I’m always amazed by what an amazing fishery Lake George is - both for largemouth and smallmouth bass. I have boated my personal best largemouth this spring (6.6) along with a number of smallmouth hovering around the 4 lb mark (which on Lake George is a really good one).

Over the last couple of days, the top water bite has taken off. Yesterday, we were like 7 for 25 throwing a whopper plopper. The fish were up in the water column and really active. We caught a couple good ones, but lost some real toads.

Here are my top five surface tips:

1. Whopper Plopper. I love to use a whopper plopper. I love both the 90 and the 130 size. I like to throw it early and late in the day.

2. Prop Baits. I also love to throw prop baits. I use a variety of brands. Many work well. Prop baits work well even in a little chop.

3. Braid vs. Fluoro. I actually like using both options. The key with braid is that you have to just keep reeling when you have a fish blow up on you. If you set the hook with braid, you may pull the hooks right out of the fish’s mouth - your goal is for the fish to set itself. I like fluoro or mono for the little bit of stretch that it gives.

4. Fishing locations. I like to target points and near shore/off shore structure. Specifically, I like to fish where the wind is blowing in.

5. Cover ground. I love to move and cover ground. When I’m fishing topwater, I’m hunting for big fish. I’m looking for a 5 lb smallie.

In my opinion, fishing big top water baits is your best bet for catching bigger smallmouth. Now is the time to get out and fish topwater. Usually they’re looking up until about the first week of July and then that bite seems to die. Let me know how you do!