also think it was a trout just cuz I did see a few but it don't mean it was.

he... I'm not much of an artificial guy either cuz I never catch with then so I give up to easy I think lol! Last night was motivation to keep giving it a shot.

Lostman... Can you catch mackerel at night?

Andy... I was in about 8' I think

I'm new to this whole fishing thing but I would keep that sucker moving!

I caught my first snook yesterday on a topwater (spook jr in bone) and I had tons of misses and blow ups and each time I kept pausing or slowing down the the snook would lose interest. When I kept it going erratically I had the same fish attack it several times.

I've decided a fast retrieve with a tiny bit of slack in the line is the best. If you reel too fast then the lure digs into the water and you feel a lot of resistance with each twitch, i.e. it's hard work! When you slow the retrieve a bit but keep the rod twitching a lot the lure easily glides across the surface while making a ton of commotion. As my buddy said "make it as violent as you can!"

it worked :)

Yep! Happens a lot. A week or so ago I had a nice 27" approx snook fly almost 3' out of the water missing the lure by inches. Frustrating. I do the same thing, pause a second, then work the lure as normal. More often than not they give it another go.. :)

probably needlefish hitting you lure. lots of them at night. i doubt its mackerel.

One thing that might help with you with your hopkups is to change out the stock hooks that come with the lure. Try some gama or owners.

When I'm getting consistent blowups but misses, I change up the retrieve. Instead of:

cast, twitch, twitch, twitch, twitch..(normal steady walk)

I'll do like this: cast, twitch, twitch, twitch, twitch (normal cadence for a few seconds). Then twitch, wait for the plug to glide to a stop, twitch to change direction, wait for the plug to stop, and so on. That start and stop motion works best for me to elicit a strike.

If they attack the lure and miss during a retrieve, I speed up the lure for 5-10 feet like a fleeing piece of bait. IMO, on a strike, the fish may realize something isn't right about this baitfish. Imitating fleeing bait forces the fish to make a instant decision to try again or lose out on a meal.

Dan

Got some gama hooks to change out the originals and will definitely try all your suggestions on retrievals. hopefully after my next outing I will be able to post a nice report with a picture of my first topwater fish... Hopefully lol

I'm with Dantheman. I fish a good deal of top water. As a newbie, I am sure that half of what I do is probably wrong in some way. My fist inclination is to stop or halt my retrieve when hit but not hooked. Always has been and it is hard to fight that urge. However, a good six months ago or so a friend suggested that I speed up my retrieve when bumped to mimic a fish running from a predator, telling me that I would be more likely to get another hit, hopefully with the next one landing a hook.
Like I said, my natural inclination is to slow down (did it this morning a couple of times) but I have found better success using the speed up method- I just need to be more consistent with it.

DanTheMan wrote:
Makes sense to me, im gonna give it a shot.

To add to Dantheman's advice I would recommend possibly switching colors, and if you notice they come after the lure hard (flying out of the water, big slash next to the lure) then do speed up the retrieve the next time you cast in that direction again, but if they come up and it's a little squirl or you see them but don't seem to really go after it but seem interested try slowing down your retrieve and have longer slashes to the right and left for your lure, but make it consistent movement cause they seem to react on knowing what the bait fish (lure) will do next to optimized their hit. Real agressive fish will come back for it so the pause after the twitch will get them to strike. Experiment a bit and you'll see what reactions you will get with different retrieves as sometimes the faster retrieve is too fast for whatever fish is really biting at your lure. Try stripping your lure some time after a long twitch and pause (strip it like you would a DOA shrimp) - I've noticed the fish haul off to catch it immediately. Crazy what fish will bust a topwater plug. Anyone try a frog in saltwater for Reds?

Use the 'red headed stepchild' two tone color as well as it is a Trout killer- for sure! Definitely make it look like a fleeing fish or a hurt one as everyone seem to suggest. Fish love easy pickings.