When I went fishing as a kid in the 90's, if I needed advice, I would read a magazine article and thats it. It is so amazing that I can spend an hour watching these clips and learn more in a day than I ever could in a year using In-Fisherman and other magazines. Respect to you guys who learned it without those resources..I cant imagine!
I used to read Florida Sportsman magazine cover to cover the day it came to my house when I was a teenager in the 80s and 90s. That's where l learned to catch all the fish all around me.
Randy, please elaborate on the rear hook size for each plopper size. What size rear hook do you use for the Size 90, 100, and 130??? Also, which size plopper is your favorite? Or, what factors do you consider when selecting the size plopper you are using? Thanks for sharing your knowledge with all of your fans!
I painted the front hooks on my whopper ploppers with red fingernail polish and I have caught 3 bass and ALL were hooked with the red hook only!!!! Thanks Randy
Another item, for this bait, is to place a quality swivel on the front, as a single piece of debris, wedged in the joint, will cause the front of the body to spin, ruining your line, in a single cast.
Hi, Randy! I bought a bunch of red treble hooks. Couldn't find any other color of hooks that day. Been replacing treble hooks lately. On my Father's old cranks and bad hooks that aren't any good on my lures. I like red treble. I also believe it helps fish key in on the head of the lure. Just went today and used a Whopper Plopper in "Loon" color 90 size with red treble's. I caught at least 15 good size bass on that lure with red treble's . I love the excitement of topwater bait's. Never missed one hookup. A couple of days before a Full moon in early June. The bite is back! Shawn.
We (wife and myself), have fished the WP for many years and it's a fish catching lure! Changed out the hooks years ago and found that changing the hook size really doesn't matter. Wife fishes it 75% of the time (off the bow, first to hit the prime, dock areas) and catches most of our fish with the WP. More than 50% of the time they get hooked on the front hook in the mouth and the back hook in the after/belly.
Great info as always Randy! Thanks so much for sharing. I only fish 1-2 a week for maybe 4-5 hours each so I'd never be able to learn by trial and error as much as you have taught me. A wealth of knowledge my friend and we appreciate everything you do for us. Would love to go back in time and devote about 1/4 of my girl chasing hours to bass fishing! Lol
That's awesome. My PB smallmouth was caught on a Whopper Plopper with stock hooks. I've had quite a few that have it it but haven't gotten hooked up so I'm looking forward to trying your tips. Thanks a bunch.
I have put red gamakatsu hooks on the front of some of my crankbaits with great luck! I was introduced to gamakatsu hooks a few years ago and that's all I use anymore and thanks for sharing this I have a couple of poppers and I will have to try this. Thank you Randy for these tips, your channel is amazing and I look forward to watching it!!
No amount of tips will ever make me outfish you so keep em coming. Theyre the only thing between my 8 yr old son making it thru a day of fishing or not. Good stuff. Thank you much!
Do you put that red feathered treble hook on the front? I have been intrigued by the VMC willowblade treble hooks. I see other UA-camrs put those as front trebles on squarebills.
Randy I do something similar with a Devils horse. I put a bigger hook on the back and bigger eye screws. A big fish will rip them out. Nice tip.... Thanks!
Ngl I only think I’ve missed like 10 fish all together in the 4 or so years I’ve been using the plopper, I honestly think they have stellar hikes right out of the box!
I love these tips and all my whopper Plopper will be set up like this now, and the video you did on boiling the frogs to make them softer was a great one and has really helped me with my hook ups!
Me. Randy thanks for the awesome an amazing content an tips to help better us as fisherman. Also, I just watched your 1986/1987 Bassmaster invite at West Point Lake. It’s just amazing how fishing have changed some much in 30 plus years. The heart an passion that you at 24 you still have this day. I just wanna say thank you an stay safe on the water an blessed.
