i've done a little bit of topwater fishing but i havnt caught too many fish. This summer i want to try it out again, what lures would you recommend?

tight lines

just get your standard frog or shad popper. by rapala, zara, or excalibur. find some reeds or sticks and try to pop it right next to the reeds. if u make a good cast meaning like a foot or two beyond the reeds, then pop it 2 or three times and just wait. alot of times depending on the lake, fish wont chase poppers or any of those surface plugs. these are usually the lakes that have a lot of pressure. its worth a try.
when i dont get bit on a popper i try something else. get a good wide gap hook and put on of those swimbait bass assassins on it. i perfer white for an all around color, but experiment, im sure green or blue would work. with no weight this bait will dart and sometimes jump. you can work it quickly on the top for a huge explosion, or you can work it like a popper, and just twitch it, but the advantage of this is that it sinks really slowly. let it sink, and usually a bass will hit it then. most of the times you can see the bass take it and you dont have to pay attention to the water, but if you happen to lose sight of it from glare or something just look for a boil under your bait. with this method there is one good advantage. the bass will hold on to it alot longer than a surface plug like a torpedo or a popper. also you rig it like a worm and stick the point in a little slot to make it weedless. you will spend no time gettig two treble hooks free. hope this helps.

also remember you are not going to catch many fish in the heat of the day. about an hour and a half or maybe more after the sun comes up in morning and about an hour before the sun goes down are the best topwater times. a good way to sort of know when to start fishing top water is when the sun is just starting to come over the hills, when it comes over the bite usually starts to weaken. also in the evening wait till the bugs come out and the sun goes over the hills...it will still be light but the bass will know its time to get active. during the day you can try a buzzbait through cover. that can sometimes be very productive.

Not much you can add to that but here's my .02 cents.

You definitely need to be on the water at the earliest time you can. The fish are very active at night during the summer and the darkness allows them to feel a little more secure about going into the shallows to feed. If there is cloud cover or fog that will extend the length of time you will be able to target these fish. I think for a begginer I would start you off with a chrome colored type of Pop-R or equivilant and then the previous posts instruction for working the bait is good advice as I've heard. If your interested E-mail me and Maybe I can get you out on Cachuma if that's not to far a drive and I'll give you some on the water instruction.
Kelly

thanks a lot for the offer, but im not in the area. i moved from los olivos a few years ago, im in the bay area now, if i was still down there i'd totally go. i really appreciate the offer though.

tight lines,
perry

Go to Bass World West and pick up some Sammy's, you can't go wrong. Pick up a Giant Dog X while your at it too. The more you pay, the better the bait - sometimes.

Cabelas has giant dog x on sale for 19.99. Their usual price is 35 or something. Just thought youd like to know

you can always try an old silver and black floating rapala, those things are deadly- let it sit, then let it sit some more, twitch it a little, a subtle bait that produces pretty well. Like the Grom said, buzzbaits can be deadly, especially for bigger units!

Kelly, just read your Cachuma results in WON, good job! Fished a club touney up there last week, I was stoked on the quality of the fish, can't wait to get back up there.