Wading and fishing topwater plugs is about as good as fishing gets on the Port O’Connor bays. Photo by Capt. Robert Sloan, www.luckystrikeguide.com.

Big lures catch big fish. It’s rare that an angler hasn’t heard that phrase before. And most of the time that’s a pretty true statement. But not always.
Case in point is Bud Rowland’s state record 15.60-pound speckled trout. He caught that big girl on a crab imitation fly that’s about 2 inches long.

Two of the most popular lures for trout in the five-pound-plus range are a Super Spook and Top Dog. The Spook has been around for decades, and the Dog has proven its worth time and again.

Guide Jim West is well known for catching big trout and has done well fishing big trout tournaments. He’s partial to Top Dogs and She Dogs.

The heaviest trout I’ve ever caught weighed right at 10 pounds. She blew up on a Top Dog with a black body and chartreuse head. Needless to say I’ll never forget that strike. When she hit the lure was sitting dead still.

On most days fishing a topwater plug for trout can be a waste of time, unless you’ve got the right water. By that I mean a semi-green current, lots of mullet and calm water. It’s tough to get a trout to pay much attention to a lure that’s being worked in choppy water. But it’s definitely not impossible.

The thing that makes a Top Dog and a Super Spook so unique is that they are big lures with built in rattles. Plus, on a steady stop and go retrieve, they go from left, right, left, right creating a pretty good disturbance on the surface. Combine that with a built in rattle and you’ve got a plug that’s making enough commotion to get a lot of attention, especially on a slick surface.

A few years back I was out on the water with bass fishing pro Billy Murray. We were fishing the backwater areas out of Venice, La. The wind was howling, the skies were black with storm clouds and things didn’t look too good. Murray suggested we fish the narrow oil canal cuts. It didn’t take long for him to put on a show with a Super Spook.

“The trick is to fish them slow when the action isn’t exactly overwhelming,” said Murray. “I like to cast the lure out, let it sit, then work it back with a very slow retrieve, one that allows the bait to stop for a split second each time it goes from left to right.”

Of course colors of lures make a difference. And scaling down from a big lure to a smaller one can often be a factor. But getting a heart stopping blow up on a big topwater is what makes fishing worth the effort.

To book a Port O’Connor fishing trip with Capt. Robert Sloan check out www.luckystrikeguide.com, call 409-782-6796 or email sloan288@aol.com. We specialize in wading and drift fishing the bays, as well as fishing the jetties and the surf.