Originally designed to catch muskie, The Doc has become the favorite topwater offering for thousands of striped bass anglers. (Photo by Jimmy Fee)
On a scorching hot afternoon in early June, Matt and I pulled up beside a large school of bunker on our way in from a successful day of striper fishing. We were tired and sunburnt, but still stopped at every bunker school we saw because it’s what any angler would do. At the last school, we noticed a nice mark toward the bottom of our graph, so we eagerly grabbed our rods rigged with Docs to see if we could draw up the fish.
After a few casts along the outskirts of the bunker school, my Doc got hammered. This wasn’t your typical topwater blowup. The bass hit the plug multiple times, even knocking it clear out of the water before committing. When fishing a Doc, just a hit brings an unmatched thrill. That fish ended up being my personal best at 44 inches. It reminded me of how special this topwater can be when rigged and fished correctly.
The Doc is an oversized, walk-the-dog topwater lure, part of a large family of topwaters known as spooks named after the original walking bait, the Heddon Spook. My good friend and creator of Albie Snax, Alex Peru, described a spook as a lure that “gives you endless ways to fish.” You can work it slow or fast, twitch or pause it, let it glide through the water, or pop it. The Doc is special in that it can do all of these things on a larger scale; however, it was never designed for saltwater purposes.
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Working the Doc for Big Bites over Deep Water
Keep your rod angle low when working the 9-inch Doc to maintain the plug’s side-to-side “walking” action.
On more aggressive retrieves, the Doc will pop under the water when it turns—giving your presentation the attention-getting sound of a popping plug while maintaining the zigzag pattern of a distressed baitfish. This splash consistently draws fish up from deep water.
I keep my rod tip pointed down while aggressively twitching it with my wrists to achieve a walk-the-dog pattern. The retrieve is extremely slow, but the twitching must be intense to achieve the splash. Alex Peru explained, “You know you are working the Doc properly if the people you’re fishing with turn their heads as if a fish has eaten your lure.”
Alex also explained that the angler’s job is to make the Doc “sound like a popper, but swim like a spook.” This combination makes it simply irresistible.
The Drifter Tackle Doc originated as a topwater bait to target muskellunge. But, years ago, saltwater anglers in the Northeast got hold of this spook and made it a staple when fishing for striped bass. While the company has acknowledged the plug’s popularity in salt water by introducing popular striper colors like bunker, green mackerel, and all-yellow, the terminal tackle still leaves a bit to be desired by saltwater anglers.A Doc comes standard with weak split rings and two large treble hooks positioned far back on the body. While this is ideal for muskies, it is not ideal for targeting large stripers.
Whenever I purchase a Doc, I immediately remove the split rings and treble hooks from both the belly and tail. I rig the belly hook with a 60-pound split ring and a 7/0 Owner ZO-Wire single replacement hook, leaving the plug without a tail hook.A general rule when replacing treble hooks with inline single hooks is to ensure that the gap of the single hook is equal to the entire treble.
This rigging style has numerous benefits. First, adding an inline single hook to the belly reduces release mortality in striped bass. Using just one single hook lowers the chances of a fish being hooked in the eye, head, or throat by the tail hook. Second, it prevents fish from gaining leverage to bend out the hook and escape. Also, it leads to a more secure hookset due to that larger hook gap. This is crucial when after a big bass with a lower lip that’s twice the thickness of the trebles that come standard on the Doc.
Replacing the terminal with one inline single hook can also enhance the Doc’s action. Removing the tail hook reduces drag, so the Doc glides through the water more easily, giving it a wider side-to-side action.
