If you don’t know how to fish with poppers and get the most from these lures, now’s the perfect time to learn, as the topwater bite is in full swing and will stay good through summer and into fall.

A good topwater smash is one of the greatest experiences in fishing. Dozens of surface lures on the market can make them happen, but few are more popular or user-friendly than a popper. They come in ...

You are not going to hurt the fish. No fish ever died from setting a hook. There is one other aspect of topwater fishing and that is frog fishing. I don’t know why frogs are kept separate, but they ...

Nothing thrills like a topwater bite, and whether you're fishing during the early morning feed or prospecting a midday shade pocket, the right topwater bait often tempts the biggest fish. The question ...

Lake Erie, Dale Hollow Lake, and the St. Lawrence River are just a few locations in the U.S. that grow giant smallmouth. These are iconic places to fish, but to truly be effective on those waters, you ...

It starts without warning. While fishing down the shoreline for bass on a glorious autumn day, the water behind you suddenly erupts in chaos. Huge schools of baitfish, with nowhere to flee, leap from ...

Don’t tell my bass club mentors, my editors or my colleagues on the Board of Directors of the Bass Fishing Hall of Fame, but I’ve been cheating on my first love for five years, and I don’t intend to ...

Topwater lures are the go-to fishing lures of mid- to late summer. These are effective artificial lures that float and move on the top of the water. They can work when other lures fail. A topwater ...

There's nothing more thrilling in the sport of bass fishing than watching a hell-bent largemouth clobber a topwater bait. Whether its a popper twitched subtly across a flat during the calm early ...

From an Alaskan guide coming out of retirement for one more shot, to must-have topwater bass baits, to the best soft plastic baits, these stories captured our Sports Illustrated fishing reader’s ...

If there is one redeeming characteristic about summertime fishing, it is the occurrence of topwater feeding frenzies. For whatever reason, the topwater action once produced at Stillhouse Hollow Lake ...