[Cal]

I've used topwaters at wab among other places. I have the best luck with jitterbugs as they can be fished with a slow steady retrieve and fish seem to have an easyer time hitting them. I find the most efective "Topwaters" are spinners and spinner baits retreved quickly so that the blades bulge or chop up the water surface. Regular floating plugs make great topwaters as well, they can be fished like poppers, just let them float on the top and give them a sharp jerk and they will throw a bunch of water and make some noise. You can "tail" them by retrieving them very slowly with the tail sticking out of the water or pull them under and let them float back to the surface. Balsa wood pulgs work better than plastic ones for both these tecniques. Although topwater fishing is fun it can get frustraiting watching a large pike miss your lure multiple times in one retrieve and then vanish. With spinners or floating plugs if a fish misses it I can imediatly change my retrieve so that the lure is behaving more conventionaly and the fish have an easyer time striking it.