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[Mudfish]

Fished St Aug this morning. Launched around 7:00 AM. Saw Melita & Charlie (Thanks for shouting out to me. It was good to see you).

The lady fish were there in HUGE numbers. I really don’t know how many I caught, but it was many... too many. Practically every cast was a hit, a jump, or a hook-up. Every now and then I would catch a trout. I was going through my Gulps in a hurry, so I started throwing a Rapala X-Rap. The lady fish were trashing my brand new X-Rap, so I switched to a large indestructible Badonk-A-Donk. The trout were all decent size with quite a few in the 18” to 21.5” range. I caught the larger trout on the Badonka-A-Donk. The lady fish would attack it, but only a few would get hooked. After a while, I had limited out on some really nice trout, so I started working the bottom for some reds. By that time the sun was high so I started working the middle, away from the grass, and deeper. I went back to the X-Rap and started cranking it hard to get it deeper. I caught a few short reds, so I switched back to Gulps and caught some more small reds, then I finally got a 23.5” red. I switched to a Yozuri Banana Boat (gold) lure that I found at Pellicer a few weeks ago and caught a few more small trout and some more lady fish. After that I called it a day. Fresh trout on the grill tonight.

[YakGroupie]

Nice fish!!! You were on fire!

[shallow pockets]

Very nice fish

[Fishing_Pirate]

Great report! You're tearing them up down there! I'd like to go with you again some time.

[Mudfish]

Here's what all those fish did to my brand new X-Rap in just one short day of use. Trashed! Rapala needs to work on their finish if they're going to charge so much for their lures.
Check out the Bomber Badonk-A-Donk in the last pic... not a scratch on it. Much more durable finish than the X-Rap.
Just sayin'.

[RedFishJax]

Hey mudfish...what do you use for your topwaters as far as rod/reel/line/leader?

[Mudfish]

For inshore kayak fishing, I carry three "identical" combos:
Reels: Shimano Saros 3000F
Line: Power Pro (20# hi-vis yellow)
Leader: Mono (20# clear; 24"; Albright knot)
Rods: Shimano Teramar (TMS-X70M)

I rig my three rods with different lures:
Rod 1) Top water (Badonk-A-Donk, Spook Jr, Top Dog, Popper lures)
Rod 2) Sub-surface (X-Rap, Mirrodine)
Rod 3) Bottom (lead head jig with Gulp Swimming Mullet, DOA or Saltwater Assassin paddle tails)

[RedFishJax]

Thanks...I've always heard not to use braid on for top water. That's all I had the other day, so I used it and didn't notice too much of a difference.
Would you recommend using mono line for top water. I would consider myself a beginner with top water, as I'm still trying to get my first top water fish.

[Mudfish]

Personally, I think people get a little too "scientific" about the whole thing. All my reels are spooled with braid. I think it works great for top water. I catch reds and trout with top water lures all the time, almost every weekend. Braid is very light weight, I don't think it has any negative effect on the performance of a top water lure. If you think about it, all you do is cast the lure and then start working it back. There's constant tension on the line as your work it back. How could the braid sink and affect the action of the lure? The mono leader is nearly invisible, and also stretches a little which helps keep you from pulling the hooks.

When using top water lures, I set my drag "extremely" light. Almost light enough to pull line when I'm working the lure back. You want the fish to be able to run with it a little, then tighten it up slightly. If you're getting "short strikes", loosen your drag some more so there's little resistance. If your hooks are sharp, it will take very little pressure to penetrate the fish, it will hook itself as it swims away from you.

Basically, I think it is as simple as: The fish hears the lure, sees the lure, and then bites the lure. The tough part is making it look like it's a real swimming bait, and then land the fish without pulling the hooks.

Good luck!