Monster Blow Ups! | River2Sea Whopper Plopper 130

Can you believe that the River 2 Sea Whopper Plopper has been splashing around on lakes and rivers for coming up on 14 years already? Nuts!

Over 14 years ago, professional and Hall of Fame angler Larry Dahlberg got together with Simon Chan from River2Sea and developed one of the best known top water baits on the market, the Whopper Plopper.

For those of you that don’t know the Whopper Plopper, it is a top water bait that has one big “propeller” style blade that rotates on the back of the bait creating huge commotion that brings in huge strikes from great distances. For those of you that do know…you know!

“I caught my first musky over 50 years ago on this type of lure and I’ve been tinkering with them ever since.   The Whopper Plopper is the culmination of my years of fine tuning this tyle of lure and since they are molded, every single one comes out of the box with the perfect tail size and angle to make a sound that simply drives fish crazy.   Plus, its tail is made of super tought plastic that flexes right back into place whether it gets chomped on or gets cast into a bridge piling.” – Larry Dahlberg -Hunt for Big Fish

Obviously there are a ton of great top water baits on the market, but I wanted to give a thorough look at a true classic, and top water killer.

Here are the specs of the River2Sea Whopper Plopper 130S that I will be reviewing.

First Glance

As with all of my bait reviews, I do like to start with what you generally see first, the packaging. In the case of the Whopper Plopper, it comes in a standard clam type of packaging with paper insert for descriptions and such.

Its a good looking package where you clearly see the bait and color selection. The only thing that I truly find odd on this packaging is the fact that you can NOT see the Plopper. In just looking directly at this bait it would look like a standard wide-bodied stick bait. You can’t see the spinning tail section at all.

Flipping the bait over and taking a look at the back of the packaging, you find a nice big picture of Mr. Dahlberg as well as a description of the bait action. English and in French.

As stated above, the only downfall so far is that you can’t tell what this bait actually is or does by just looking at the bait from the front of the package. Some way to see the big PLOPPER is keep for a bait called a Whopper Plopper.

Making a Splash – Deep Look – River2Sea Whopper Plopper

In this review, I will go component by component of the Whopper Plopper and let you know the good and bad of these baits. Just as a hint…I own a lot of them, and they’ve accounted for some huge fish.

Making Headway

When these baits arrived on the scene close to 15 years ago, they were truly revolutionary and inventive. Since then, and over the past couple of years, there have been several “knock off” baits that utilize the same, or very similar technology. I was told that the patent had expired on the Plopper technology, and it somewhat became free game.

Anyhow, I’ll start at the top of this bait and work our way down to the infamous “Plopper.”

In the image below, the first thing you’ll notice when looking at the nose of this bait is that it does feature a nice, heavy duty split ring. As this is a bait that you simply cast and retrieve, you don’t necessarily need that split ring, but it is nice to have. Depending on how tight and what type of knots you tie, you can influence the movement and roll of your baits.

As we work from the line tie, we make our way to the Eye. In the case of the Whopper Plopper, the eyes all feature the River2Sea logo right on the eyeball. Nice branding there. They are 3D indented eyes that give a little extra area for water to catch and create movement.

The Body

The body of the Whopper Plopper is a hard material that is hollow and features some weighted balls for stability and casting distance.

Another thing you’ll notice in the image above is that the bait is slightly ribbed. I always prefer a little texture on my baits. I feel that the more movement and commotion a bait can make, the better.

Single? No, you?

When you flip the Whopper Plopper over and look at the chest area, just below the head, you come to the Hook. At first glance, you might think that this is a single hook bait, but it’s not. We’ll get to that later.

In the image below, you can see the heavy duty treble hook that is used on the Whopper Plopper. River2Sea labels them as an X-Strong Size 4 Treble Hook. They don’t appear to be branded hooks, but they are strong and reliable. Those big treble hooks are attached to heavy duty split rings as well. Overall, good components.

Also looking at that belly you will notice the River2Sea logo under the chin as well as Larry Dahlbergs signature down at the back, just below the Whopper Plopper name and size.

Tales about Tails

Now comes the part we’ve all been waiting for. The Plopper! Well, sort of. The Whopper Plopper is essentially all about this particular piece of this bait.

In the image below, you can get a good feel for the actual plopper blade. This is a semi-soft material, with somewhat of a cupped end to it that catches water, spins and creates huge splash and commotion.

Here is another look from the side. You can see that the soft section is about 1″ total in length and goes down into a propeller style blade. This thing does catch a lot of water, and spins pretty freely.

One last thing that you can see in the image above is the large treble hook attached to the back of the plopper blade. It is attached to the through-wire that runs directly through the bait. It looks to be the same heavy duty treble hook that is used on the belly.

Fishing the Whopper Plopper

Fishing the Whopper Plopper is really pretty easy. Nice long cast, and a straight retrieve will do it. You don’t need to “walk the dog” or chop these baits, just a straight steady retrieve will do the trick.

Availability

The Whopper Plopper is available in a few different sizes and color combinations. I like this 130 size as it is not too big, and does bring in some monster strikes. I have had luck on a variety of sizes of these baits, so whatever is best for you and your budget should keep you on the water. And speaking of budget, the Whopper Plopper 130 retails for just about $18.00. Do some shopping and I’m sure you can find a better deal than that at your favorite retailers.

Comparison Shopping

These baits have been around for a long, long time and finding them is pretty easy. Just do a little search and you can find most of the sizes, colors, and a variety of prices.
Here are a few options to do some comparison shopping.

Thank you for stopping by Fishing Tackle Insider to see the River2Sea Whopper Plopper. These baits are awesome, budget friendly and create some of the most wicked top water explosions you will find.

You can check out the entire River2Sea lineup HERE.

See you on the water!