San Diego & SoCal Fishing Forums

Vinny @VinnyBass was lamenting his inability to catch any topwater bass at Murray on hard baits last week. I have been able to pull a few, but I think the key is really downsizing your baits, and working them quite fast across the surface. Almost skipping them. The fish on top seem to be chasing small silverside minnows, so I have been using tiny topwater walking baits and poppers on my BFS setup.

Both the walking bait and the popper pictured come in at under 2 inches but they clearly more closely match the current Murray hatch than traditional hard baits in my opinion. If you are interested in trying them they are available at Bait Finesse Empire.

But then again if you see the numbers of fish Vinny pulls perhaps you'd do better to ignore me and just copy his tactics. He always seems to slay them.

I keep telling Vinny..finesse, finesse, finesse....and he keeps telling me, sissy, sissy, sissy!

I think bass over the years are tired of seeing my Spooks, Sammys, Gunfish, and in recent years IMA Skimmers. Maybe it’s time to get some new baits as topwater dishing is so much more exciting when the water exploded with a hungry bass slamming a hard bait. And downsizing the bait sure seems to be working for you so maybe it’s time for me to be not so stubborn and realize smaller is better.
Heck McFish uses small Roboworms and even bites the heads off to make them even smaller with pretty darn good success.
Anyway, thanks for sharing and for the top water tips. Tight lines always

Outstanding! I should’ve gone to Murray this morning instead of Hodges. Was BRUTAL for me out there. Narrowly escaped skunk on my way back to the ramp. Looks like you had a lot more fun!

Haha@VinnyBass as I said I think you pull in way more fish than me on a regular basis so feel free to ignore me! In fact I just got my first Damiki blade bait from TW so I can begin to learn some of your deeper water tactics.

@CorsoEnthusiast It's been pretty darned hit and miss for me the last few weeks too trust me. Even Otay seems the have slowed way down from where it had been.

Dannicus wrote: Mon Aug 26, 2024 11:04 am Haha@VinnyBass as I said I think you pull in way more fish than me on a regular basis so feel free to ignore me! In fact I just got my first Damiki blade bait from TW so I can begin to learn some of your deeper water tactics.

@CorsoEnthusiast It's been pretty darned hit and miss for me the last few weeks too trust me. Even Otay seems the have slowed way down from where it had been.

Otay is definitely on a different pattern now. Still fish on bait but not as many busters. Sounds like most of the boats are back in Harveys slaying it right now