the whopper plopper has the best hook up ratios i ever seen i aint messing with it

I don't miss many on the plopper but one trick I use is to wait till I feel the bass pulling before setting the hook. Too many times I'd jerk as soon as it blows up as miss. After waiting for them to pull on it, I then know to set the hook. Might not work for everyone, but does for me.

I have a fantastic hook up ratio with ploppers. I upgrade the Choppo hooks and split rings but R2S factory hooks are awesome. All of this is unnecessary in my opinion.

Great vid brother. So many people saying it’s a waste but they can’t speak for everyone. At least you’re sharing helpful content and that worth more than the negative remarks from those who have nothing helpful to share.

Hey david another tip that I add to my whopper plopper is that I add a small swivel to the front of the bait where you tie your line on. Instead on tying directly to the bait tie to the swivel. Reason for that is because when the prop is spinning in the water and you get plants in between the prop and the belly, the whole bait starts to spin, spinning your line up and tangling it. Helps keep you fishing more with out problems later on. Gotta love the plopper thanks for the tips!!!

Cool idea. I absolutely love the Whopper Plopper. It truly is a big fish bait. For some reason, the small size #90 attracts the bigger bass down here on the Stick Marsh/Farm 13 better than the 110. I keep & fish both a lot. I think it's the higher pitch "gurgle" of the smaller bait. I only use the 110 when the surface ripple or light chop becomes too much for the 90 to work well. Both catch big bass for me. But I do catch more big bass, especially in the 6 to 8 lb range on the 90 every year here. I even caught my 4th 12 lb bass on the 90. ( 2 of my previous 12's came on wild shiners, and my 1st on a plastic worm. Gotta love the Stick Marsh. ) My main issue with these lures, is the fact they spin like a helicopter while flying through the air during a long cast. I can literally count how many times I see it spinning up there in the air, lol. It twists the line like crazy. Of course sometimes they spin when grass gets hung in the prop tail also. So I use a split ring attached directly to the bait, with a quality barrel swivel (not too big ) with NO snap attached to the ring also. I keep the split ring & barrel swivel permanent on each of my Whopper Ploppers, and tie my line directly to the barrel swivel. NO MORE LINE TWIST. The lure can "helicopter" all it wants during the cast, but the barrel swivel really does its job. Doesn't affect the action of the lure either........so long as ya use the right size split rings & barrel swivels. KZfaq "TacticalBassin" out West figured this trick out too.

If you're gonna make a video about modifying a bait you should show it in action.

Thank you David, looking forward to more tips!!

Man these videos are awesome. Thanks for taking the time to do it.

Good tip. Personally, I up size the belly hook and remove the rear completely. I might miss 2 out of 10. In my experience that back hook (the stock hanging back hook) almost always ends up in the fish's eye, gill or head.

Great tip David, It will give me something to do while I wait for the lakes to thaw out.

Thanks for the tip Dudley

Incredible advice from one of the best fishermen of all time. Thanks man!

I’ve got great hook up ration. Missed 2 out of 19 my last trip. But I think I will try it on my Chinese knock off ones that I don’t care about losing. I’ve got over 100 fish on my R2S factory hooks and split rings.

I'm glad I'm not the only one who find the "50%" hook up rate crazy. In two years I don't think I've ever missed even close to half of my plopper bites in a day.

Great info David! The shrink wrap trick got me thinking about the other applications 🤫

I have a few poppers that like to foul the front hook (PopMax, etc.) and will do the wire trick, thanks. I've been doing the heat shrink tubing on big woodchopper prop baits for the Amazon for a few years and it works great. On big split rings and screw eyes the regular shrink tubing (2;1) is tough to slide over but they do make 4:1 so you can use a bigger size that shrinks down more.

What you're calling "O" rings are really split rings.

I don’t really see how this is making the bait weigh less by adding more 🤷‍♂️

Brilliant... 1st of your videos that i have watched... HOOKED

Dave, you're a damned genius.

Thanks for sharing very helpful. Do you back it up with a smaller wopper on the back in.

Great tips David!

I appreciate all that but I'm not going through all that trouble. Hats off to the people that do

Very cool thx. Got me thinking to do this on my blade bait hooks to prevent tangling.

Thanks for the tips man! Gunna give these a shot in a month or so here in Michigan, good luck out there !