Wauw ! What a scoop. I went out with a WP, missed a bunch of fish….then came home & modified it all naturally. If you are a good fisherman….you would do it intuitively 🤷♂️🤷♂️
I have wp's and choppos. I use the 90 series in both. Wp 90 has #4 hooks ND the choppo has #5's. I had more catches on the wp vs the choppo. Put a bigger hook on the back of the choppo, fixed that problem. I fish a lot of bandit 200 series crankbaits, started changing out the #6's on the back and putting #4's, changed the hookup ratio tremendously. I am gonna try the red hook on the front of all three and see what happens. Thanks for the tips!!!
I changed all my whooper plopper hooks to owner inline single hooks. I get way better hookups,the lure runs better and you collect less grass and sea weed crap on your lure.
Whopper plopper is a replica of a very very very old Musky fishing lewer the tallywacker up north we've scaled these down a bit for early-season musky many many years ago I can attest that the modifications you're doing on them have definitely helped hook more fish here's a modification you might want to try that you probably don't know about slide a piece of heat shrink tube over the shank of a hook and then slide it over the sea ring when you're assembling it pull the hook straightening heated up this really helps 100% so the hook now is coming straight out of the back end and not dangling down just like done on the Bucher top Raider
My favourite topwater is the Jackall riserbait that thing is amazing the action is one of the best I’ve ever seen in a lure. So many people are starting to wake up to it. So glad I see Jacob Wheelers video on it and learned his way he fished it. Looks so real Riserbait is future of topwater.
Whopper Plopper is all i have tied on and i use it EVERY morning right after work.. i work night shifts and right across the street is a beautiful lake and right as im getting out in the A.M the lake water is glass and the fog is just coming off the water suns not just up yet.. and I just grab my rob and walk across with and EVERY morning i catch a good 2 foot pike and just recently my PB largemouth!! man i love this lake.. only thing that can de-stress me after working all those hours overnight lol thanks for the tip i will 100% be trying this and ill let you know how it works out.. because your right just this morning alone i had 2 massive strikes but the hooks never set.. and those things have some dang sharp edges too!!.. well..... only one way to find out!
@@jakekeller1984 I don’t… literally never fished before and I just bought a Shimano Nasci spinning setup with a regular plopper and the 75mm plopper. I’m bank fishing so I’m just winging it and I’ll be happy if I catch a goldfish
I took a eagle claw red catfish hook bent thee offset straight and put it on a black zoom frog .was fishing g for snakehead and caught a nice large mouth on the second cast.
I will try the hook mods for sure. One thing that I do to my ploppers is put a small swivel on the front. It has drastically reduced my line twist. Thanks for the tips and have a great day.
I get big bass throwing off ploppers after I hook them up and I start the fight to drag them in. It stands to reason, these are pretty heavy treble hook plugs. The bass can use that extra momentum from the plopper's weight to shake the treble hook off. Also, as we all know, topwater slashing strikes don't always create the best hookups. Do you have any recommendations concerning how to address treble hook shakeoffs given the weight of ploppers???
Just want ot know is when you put the front hook on does it make a difference if you rotate the hook 180 degrees, as in one hook point or two hook points facing forward? Thank you Randy
I've been losing a few fish at the boat on my Whopper Plopper recently, and am going to try this. I've been fishing mostly the WP90. Are the hook size recommendations the same on the 90? I think the 90 runs a bit nose-high as is.
This mod using the correct sized gamakatsu round bend hook may provide for a good look but while sacrificing the cast ability, swim action and plop start up when retrieving.
this is an ingenious tip and come springtime my first trip will be to the store for red treble hooks. just so clever. especially with pretty much any bream-colored lure, that can definitely accentuate the little orange patch on the throat that most have, and if the lure doesn't, the hook will add one!
Thanks for the mod tips!!!👊🏻 Looks like you use the 110 which comes with #2 and you switch them out with 1/0 & 2/0 now what would you switch to on the 75 & 90 they both come with #4. Stay Safe & God Bless!!!!!
@@robertholler7262 I agree. I was rubbing my eyes and still could not reconcile the sizes Randy was giving with my own experience. Glad it was not too much Bourbon.
