Field Guide
Ploppers
The Plopper Top Ten — from the Berkley Choppo to the Deps Evoke Zero, plus the BFS-friendly Whopper Plopper 60.
Confidence
Situational
Belews · Summer
Gear
Rod
7'–7'4" M or MH · Mod-Fast casting
Reel
Casting · 150–200-size · 6.3:1–7.1:1
Line
15–20 lb fluorocarbon or heavy mono (open water) · 65 lb moss braid for plopper-frogs · 12 lb copoly for the WP 60 BFS
60-Second Refresher
When to Throw
Good Water
Wind-blown banks, grass flats, points, open shorelines, fall shad schooling, low light, summer early morning. Water in the high-50s and up — fall is prime plopper season, and blowups routinely happen 55–62°F on shad and herring lakes.
Bad Water
Dead calm and gin-clear water with heavy pressure (subtlety wins there). Thick emergent cover that fouls the tail. Tight technical targets that need precision over coverage. Cold water below ~55°F.
The Plopper Top Ten
Ranked across price, size, and sound
The 110-class WP is the benchmark — start there. Step up to the Choppo for value, the Deps or ClapTail when pressured fish need a new tone, the Chopkicker when you want a walk-plus-plop hybrid, the Scramble for a clean mid-size at a friendlier price, and the Sprinker Frog when you need to run rotation over mats and pads.
01 · River2Sea Whopper Plopper
★ 110 best size
Sizes 60/75/90/110/130/190 + Silent 110/130. The original and still the benchmark. 110 is the most consistent — rolls less than smaller sizes at any retrieve speed. 190 (7.5"2¾ oz) is the magnum for fall shad flats and big-fish situations. Silent versions earn their keep on pressured fish.
60 is a dedicated BFS bait — see below
02 · Berkley Choppo
★ 105 best size
Sizes 75/90/105/120. Best of the descendants. Harder tail throws more water with a deeper chop, starts rotating instantly, several dollars cheaper. Tail durability trails the R2S — that's the trade.
Value pick — buy two
03 · Deps Evoke Zero
Premium JDM
Sizes 120/150. Kenta Kimura's premium JDM plopper. Duralumin metal prop with tunable pitch, Ryugi quad hook. Metal tail produces a tone plastic can't — for fisheries where every bass has heard a Plopper.
150 for main-lake work
04 · Rapala ClapTail 110
Two-tone clack
4-3/8"7/8 oz. Jacob Wheeler design (ICAST 2025 Best of Show family). Rotating stainless tail clashes against a fixed back blade for a two-tone clack-plop no other bait makes. Bend the back-blade eyelet to remove the blade and the bait converts to a subtler single-plop — one card, two sound profiles. When the standard plop goes stale, this tone is genuinely new to the fish.
Remove back blade for subtler plop
06 · Teckel Chopkicker 115
Walk + plop hybrid
115 mm · 5/8 oz (19.0 g). Dual-action walker/plopper hybrid — the body walks-the-dog on a twitched cadence, and the boisterous metal prop on a barrel swivel throws water and clacks on the retrieve. Straight-wind it like a plopper, or work the rod tip and it walks with a plop punctuating every turn. The only bait in the top ten that gives you both actions on one bait.
Two cadences, one bait
07 · 6th Sense Scramble
★ 106 best size
verify 7/6/26 · Sizes 80/106/126. Clean mid-size plopper with 6th Sense's finish quality. The 106 covers the same water as a 110 Plopper at a friendlier price; 80 gives a compact option that still throws on casting gear; 126 steps up for magnum work.
Best value alternative
08 · PH Custom Wesley's Ploppin' P
Boutique tone
verify 7/6/26 · handmade · small batch. Boutique pick. Handcrafted body with a metal tail that runs a different tone than any production plastic. Worth the hunt for pressured community fisheries.
