A surface lure or topwater lure is a class of

fishing lure A fishing lure is a broad type of artificial angling baits that are replicas designed to mimic real prey animals and attract the attention of predatory fish, using appearances, flashy colors, bright reflections, movements, vibrations and/or lou ...

that is designed to attract the attention of

predatory fish Predatory fish are hypercarnivorous fish that actively prey upon other fish or aquatic animals, with examples including shark, billfish, barracuda, pike/muskellunge, walleye, perch and salmon. Some omnivorous fish, such as the red-bellied piranha ...

through commotion produced at (or immediately below) the water surface, imitating

prey Predation is a biological interaction where one organism, the predator, kills and eats another organism, its prey. It is one of a family of common feeding behaviours that includes parasitism and micropredation (which usually do not kill the ...

s of interest swimming at the surface such as injured

baitfish 300px, Feeder Goldfish are common baitfish. Bait fish (or baitfish) are small-sized fish caught and used by anglers as bait to attract larger predatory fish, particularly game fish. Baitfish species are typically those that are common and b ...

frog A frog is any member of a diverse and largely Carnivore, carnivorous group of short-bodied, tailless amphibians composing the order (biology), order Anura (ανοὐρά, literally ''without tail'' in Ancient Greek). The oldest fossil "proto-f ...

s, wading

mice A mouse ( : mice) is a small rodent. Characteristically, mice are known to have a pointed snout, small rounded ears, a body-length scaly tail, and a high breeding rate. The best known mouse species is the common house mouse (''Mus musculus' ...

lizard Lizards are a widespread group of squamate reptiles, with over 7,000 species, ranging across all continents except Antarctica, as well as most oceanic island chains. The group is paraphyletic since it excludes the snakes and Amphisbaenia alt ...

s and

snake Snakes are elongated, Limbless vertebrate, limbless, carnivore, carnivorous reptiles of the suborder Serpentes . Like all other Squamata, squamates, snakes are ectothermic, amniote vertebrates covered in overlapping Scale (zoology), scales. Ma ...

s, drowning

insect Insects (from Latin ') are pancrustacean hexapod invertebrates of the class Insecta. They are the largest group within the arthropod phylum. Insects have a chitinous exoskeleton, a three-part body ( head, thorax and abdomen), three pairs ...

s (

dragonflies A dragonfly is a flying insect belonging to the infraorder Anisoptera below the order Odonata. About 3,000 extant species of true dragonfly are known. Most are tropical, with fewer species in temperate regions. Loss of wetland habitat threa ...

cicada The cicadas () are a superfamily, the Cicadoidea, of insects in the order Hemiptera (true bugs). They are in the suborder Auchenorrhyncha, along with smaller jumping bugs such as leafhoppers and froghoppers. The superfamily is divided into two ...

moth Moths are a paraphyletic group of insects that includes all members of the order Lepidoptera that are not butterflies, with moths making up the vast majority of the order. There are thought to be approximately 160,000 species of moth, many of w ...

s, etc.) and dabbling

duckling Duck is the common name for numerous species of waterfowl in the family Anatidae. Ducks are generally smaller and shorter-necked than swans and geese, which are members of the same family. Divided among several subfamilies, they are a form ta ...

s. These lures are preferred by some anglers due to the belief that they attract larger-than-average fish (which tend not to be afraid to come out of underwater shelters), and from the added excitement of actually seeing the sudden splashes created by fish aggressively breaching the surface to strike the lure. Topwater lures come in several different styles that produce action through different movements as it is being

reel A reel is an object around which a length of another material (usually long and flexible) is wound for storage (usually hose are wound around a reel). Generally a reel has a cylindrical core (known as a '' spool'') with flanges around the en ...

ed. Most topwater lures have lighter

specific gravity Relative density, or specific gravity, is the ratio of the density (mass of a unit volume) of a substance to the density of a given reference material. Specific gravity for liquids is nearly always measured with respect to water (molecule), wa ...

than water and tend to float on or just below the surface, but others are sinking lures that must be reeled upwards rapidly towards the surface to produce the intended action.

Types

Walking baits

Walking baits or walkers, also called stickbaits, pencils or spooks, tend to simply slide across the water surface in a serpentine fashion that resembles a baitfish swimming close to the surface. These lures are popular for both fresh and saltwater fishing and come in a large range of sizes. These lures are often streamlined and cigar-shaped and may include rattles to draw in fish from farther away, They are usually equipped with two or three treble hooks. Some walkers may include a cupped face to splash more water during the retrieve. Others may have greater tail action to create a greater propagating wake that entice fish to pursue, and these have been unofficially named wakebaits. Walking baits are retrieved using a special cadence called "walking the dog", in which the angler retrieves the lure using a combination of rod twitches and reeling. Though mostly used to imitate baitfish, some walking baits are patterned to resemble frogs, insects, or snakes. Predatory fish such as

largemouth bass The largemouth bass (''Micropterus salmoides'') is a carnivorous freshwater gamefish in the Centrarchidae ( sunfish) family, a species of black bass native to the eastern and central United States, southeastern Canada and northern Mexico, but ...

have been known to come up from deep water to attack these lures. They are often cast into schools of actively feeding fish and retrieved quickly to imitate a fleeing baitfish.