Really enjoy the channel and great information. Unfortunately have not had much luck fishing the Whopper Plopper when it comes to bass fishing, however I have had great success using my whopper plopper fishing for Speckled Trout and Redfish using the up-size feathered treble on the back and I will be adding the red treble on my next fishing trip. Keep up all the great videos and can't wait to learn more in the near future. #randyblaukat #intuitiveangling
@Dan Hancuff Dan, thank you. I appreciate the input. It does make sense that any color red might help. Could probably Paint my Hooks red instead of buying red ones., Guy
Just watched this video today and had a question. You said you use a 1/0 treble on the back and a 2/0 red treble on the front. Did you mean a #2 on the front? It looks a lot smaller than the 1/0 on the back.
Been looking for a whooper plopper, had one in my hand and thought " what fish is gonna bite this", BIG mistake, I haven't found one at my sportsman's warehouse OR my Walmart lol, on the hunt
When I went fishing as a kid in the 90's, if I needed advice, I would read a magazine article and thats it. It is so amazing that I can spend an hour watching these clips and learn more in a day than I ever could in a year using In-Fisherman and other magazines. Respect to you guys who learned it without those resources..I cant imagine!
I used to read Florida Sportsman magazine cover to cover the day it came to my house when I was a teenager in the 80s and 90s. That's where l learned to catch all the fish all around me.
Randy, please elaborate on the rear hook size for each plopper size. What size rear hook do you use for the Size 90, 100, and 130??? Also, which size plopper is your favorite? Or, what factors do you consider when selecting the size plopper you are using? Thanks for sharing your knowledge with all of your fans!
I believe the one he's working on is a 130
I painted the front hooks on my whopper ploppers with red fingernail polish and I have caught 3 bass and ALL were hooked with the red hook only!!!! Thanks Randy
Another item, for this bait, is to place a quality swivel on the front, as a single piece of debris, wedged in the joint, will cause the front of the body to spin, ruining your line, in a single cast.
This is my biggest issues with the whopper plopper, one tiny little piece of grass/weed and it’s all caught up and spinning.
Hi, Randy! I bought a bunch of red treble hooks. Couldn't find any other color of hooks that day. Been replacing treble hooks lately. On my Father's old cranks and bad hooks that aren't any good on my lures. I like red treble. I also believe it helps fish key in on the head of the lure. Just went today and used a Whopper Plopper in "Loon" color 90 size with red treble's. I caught at least 15 good size bass on that lure with red treble's . I love the excitement of topwater bait's. Never missed one hookup. A couple of days before a Full moon in early June. The bite is back! Shawn.
We (wife and myself), have fished the WP for many years and it's a fish catching lure! Changed out the hooks years ago and found that changing the hook size really doesn't matter. Wife fishes it 75% of the time (off the bow, first to hit the prime, dock areas) and catches most of our fish with the WP. More than 50% of the time they get hooked on the front hook in the mouth and the back hook in the after/belly.
Randy, you are a walking encyclopedia man. Love all the useful knowledge and information you are sharing with us!!! Thanks so much.
Great info as always Randy! Thanks so much for sharing. I only fish 1-2 a week for maybe 4-5 hours each so I'd never be able to learn by trial and error as much as you have taught me. A wealth of knowledge my friend and we appreciate everything you do for us. Would love to go back in time and devote about 1/4 of my girl chasing hours to bass fishing! Lol
That's awesome. My PB smallmouth was caught on a Whopper Plopper with stock hooks. I've had quite a few that have it it but haven't gotten hooked up so I'm looking forward to trying your tips. Thanks a bunch.
Thanks Randy.. Great information.. Thank for finally sharing... The Frye Guy..
I have put red gamakatsu hooks on the front of some of my crankbaits with great luck! I was introduced to gamakatsu hooks a few years ago and that's all I use anymore and thanks for sharing this I have a couple of poppers and I will have to try this. Thank you Randy for these tips, your channel is amazing and I look forward to watching it!!
Wow! This was a great tip! Can't believe I've never tried it on my trusty Jitterbug!