I agree with David. I have missed a lot of fish on ploppers and choppos. I always change out the hooks for feathered trebles, but have never use the nose to add a hook or the shrink wrap thing.

Glad to have found your channel. Subscribed. I like the feathered treble on the back. Thanks for sharing with us!

Thats a great tip David. "Stiff rigs" are something we use on our saltwater lures alot. Shrink tube is your friend!!! Love it. THANKS

I have been missing quiet few and was looking rig up the hooks differently. I shall give it a try and see if my percentage improves..thanks

Good Lord !..Can't believe you shared such a fabulous tip..I'll take my chances with the factory design over this convoluted redesign.

Thanks, Dave. I'm entertaining another trip into Ky./Tn. country to hunt bass and this modification can directly apply to a pair of my lures and their two backup buddies. Besides, I love a good hack.

I never miss them anymore using a med/heavy rod

I like the shrink tube and feathered treble in the aft position. I also like swapping the split rings and hooks out. But I’ll pass on the other modification. It probably works it just doesn’t out weigh the benefit /labor ratio. I’ll probably start doing the shrink wrap and feathered hook on the rear though. Thanks.

I remove the back treble, upgrade/upsize the front treble and call it a day. No more foul hooks in they gills or eyes and plenty of hook ups. But really cool idea I might try!

One tip I'll share that works well here on clear Table Rock... I always spray paint the last 1/2" of the propeller tip, both sides, with white paint no matter what color or size plopper I'm using. This adds a nice white color splash target to your lure. Very effective in Clear water. lakes w thread fin or gizzard shad

I love the video you showed us on how to modify the Whopper popper I love the Whopper popper I've caught a lot of baths and lots of moving some bluegill mostly bass but I've also missed a lot of baths I'm going to have to try this technique and see if it really works keep up the good work love the video

I have both the plopper 110 and the big plopper .I am gonna try the feathered hook technique .thanks

Can we see a close-up of the modified lure? I'd like to see a better view after the epoxy is applied.

This is really smart. If I was on a plane and it went down and I was stuck on an abandoned island. It would be great if David Dudley was present so he could figure out how to get back to civilization using a green pumpkin senko and a can of baked beans.

we missed some good fish this year on that plopper will be pimping ours out thank you

That’s interesting, I use them for stripers and miss most of the hits , stripers go for the front of the bait so the front hook might help.

I like to change out the back hook for a feathered treble or just a larger (like a 3) size treble but other that it hooks everything around!

I have the 90 Wopper Plopper. I am not messing with it. Just bought haven't try it yet. Didn't want a bigger top water bait. Also have a Zara Spook jr. Same length. Shawn

I've got some wopperplopers coming soon. Gonna have to give this a try

You mean split rings, "O rings" are rubber an used for sealing something Aka gasket.

Only additional thing I've done to mine was add a spilt ring, swivel, split ring on the nose to tie to. If grass gets in the spinner the whole lure spins and then your line is a mess.

definately gonna try this hack!!

I can't remember ever missing with my Plopper maybe once or twice. Usually they hammer it.

Thanks for the tips David! Hope you win AOY!

That is great idea!!...I have some whopper Plopper. I plan to get few things for whopper plopper.Thanks Dude.I'm gonna try this. Thumb up.

thank god now I can finally start catching fish with this thing!

Excellent video!

Lol I hook 9 out of 10 bites I get on all my plopper! (Stock hardware) What are you doing?!

Good hack! Keep em coming!

Really cool idea

Try using the same hook replacement arrangement, but with 2 tiny rubber bands around the body, to hold the hooks up against it. No cast fouling and, much better hookups.

I agree with many that the hook up ratio with Ploppers is fairly high. Maybe that's because I dont throw the 130 much. What happens when you catch a fish and the rig falls apart? :(

Thanks for taking the time to educate us Dave. I'll give it a try. I've got a nice hook up ratio but did lose one that really mattered in a tournament when I first started throwing the ploppers. . What rod do you use? I switched to a 7'10" heavy crank bait rod (believe it) and they hook and stay pinned effortlessly. I'm telling you it works excellent. Thanks again for your time.

This is the most intense riggin video for a bass lure ever

I have a black whopper plopper and never got a hit on it. I've painted it fire tiger now and will see if that helps. Casts a country mile, but seems to only work best on super flat water.

