poppers work well for me

I've been bass fishing with artificial lures most of my life, caught many bass, but I've honestly never caught anything fishing on top. Nice fish.

good job!! poppers can be KILLERS for bass. fish them around good cover. brush/log piles...weed beds etc...kinda gota tinker around to see what they want..sometimes they will hit them when you are pulling it with all you got and splashing feet of water. other times you just barely have to move it. i love popper fishing. alot of times you can watch the fish come up and investigate. when i can see them ill just ever so slightly twitch it. they usually smash it after that.

Go EARLY in the morning or LATE in the evening.
If it's still dark, throw a black buzz bait. If daylight, use a white buzz bait.

Poppers are ok, personally if it's summer time and I want bass by top water I go a little different route. I will use a modified buzz bait, and a Zara Spook. They both work wonders here for bass and pike!