Whopper Plopper and depth

[CFINE]

I just picked up my first Whopper Plopper a week or so ago. Next week, I am going to one of my favorite fishing lakes (pike, smallies, trout, walleye, perch are all decent in this lake). The muskies are few and far between but there is definitely potential for a monster. Typically, I am fishing pretty deep water (12'-20'). I usually shy away from topwater baits in these areas but thought I'd ask the board's experience catching deep fish on surface lures (specifically, the Whopper Plopper). Thanks in advance

[aka anglinarcher]

I have not used the Whopper Plopper over those depths yet. But I can reference other top water lures over those depths.

I do not find it to be a "high percentage" method, but in clear water, with pressured fish, it can be one of the best ways to catch any predator.

For example, I like that pattern for Large Mouth Bass when there are Blue Gills catching sun over deep water. This can be one of the best kept secrects for walking the dog lures. I have also had good luck by burning bucktails near the surface for Tiger Muskies in those depths, again when we get the sunnies out catching the morning rays.

I have not had the plopper long enough, and quite frankly, the water this year has been so cold, I have not had the oppertunity to catcy sunnies doing anything but looking for deep cover to take a long extended winter's nap.

[CFINE]

Thanks, AnglinArcher. I figure, what the heck, I'll give it a few tosses in the deeper water areas and see if it can produce anything. If not, I can always go back to something that runs deeper or move to some shallower water.

Interesting story in the bass. I have caught a few smallies on surface lures in 20' of water but that has been it for me (likely because I haven't given it too much of a try).

Thanks, again.

[aka anglinarcher]

The key is clear water and a food source they are use to looking up for. I also catch trout in deep water along cliffs. I can see the fish on my underwater camera in the 20 to 25 foot range, but nothing shallow. Then I toss a lure along the cliffs, making it look like an injured Juvenal or a fallen bird or mouse, and they will clear the water on the strike.

With LMB, it seems that sunnies that suspend are the key to getting them to come up from the deep. In Arizona, in Lake Roosevelt, upsteam on the Salt River above Phoenix, we would find LMB in an area where one of us would catch them on a purple rubber worm on the bottom and the other would get them on a clear Zara Spook. The water was 35' deep.

As Larry tells us, you have got to listen to the fish.