Oh Yeah, Let's Get Shakey Widdit 😜💯👏👏👏👏 I would love your Shakeyhead fishing Tips👍🎣

I agree with the feather treble, but the front hook seems a little excessive as well as the extra additional tackle to prevent the hook from snagging themselves. These mods seem to make the bait stiff especially in the back where a feather should be more free to increase action.

Thanks for the tips and secrets. Great video

Good stuff man Thanks for sharing

Lures never good out of box. Hacks always a must. Yours are great. Gamakatsu's alone are worth the money. Stiff at the back... great idea. Sure that all of your suggestions make for a better killer bass lure.

So. How do I actually tie it to my line. I've just tied it on and the whole lure spins not the back . Should I put it on a leader and tie to a swivel?

Like others have said, missing for me on the plopper is super rare

Don't think I've missed but a handful of fish with the WP, it's one of the best hookup ratio topwaters I throw.

the el choppo comes stock w berkley fusion hooks, those hooks are legit mane

I have not missed a set on a plopper so far and caught PB small mouth and pike with it!

I also use shrink tube to keep rear treblesfrom swinging, but bait harness rings are a super tough rubber band for rigging live bait without sticking the hook itself in the fish.Buy on Amazon and watch salt water bait rig videos on KZfaq. these rubber bands stretch just enough to slide on the body of the lure andhold the trebles in place against the body, but swing free with a bass attached. Just a little simpler than wire.

Wow! 🤯 I love tinkering with lures but man! This is on a whole other level 👊

I thought I was rebuilding a pcp airgun with all these o-rings LOL

This is wild. You should make your own top water plopping bait with these mods built in.

very nice, I get a lot of misses on all top water baits. I'll be rigging a couple of these over the winter

Dream wall. These are my garage goals.

This is next level.

Was the red heat shrink on purpose or do you not have a preference. #ilikeredhooks

Thanks for the tip

Awesome thanks have a good week and god bless

awesome video from a awesome angler

Smart idea! What it take to put them in the live well. Good luck for 2019 season.

Really cool

Can u use this method for trailer hooks on buzzbaits and spinnervaits?

I fish this yea round and can't wait, can you show me how to modify the Mpac style swim bait with the jig??

Drinking game: Take a drink every time "'O' ring" is said in this video.

i think these baits and bigger ones overall pop out the fish mouth because the baits are usually big and the hooks don't spin. so the angles cause the hook to pull free when you are fighting the fish. i don't do topwater i never got a largemouth like that.. but ya i would prob do split ring swivel then treble.. then the hook can spin freely from the bait. i would prob just do one hook on very bottom and then just add the tail by itself with no hook, though i like your tail idea. i would still prob do that one with a swivel if i did it. but i do like adding the hair.

got a whopper plopper yesterday, went out this morning and caught 7 but 5 got off...im definitely doing this!

The Whopper Plopper is simply a copy of an older musky bait from years ago called a "Mud Puppy". What made the Mud Puppy an easier to work with lure was that it was made of wood and the back fin was metal, which allowed you to get the type of sound and action you wanted. Plus, the lure could take a beating - one in my tackle box was over 20 years old and although it was beaten up and chewed it still caught fish. I wish the company would have made the Whopper Plopper so that it was more easy to adjust and customize.

The heat shrink rear treble also helps to not have the fish get hooked in the gills from the free swinging treble

Badass bro thanks!

I know you're the pro but you're on crack with this one, I don't know that I've ever once out of hundreds of fish missed one on the plopper

Great tips

VERY NICE DAVID THANKS

Just a note: epoxy is much more difficult to work with than modern UV resins (like Loon or Deer Creek) used by fly tyers, which give you all the working time and control you could want but cure with a UV light in a matter of seconds. You can also use Bondic. These products are a little more expensive but much easier and quicker to work with than epoxy.

Thanks for the tips

Love the hacks

I use the 110 a lot and when there on it their in the boat for me probably 90%. (What is your rod/line set up?) When they are slapping at it and just missing it I put it down and throw a pop-r or even a subsurface lure. Seems to work for me but I'm fishing club tournaments so apple's to oranges. I am going to try this though. Thanks subscribed.

Love the hack. Anything else you want to put on a video I'd love to see a Shakey heads hack. Great video content. 😎🤙☮️