Fishing with topwater wobblers in bad weather!

Kazakhstan, the first topwater lessons

In 2010 I really learned about this fishing with pike topwater wobblers for the first time. I had tried in the past, but without insisting too much, I practically only walked them through the water occasionally. Even if I repeat myself, the most important aspect in fishing for predators with artificial baits is the confidence you have in the lure you use. And for that you need at least one confirmation match with many "victims". Only after the trust is in the luggage does the experimentation start: colors, evolutions, types of waters, weather, etc. We return to 2010, Mălin and I in the Volga delta. A young delta, gullies with little water, sandy bottom, without too much vegetation, thousands of pike. After two hours of fishing, we had changed more than half of the lures we had in our kits. He was shooting at anything.

Early April, wobblers, bad weather

The next day of fishing in Kazakhstan, total capping. Each launch resulted in a few Vs that followed your lure. It sounds nice, but at some point it cuts you, especially when most pike are small and many, I caught a few specimens of 2-3 kg with a peak of 5 kg. We exchanged oscillating spoons, gums, wobblers with which we had never caught anything, until Mălin said: "Dude, Arif, let me show you something cool!" and begins to "walk the dog" on the surface of the water. A total spectacle, the pike jumped out of the water like crazy missing the wobbler, without exaggerating more than ten pieces on a recovery. Zara Spook, Mudsucker, I took Malin's kit in turn. The first lesson, if you want to sting them, between 2-3 jerks, take a break for a few seconds.

November, Spain, fishing on the Ebro

Expedition in a cold November, with temperatures that were icy in the morning on the boats. Then it was time to go bass, we were on the Ebro for the second time. We had been in May 2012, we knew the places, but the behavior was different. After two days of beating the plains with Texas mounts, lizards and other lizards, we call Cristian Melinte, the one who first taught us how to fish bass on this location. Cristian tells us that the bass are preparing for winter, they are camped at depths of 7-8 meters and the only ways to catch them are drop shot and surprise… topwater wobblers! "Are you kidding us with topwaters?" Was the first question I asked him. The answer was: “No, you give them a one-two, two-second break, a one, two, three, a long break of up to a minute, to have time to get the bass up from the bottom of the water. And so on. ”

We go to the first store and buy the wobbler that Cristian had recommended to us, Lucky Craft Gun Fish. One, two, stop, one, two, three, long break, blown in the cold, we start to have attacks, rare, but it seems that the technique works, you just have to be patient to wait. I think Petre German was the most insistent and patient of us. In the end he managed to pick up a beautiful specimen on a long break. Photo session, let's get to the point - we will use this technique for pike in the future.

And November, Delta, bad weather

Danube Delta, Holbina Trei Bibani, cold, pike growled and full of leeches, plastics slowly pulled to the bottom, no notable catch. Until Nicolas (my French fishing partner) pulls a large topwater, Imakatsu Trairao, out of the kit. She starts jerking him off without pause, one, two, one, two, she keeps insisting. At one point, in the middle of a recovery, Nicolas pauses to wipe the blood off his fingers (he had cut himself in the gills of a pike). Put the rod under your arm, take a napkin out of your pocket and start cleaning the blood. A minute later, a large pike rises to the wobber inert on the surface of the water and pulls the rod from its armpit. Good, so like bass in Spain… followed a story game only with topwaters.

And in December? Topwater wobbler fishing?

Well, it went in early December, in the evenings, before we got out of the water for a pike game. In warm, pleasant weather, despite the season, we had fished all day with soft plastics and ball gliders, we had not caught too well and, despite past experiences, we had not tried topwaters. Bogdan says: “Let's stay another 10 minutes, I want to try another wobbler from Strike Pro”. "Well, you don't see anything now," I replied. The evolution of the wobbler was not very clear, but it went correctly on the water, judging by the sound of the balls. After two or three launches I make him tighten the rod, but Bogdan, in his characteristic style, says: "Wait a minute". Launch, start walking the dog at night and Baaaang! there is a shriek and Bogdan shouts “Dude, are you crazy? I took it!"

Leave a comment if you also fished with topwater wobblers in bad weather!