Surface lures are a blast to catch fish!

[SenkoSam]

When we think of surface lures we think poppers, Zara Spook, Tiny Torpedoes, buzz baits, the Jitterbug and other splashy/noisy surface lures. But what about all the rest that produce more subtle movements and that are silent-but-deadly?

The Floating Rapala and other balsa crankbaits comes to mind. Using rod tip twitches, its slight zig-zag motion that creates surface ripples, gets pounded by panfish, pickerel and bass alike!

And then there are rubber and soft plastic surface lures that have different actions that can be worked on or near the surface in shallow water 5' or less. Surface frogs with legs or skirts have done well. I even made a surface lure using a tablespoon as a mold (see photo):
   I fill it with some hot plastic heated in the microwave and add a silicone skirt in the back before the plastic cools. The lure is weedless as shown and produces a nice waddle on the surface.

Another surface or slightly subsurface lure is G.Y. Kutail worm rigged on a 1/32 oz. ball head jig with 1/0 hook. I use the rod tip to twitch it back-&-forth producing a darting whip action with pauses. All species strike them. The Softie worm and Zoom Fluke rigged the same way does as well.

Silent & subtle gets 'em better than splash some of the time - especially on a bright sunny day.