Direct from PH if TW is out
09 · Googan Squad Revolver
★ 4.5" best size
verify 7/6/26 · Mini · 4.5". Center-mounted rotating fin — pivot geometry and sound signature all its own. The budget-friendly way to show pressured fish something that doesn't plop like everything else in the boat.
Budget change-up
10 · Teckel Sprinker Frog
Frog version
Hollow-body frog with a rotating soft tail — the plop for mats, pads, and grass where trebles can't go. Weedless single hook delivers a high hookup ratio when a bass eats through the cover.
Runs 65 lb moss braid, not hi-vis
Cadence
Steady is default — vary only with purpose
Cast long — this bait is built for distance and covering water. Start reeling immediately at a medium, steady speed; the tail creates the plop-plop-plop automatically. Keep it constant — no snaps, no twitches. Speed up to trigger followers that won't commit. Slow-roll (barely enough speed to keep the tail churning) after a cold front or when fish are sluggish. Stop-and-go kills the tail for a dead moment, then restarting pops it back to life and often draws the strike right there. If fish blow up and miss, hold retrieve speed steady rather than speeding up — let the bait keep working past the strike zone. Once you locate fish on a flat or stretch of bank, slow down and work that zone more thoroughly before moving on.
Color & Size Selection
Bone covers 90% — pick the profile before you pick the bait
Bone is the go-to default. Change color only when the water tells you to; change size only when forage or wind tells you to.
Color
Bone
The go-to — covers roughly 90% of situations.
Color
Chrome / Shad
Clear water and schooling fish keyed on baitfish flash.
Color
Frog / Green
Grass-heavy fisheries where a natural profile blends in.
Size
75
Clear water, pressured fish, or smaller baitfish forage.
Size
110 (default)
The workhorse — start here unless conditions dictate otherwise. Most consistent walker across retrieve speeds.
Size
190
Big water, fall feeding periods, or when specifically targeting larger fish.
BFS Callout — Whopper Plopper 60
The BFS Plopper
At 2-3/8" and 1/4 oz, the WP 60 sits at the upper end of BFS but casts beautifully on a BFS baitcaster — and a plopper is one of the best BFS topwaters there is, because it's a straight-retrieve bait. No working the rod tip against light gear. Chuck it, wind it, hang on. Run it on 12 lb copolymer, not fluorocarbon: fluoro sinks, drags the nose down, mutes the plop, and encourages the roll the small sizes are already prone to. Copoly floats, so the tail stays up and the action stays honest.
Where to Throw Each
Grass Flats
Long casts across the flat, steady retrieve to cover maximum water.
Points
Work parallel to the point, varying retrieve depth by adjusting speed.
Open Shorelines
Cast tight to the bank and retrieve straight out.
Windy Banks
Prioritize these first — wind carries the sound and positions baitfish tight to the bank.
Fall Shad Flats
Cover large areas fast, upsize to the 190 if shad are large.
Schooling Fish
Cast beyond the school and retrieve through the middle of the commotion.
Mats & Pads
Teckel Sprinker Frog on 65 lb moss braid — where trebles can't go.
Cheat Sheet
Searching a big flat
Long casts, steady medium retrieve, cover water fast.
Windy bank
Prioritize this cover first — sound carries farther.
Fish following, not eating
Stop-and-go retrieve to trigger reaction.
Post-cold-front, sluggish fish
Slow roll, barely churning the tail.
Clear or pressured water
Downsize to Whopper Plopper 75 — a true small-plopper downsize is the safe call.
Want a different action same cast
Chopkicker 115 — walker/plopper hybrid, work the rod tip or straight-wind it.
Fall shad chase
Upsize to WP 130 or 190, cover flats fast.
Grass-heavy fishery
Switch to frog/green color.
Clear water schoolers
Switch to chrome/shad color.
Fish blow up and miss
Keep retrieve steady — don't speed up or stop.
Uncertain what to throw first
Whopper Plopper 110 in bone, steady retrieve.
BFS baitcaster
Whopper Plopper 60 on 12 lb copoly — not fluoro.
Shop the recommended gear, lures, and trailers
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