Best top water conditions

[nutsaboutfishing]

Hi,

   Just wanted people's opinion on the best conditions for walk the dog lures for bream and whiting. Sunny or overcast, wind or no wind and does either make any difference.

cheers

Richard

 

Edited January 4, 2021 by nutsaboutfishing

[Berrero]

Not a surface master by any means, but generally rule of thumb is overcast & slight chop is best conditions

only to be trumped by fishing in the dark ofcourse

[Green Hornet]

+1 on overcast and and with some breeze. 

Once you see whitecaps on the flat, its time to switch over to poppers.

In glassy conditions, I prefer an unweighted plastic rigged like this. In use the hooks ride points down, acting like a keel to stop the lure from spinning.

Edited January 4, 2021 by Green Hornet

[Mike Sydney]

Not an expert but I’ve been doing a lot of topwater last few months for bream and whiting with some success. 

overcast, windy, rising tide and not too deep has been getting best results for me. Bit of rain seems to be Ok too. 

generally speaking the fish need to feel brave enough to take a surface lure. Wind/rain/cloud gives them cover from predators like birds and they seem to be a bit more likely to hit in these conditions. 
 

great Topwater article in the library from Niall which I’d recommend reading. A recent doc lures podcast on st George basin bream was largely focused on topwater too and worth a listen.

 

 

[nutsaboutfishing]

3 hours ago, Berrero said:

Not a surface master by any means, but generally rule of thumb is overcast & slight chop is best conditions

only to be trumped by fishing in the dark ofcourse

ta mate

[nutsaboutfishing]

3 hours ago, Green Hornet said:

+1 on overcast and and with some breeze. 

Once you see whitecaps on the flat, its time to switch over to poppers.

In glassy conditions, I prefer an unweighted plastic rigged like this. In use the hooks ride points down, acting like a keel to stop the lure from spinning.

thanks GH

[nutsaboutfishing]

2 hours ago, Mike Sydney said:

Not an expert but I’ve been doing a lot of topwater last few months for bream and whiting with some success. 

overcast, windy, rising tide and not too deep has been getting best results for me. Bit of rain seems to be Ok too. 

generally speaking the fish need to feel brave enough to take a surface lure. Wind/rain/cloud gives them cover from predators like birds and they seem to be a bit more likely to hit in these conditions. 
 

great Topwater article in the library from Niall which I’d recommend reading. A recent doc lures podcast on st George basin bream was largely focused on topwater too and worth a listen.

 

 

Thanks Mike. 

[Berrero]

17 hours ago, Green Hornet said:

+1 on overcast and and with some breeze. 

Once you see whitecaps on the flat, its time to switch over to poppers.

In glassy conditions, I prefer an unweighted plastic rigged like this. In use the hooks ride points down, acting like a keel to stop the lure from spinning.

interesting setup, has me curious..

 

is that just a double hook you usually slide on in place of a treble?

[Green Hornet]

2 hours ago, Berrero said:

interesting setup, has me curious..

 

is that just a double hook you usually slide on in place of a treble?

Its a Vanfook double. Size 8 or 10, depending on whether I'm concentrating on bream or whiting.

10lb leader is fed through the plastic with a large needle, hook tied on and fed back into the body.

With the hook positioned near the tail, you get a heap more hookups than if using a worm hook.

[XD351]

On 1/4/2021 at 2:50 PM, Mike Sydney said:

Not an expert but I’ve been doing a lot of topwater last few months for bream and whiting with some success. 

overcast, windy, rising tide and not too deep has been getting best results for me. Bit of rain seems to be Ok too. 

generally speaking the fish need to feel brave enough to take a surface lure. Wind/rain/cloud gives them cover from predators like birds and they seem to be a bit more likely to hit in these conditions. 
 

great Topwater article in the library from Niall which I’d recommend reading. A recent doc lures podcast on st George basin bream was largely focused on topwater too and worth a listen.

 

 

That was a bit of a gold mine the podcast doc did with with Greg ! Today I listened to another ALF ( doc lures ) podcast about lure fishing for black bream  with Scott James from Tassie and it was another gold mine of info but this guy really thinks outside the square .He is using 9ft plus rods , co polymer leader instead  of fluorocarbon as it os thinner for the same breaking strain and the list just went on and on ! I don’t think there was part of that podcast that I didn’t learn something !

Edited January 6, 2021 by XD351

[Green Hornet]

Thanks to those above who mentioned these podcasts. I'll have to have a listen to them.

Greg and I are old mates and used to live only 5 houses away from each other. He is another fan of long rods on the flats.

For the record, I often cast the plastic in my previous post off a 10'6", 2-4kg DFT Ultragraph. Terrific for distance using lures that need to be slow rolled. For WTD stickbaits, its hard to get the rod action right, but there is a trick to using the reel rather than the rod.