Great modification Randy. Thanks. 👍👍
No amount of tips will ever make me outfish you so keep em coming. Theyre the only thing between my 8 yr old son making it thru a day of fishing or not. Good stuff. Thank you much!
I use a red trebble with a feather increasing the focal point even more.
Do you put that red feathered treble hook on the front? I have been intrigued by the VMC willowblade treble hooks. I see other UA-camrs put those as front trebles on squarebills.
@@midwestfischerman Yes I think you have a better chance of getting both trebles in them than you would have on the rear treble
@@edwardhowe5824 On which baits do you put a feathered treble hook in the front? All of your surface lures, or just ploppers? Any others?
@@midwestfischerman Many top waters only
Randy I do something similar with a Devils horse. I put a bigger hook on the back and bigger eye screws. A big fish will rip them out. Nice tip.... Thanks!
Ngl I only think I’ve missed like 10 fish all together in the 4 or so years I’ve been using the plopper, I honestly think they have stellar hikes right out of the box!
I love these tips and all my whopper Plopper will be set up like this now, and the video you did on boiling the frogs to make them softer was a great one and has really helped me with my hook ups!
Me. Randy thanks for the awesome an amazing content an tips to help better us as fisherman. Also, I just watched your 1986/1987 Bassmaster invite at West Point Lake. It’s just amazing how fishing have changed some much in 30 plus years. The heart an passion that you at 24 you still have this day. I just wanna say thank you an stay safe on the water an blessed.
Thanks Randy, I might actually catch a bass on a WP now!
Stunning video again as usual!!
Great tips Randy. Thanks from Western Kentucky.
Ernie sanders, your name sounds so familiar. You ever live in Madisonville?
Have family in Madisonville but live in Robards.
@@erniesanders3724 I'm familiar with Robards. There was a guy who made fluttermaster jig chunks. I think he lived in Robards or Sebree.
Thanks again for what you do Randy. I appreciate you
Try tennis river at the shoals and see if you can get a bite , smallmouth is fantastic fishing if you think your hot stuff
Wauw ! What a scoop.
I went out with a WP, missed a bunch of fish….then came home & modified it all naturally. If you are a good fisherman….you would do it intuitively 🤷♂️🤷♂️
I have wp's and choppos. I use the 90 series in both. Wp 90 has #4 hooks ND the choppo has #5's. I had more catches on the wp vs the choppo. Put a bigger hook on the back of the choppo, fixed that problem. I fish a lot of bandit 200 series crankbaits, started changing out the #6's on the back and putting #4's, changed the hookup ratio tremendously. I am gonna try the red hook on the front of all three and see what happens. Thanks for the tips!!!
They make split ring pliers Randy. LOL.
I changed all my whooper plopper hooks to owner inline single hooks. I get way better hookups,the lure runs better and you collect less grass and sea weed crap on your lure.
What size?
You're the best. Thanks Randy!
Whopper plopper is a replica of a very very very old Musky fishing lewer the tallywacker up north we've scaled these down a bit for early-season musky many many years ago I can attest that the modifications you're doing on them have definitely helped hook more fish here's a modification you might want to try that you probably don't know about slide a piece of heat shrink tube over the shank of a hook and then slide it over the sea ring when you're assembling it pull the hook straightening heated up this really helps 100% so the hook now is coming straight out of the back end and not dangling down just like done on the Bucher top Raider
My favourite topwater is the Jackall riserbait that thing is amazing the action is one of the best I’ve ever seen in a lure. So many people are starting to wake up to it. So glad I see Jacob Wheelers video on it and learned his way he fished it. Looks so real Riserbait is future of topwater.
Loving the hat!!!come on 75k!!!!
Hey. These tips seem to be solid. Will try them soon as I do like the whopper plopper
Man I got to tell you the hooks I got on my stock ploppers are stupid sharp honestly don't know how you would miss one
I love your videos! I live in Kansas City. Huge popper fan. Going to try your tips this Sunday.
