On a recent fishing trip down the Umpqua River in Oregon, I tested the Whopper Plopper 60 on River Smallmouth Bass and was super impressed.
The cool thing about smallmouth bass is that even though it was a sunny day, the bass were still willing to attack the little Whopper Plopper.
How to Fish the Whopper Plopper 60 for River Smallmouth Bass
If you notice from the video above, the best way that I found to fish this bait was to cast it out and let it sit for a couple of seconds. Then I would give it a few pops with the rod tip, almost like fishing a popper, and then reel it in fairly fast.
Most of my bass for the day came on the initial pop after a pause, but after that they wanted it moving fast. The bass would chase the bait when moving fast, and some would commit. One thing that I noticed after my guide pointed it out, was that once the bass were chasing the Whopper Plopper, if I paused, they would swim away.
So the keys were, let it sit when it hit the water, twitch a few times, and then reel in fairly fast.
One Caution About the Whopper Plopper 60
One word of caution about the Whopper Plopper 60, and any bait with small treble hooks, is that you need to keep tension on the fish without ripping it out of their mouths.
To overcome this, don’t horse the fish. Keep a tight line, but let the fish run on a loose drag.
The equipment also matters as you need a forgiving rod that can absorb the runs, but also stay loaded when to reduce slack in the line. If the smallmouth bass got slack in the line, they would get leverage to throw that heavy bait with light wire hooks.
I was fishing this little Whopper Plopper 60 on BFS gear.
I was using a Shimano BFS bait caster with 10-pound braid mainline and an 8-pound leader. My leader was actually so long that I didn’t have a lot of braid out on any give cast.
Below is a list of my baits and setup so that you can purchase your own if you want.
Get the Whopper Plopper 60 here!
Get the BFS reel here!
I would also fish with a medium-light casting rod.
Here’s a rod I would suggest!
This setup is also great for finesse fishing in general. I like it for drop shotting, ned rigs, wacky rigs, light Texas rigs, and micro jerkbaits.
Final Thoughts on River Fishing for Smallmouth Bass with the Whopper Plopper 60
While the Whopper Plopper 60 may not be the best choice for river smallmouth bass every time, if the bass are biting, it is a super fun way to catch them. The topwater explosions are a blast and the hits are vicious. It is an easy bait to fish and can make for an amazing day on the water.
One last thought is that it seems like the Whopper Plopper catches a better-than-average size of fish as well. That was proven true as I also caught a ton of fish on a micro jerkbait and the average size of fish did go down a bit.
The little Whopper Plopper 60 is worth trying on your next fishing trip for river smallies or smallmouth bass in general.
To your fishing success,
Jonathan Burke
LiveBassFishing.com