Pacific City, Oregon
Guide and Rapala Pro Staff Josh Putman
Catching Rock Fish on Top Water Lures has always been a bucket list item for me. I knew if was possible, but everything has to line up just right for success. I booked a trip with Josh Putman Guide Service out of Pacific City, Oregon to see if we could make it happen.
We caught fish right away using Luhr Jensen Crippled Herring jigs and a Storm Largo Shads on a VMC swim bait jig. Soon, we spotted some fish breaking the water and Josh pulled out a couple of rods equiped with Rapala Saltwater Skitter Pops. We cast out and made a few pops and almost immediately we were greeted with ferocious Rockfish strikes ... the top water bite was on!
The Rapala Saltwater Skitter Pop and Skitter "V" topwater bite was on!
The Rapala Saltwater Skitter Pop is a beefed up version of the freshwater model, the Saltwater Skitter Pop® is 4 3/4" popper that features a cupped plastic lip that creates a unique loud popping splash. Constructed of balsa wood body and rigged with VMC Perma Steel treble hooks and rugged saltwater rigging. The Skitter Pop is Incredibly effective twitched or with walk-the-dog retrieve when fish are surface feeding. The Skitter Pop puts out a substantial amount of water when twitched and that really attracted the big fish today. Most of our really big fish were caught on this bait.
Rapala Saltwater Skitter Pop Brought in the big fish!
We tied on some Rapala Skitter Vs on the other rods, and they did even better than the skitter pops. The 5 1/4" Saltwater Skitter V has an exclusive design that radically alters the action of the lure. V-hull body design combined with tail weighted balance allows the lure to cut quick with the snap of the rod, ending with a soft, long glide on slack line. The long glide absolutely drove the fish crazy. The fish could see the profile and would come from 20 feet deep to crash into it. The profile of the skitter V is so lifelike in the water that the fish simply could not resist it. The Skitter V comes equiped with VMC Black nickel round bend trebles that are super sharp stood up to the test on these fish.
The Rapala 5 1/4" Saltwater Skitter V with 3 VMC treble hooks enticed ferocious strikes from 20 feet deep!
We easily caught our all of our limits on topwater, an amazing feat for rockfish. We even caught one on a Terminator Popping Frog!!
Froggin with the Terminator Popping Frog for Rockfish
It was an absolutely amazing day on the Oregon coast, make sure you bring some Rapala Skitter Vs and Skitter Pops and even some Terminator Popping Frogs on your next Rockfish outing - I know I will!