Whopper Plopper is all i have tied on and i use it EVERY morning right after work.. i work night shifts and right across the street is a beautiful lake and right as im getting out in the A.M the lake water is glass and the fog is just coming off the water suns not just up yet.. and I just grab my rob and walk across with and EVERY morning i catch a good 2 foot pike and just recently my PB largemouth!! man i love this lake.. only thing that can de-stress me after working all those hours overnight lol thanks for the tip i will 100% be trying this and ill let you know how it works out.. because your right just this morning alone i had 2 massive strikes but the hooks never set.. and those things have some dang sharp edges too!!.. well..... only one way to find out!
Lucky!! I’m jealous.
I’d love to hear more about the red hooks
Whopper Plopper juice. Love it! Thanks!
Red hooks on my rattle traps and jerk baits have increased my catches great tips Sir Randell
Randy did you say a larger 1/0 hook at the back and smaller 2/0 hook at front ? Did i miss anything here ?
I was just about to ask the same question, but figured I'd check the comments first lol
I knew what he meant. There is a lot of top water baits. You add weight to the back. To get the nose up. Nothing really new
@@jakekeller1984 I don’t… literally never fished before and I just bought a Shimano Nasci spinning setup with a regular plopper and the 75mm plopper. I’m bank fishing so I’m just winging it and I’ll be happy if I catch a goldfish
@@greg6162 Bank fishing can be just as good as on a boat. As long as your having fun thats all thar matters
So 2/0 in the back and 1/0 in the front? Just to verify?
A link to the hooks sure would be nice to have
Ya... it sure wold
Thank you Randy.
I live in East Texas ( lufkin, Texas) can’t find the hooks you used on reworking the whooper plodder
Great video Randy
It would be helpful if you noted the WP size and corresponding hooks for the different sizes.
W/p 130 and the hook size in back is 1 and hook in frot is 2
@@zyfx2402 that’s a 110 he’s holding not a 130
I took a eagle claw red catfish hook bent thee offset straight and put it on a black zoom frog .was fishing g for snakehead and caught a nice large mouth on the second cast.
I will try the hook mods for sure. One thing that I do to my ploppers is put a small swivel on the front. It has drastically reduced my line twist. Thanks for the tips and have a great day.
I have never had an issue with losing bass on the whopper Plopper. I do change out the hooks also.
Boy, I have.
Good tip , good tool in my tackel box .
awesome tip randy thank you! But this mod will work with all the colors, or just on applicable ploppers
Great information what size plopper is that thanks
Great tip Randy thank you
Gracias, haré ese cambio de anzuelos para tener una mejor pesca, pues con los anzuelos que se me han ido varias lobinas.
Thanks Randy.
Mr. Randy I don't know if I missed it but was wondering if you answered
Midwest Fisherman, important question ?
What size Plopper are you doing that to and do you use different size hooks with different size plopper?
I use the 130 all the time
A slight pause at strike, and rod tip up a bit will achieve positive outcome also.
Thanks Randy great idea and I'll be trying this out later today.
Will the larger hook work with the berkley choppo?
Thanks! I love this bait but I do miss a lot of fish
I get big bass throwing off ploppers after I hook them up and I start the fight to drag them in. It stands to reason, these are pretty heavy treble hook plugs. The bass can use that extra momentum from the plopper's weight to shake the treble hook off. Also, as we all know, topwater slashing strikes don't always create the best hookups. Do you have any recommendations concerning how to address treble hook shakeoffs given the weight of ploppers???
Just want ot know is when you put the front hook on does it make a difference if you rotate the hook 180 degrees, as in one hook point or two hook points facing forward? Thank you Randy
Why is Randy always spilling the beans??? 😂😂😂
Spillin knowledge! Will definitely try it.
HEY THANKS MAN! Havnt had any luck on a whopper popper here in Ohio but some of my buddies do, hopefully this helps
Thanks Randy
Great stuff man! I change out all my favorite lures with Eagle Claw & Gamakatsu "blood hooks."
Keep on ploppin my friend!
Ur the best randy.
