It takes a special bait to catch Randy Allen’s fancy, not to mention bass in November.
“I think whenever I’m going to go in November, especially in north Louisiana and Arkansas, it’ll have to be a topwater, a Whopper Plopper or a Chug Bug. I’d probably have to start with a Whopper Plopper. It really is a special bait,” Allen said.
Allen, an accomplished veteran on the FLW Pro Circuit who lives in Gilliam, was introduced to the River2Sea Whopper Plopper several years ago when he fished a Bassmaster Elite Series tournament on the California Delta. Gary Dobyns, a veteran pro who manufactures Dobyns Rods, showed Allen around the Delta and sent him home with two bags filled with Whopper Ploppers..
Allen described them as “the greatest thing since sliced bread,” but didn’t throw them for a while. When he eventually reached into his new bag of tricks, he won two tournaments back-to-back and he was hooked.
“I used to think you had to have grass,” he said. “It helps, but it’s not required. They’ll eat it around rocky points and in coves.”
Allen varies the speed of retrieve on the sputtering topwater, which has a uniquely designed, pliable tail that acts as a propelor. When a bass hits, he “feeds” it line before setting the hook.
Allen’s favorite colors are munky butt and black. Of munky butt, he said, “It’s a great color. Take that thing to a place they haven’t seen it this time of year, it’s just stupid.”
Allen has an early November event on Table Rock Lake and said, “I can assure you you’ll see one of them on the front deck, munky butt or black, over the next three months.”
How he fishes it
Most of the time, he ties on either a Model 90, which is 3 ½ inches, or a Model 110, which is 4 3/8 inches.
“You know, I tell you, though, that larger one, the 130 (5 inches), in the spring time, when they’re starting to move up, big ’uns will hit it,” Allen said.
Usually, he said, he throws a Whopper Plopper on 40-pound Power Pro braid. Sometimes he switches up the presentation and uses 15-pound P-Line monofilament.
His Whopper Plopper reel is a Shimano Metanium reel (7:1 ratio), which he seats on a Power Tackle Casting Rod is designed for heavy spinnerbaits and topwaters.
“It’s a great rod,” he said, praising the tip that allows him to feed line when a bass smacks a Whopper Plopper.
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