Crawlers

Crawlers or waddlers get their action from a scooped metal dish attached to the front of the lure body, which causes the lure to wriggle and splash in a movement reminiscent of a

front crawl The front crawl or forward crawl, also known as the Australian crawl or American crawl, is a swimming stroke usually regarded as the fastest of the four front primary strokes. As such, the front crawl stroke is almost universally used during a f ...

. Others are designed with a pair of rigid "wings" that unfold when the lures splashes down and paddle water like a

butterfly stroke The butterfly (colloquially shortened to fly) is a List of swimming styles, swimming stroke swum on the chest, with both arms moving symmetrically, accompanied by the butterfly kick (also known as the "dolphin kick"). While other styles like ...

. This style of lure more closely resembles a small

terrestrial animal Terrestrial animals are animals that live predominantly or entirely on land (e.g. cats, dogs, ants, spiders), as compared with aquatic animals, which live predominantly or entirely in the water (e.g. fish, lobsters, octopuses), and amphibians, ...

, such as an insect, small mice or bird, that is struggling to swim at the water's surface. In most cases, these lures a retrieved at a slow and steady pace. These are a popular style of lure for night fishing. In some cases, these lures may be equipped with rattles or props for additional action.

Poppers

Poppers or chuggers get their action from a cupped face carved or molded into the front of the lure body, which funnels water towards its tail and produces

turbulent In fluid dynamics, turbulence or turbulent flow is fluid motion characterized by chaotic changes in pressure and flow velocity. It is in contrast to a laminar flow, which occurs when a fluid flows in parallel layers, with no disruption between t ...

bubbles and wakes behind it to imitate an injured or drowning prey. These are among the oldest types of fishing lure and come in designs suited for both conventional gear and fly fishing gear. Very large models are used for targeting saltwater species. Poppers are often cast to isolated cover, such as a fallen tree or patch of weeds. The traditional retrieve is to wait for the ripples to disappear and then to slowly "pop" the lure by twitching the rod tip, giving pauses in between lasting up to several seconds. They can also be cast to more open areas and worked back more rapidly. Some models can also be "walked" much like a walking bait.

Propeller baits

Propeller baits or ploppers are floating lures that have one or more small

propeller A propeller (colloquially often called a screw if on a ship or an airscrew if on an aircraft) is a device with a rotating hub and radiating blades that are set at a pitch to form a helical spiral which, when rotated, exerts linear thrust upon ...

s made of metal or hard plastic, which spins passively with flow and splashes water to attract fish. Some models have a single propelover on the back, while others may have propellors on the front and back. Depending on the model, prop baits may be retrieved at a steady pace or with a pause and twitch retrieve. They usually are designed to resemble an injured baitfish.

Buzzbaits

Buzzbaits are a type of topwater lure that does not actively float. They consist of a jighead with an attached wire that carries a prope loot blade made of metal or plastic, along with a single hook. While most buzzbaits have two-bladed props, models with three or four blades also exist. Some have more than one prop. Lures with more blades or props can be retrieved more slowly. Buzzbaits attract fish through the commotion caused by the prop rotation, as well as the metallic squeaking sound. Some models also feature an extra clacker blade that the prop strikes against, producing a much louder noise that can sometimes attract fish from further away. These lures are typically cast near cover and are retrieved as soon as they hit the water to prevent them from sinking. Since they must be retrieved at a steady pace, buzzbaits can be used to cover water quickly and efficiently. Buzzbaits are often fitted with a soft plastic trailer imitating a frog or baitfish to increase action and attraction. Other anglers prefer to add a trailer

hook A hook is a tool consisting of a length of material, typically metal, that contains a portion that is curved or indented, such that it can be used to grab onto, connect, or otherwise attach itself onto another object. In a number of uses, one e ...

to increase the chances of a hookup.

Appeal

Sizeable fish can cause a sudden, noisy and spectacular

splash Splash or Splash! or The Splash may refer to: Common meanings * Splash (fluid mechanics), sudden disturbances on the surface of water Entertainment * ''Splash'' (film), a 1984 fantasy film starring Tom Hanks and Daryl Hannah ** ''Splash, Too'' ...

when they strike a surface lure, usually giving the fisherman a fright in the process. Catching fish on surface lures is therefore considered a fairly exciting form of fishing.