What size hooks would you put on the 75 or 90 plopper
You have so many secrets you should be winning millions fishing tournaments!
Thanks alot for a great tip again 👍
Is that on the 130 size or the 110? Do you use the same hooks on both?
I've been losing a few fish at the boat on my Whopper Plopper recently, and am going to try this. I've been fishing mostly the WP90. Are the hook size recommendations the same on the 90? I think the 90 runs a bit nose-high as is.
This mod using the correct sized gamakatsu round bend hook may provide for a good look but while sacrificing the cast ability, swim action and plop start up when retrieving.
this is an ingenious tip and come springtime my first trip will be to the store for red treble hooks. just so clever. especially with pretty much any bream-colored lure, that can definitely accentuate the little orange patch on the throat that most have, and if the lure doesn't, the hook will add one!
Are you using a metal leader when throwing it? I’m seeing it catches about 90% pike 5% bass and 5% docks lol
what size whopper plopper was that and what modifications do you recommend for the 90 and 110 sizes
looked like a 110 to me. maybe downsize one for the 90?
I would like the answer also
I use the 110 in calm clear water and the 130 in chop or slight stained water here on Table Rock.
That's a 130
Thanks for the mod tips!!!👊🏻 Looks like you use the 110 which comes with #2 and you switch them out with 1/0 & 2/0 now what would you switch to on the 75 & 90 they both come with #4. Stay Safe & God Bless!!!!!
I think Randy might have misspoken. That front hook looks much smaller than the 1/0 in the back. I’m guessing it is a #2.
@@robertholler7262 I agree. I was rubbing my eyes and still could not reconcile the sizes Randy was giving with my own experience. Glad it was not too much Bourbon.
Good question I am also wondering what hooks to use to modify the 90 and 75
Any preference on reel gear ratio for throwing the Whopperplopper/Choppo?
Great video thank you!
what size whopper plopper is that? I am using river2sea WP 90 What hook size would i need for the 90? thank you
Great tip. But how do you stop them from twisting the line?
Add a swivel
Really enjoy the channel and great information. Unfortunately have not had much luck fishing the Whopper Plopper when it comes to bass fishing, however I have had great success using my whopper plopper fishing for Speckled Trout and Redfish using the up-size feathered treble on the back and I will be adding the red treble on my next fishing trip. Keep up all the great videos and can't wait to learn more in the near future. #randyblaukat #intuitiveangling
Randy, why is the 2/0 red hook you use on the front so much smaller then the 1/0 hook you use on the back?
Someone replied earlier that they think Randy misspoke. The think the front is probably a #2 not a 2/0.
Split ring pliers ?
Why the round Bend hooks?
Would the use or red fingernail polish and a touch of chartreuse pen help?
@Dan Hancuff Dan, thank you. I appreciate the input. It does make sense that any color red might help. Could probably Paint my Hooks red instead of buying red ones., Guy
Just watched this video today and had a question. You said you use a 1/0 treble on the back and a 2/0 red treble on the front. Did you mean a #2 on the front? It looks a lot smaller than the 1/0 on the back.
Gonna snag the tail of the plopper more often this way.. Plopper hooks catch everything, you dont need to modify it.
Been looking for a whooper plopper, had one in my hand and thought " what fish is gonna bite this", BIG mistake, I haven't found one at my sportsman's warehouse OR my Walmart lol, on the hunt
What size w/p do you prefer to use?
Thanks Randy. Are the same hook mods used for the 90?
No bigger
Don't make sense the 90 is a much smaller lure
Do you use the same size hooks for the size 90 whopper plopper? Thanks.
Thumbnail in the thumbnail. I see what you did there. 🤣😂
Thanks for sharing
What size whopper plopper is that? 75, 90, 110. ?
Could you please clarify which size hook you installed up front? Thanks!
Aw some tips. Makes total sense.
Good video. How about the 90 whopper. What size will you use
I don’t use that size
Why not use a rear hook with feathers or mylar dressing like the ones on some X Raps? More flash in the back might be good.
Does anyone use a swivel on the front of this to help with line twist?