Nothing epitomizes bass fishing quite like the sudden explosion under the angler’s topwater lure before it disappears in the maelstrom, and the angler jacks the hooks into the jaws of a bucking bucketmouth.

It’s the image of every bass angler’s daydreams.

This has been a summer of surface lure action for me and friends who have joined me on our favorite lakes. I have made 25 bass trips this spring and summer and can recall only two days that didn’t produce at least one or two spectacular topwater strikes.

Surface lures are fun, for sure, but they also can be extremely frustrating. Fidgety anglers soon tire of experiencing zero interest in their efforts and switch to underwater tactics. But perseverance will win the day.

Whether you are fishing Mosquito and Pymatuning, the Mahoning River or a neighbor’s pond, knowing when and where to cast surface lures is one key to upping the odds you’ll succeed. Understanding which lures work well in certain situations is another key.

A hollow-body frog, for example, is great for fishing the edges of lily pad patches and weed beds around the shallow water at Pymatuning and Mosquito, but less effective on the Ohio River and the Lake Erie harbor walls in Ashtabula and Conneaut. While you might tease an Erie smallmouth to attack a twitching frog, your better choices are a Pop R, Spook or Devil’s Horse.

I keep a rod rigged with at least one topwater lure — and often two — every time I go bass fishing. Often the surface bait sees action only for a few minutes in certain circumstances, but I’ve had several days this summer where the surface bite continued for two hours.

Floating frogs are great choices when bass are lurking in and under vegetation. I fish mine on 50- to 65-pound-test braided line with a 7-foot heavy action rod to generate solid hooksets on fish that often burrow into the weeds after engulfing the lure. The no-stretch braid delivers all of the rod’s power to the hooks.

If the fish are cruising the edges of the grass or pads, soft-plastic Zoom Horny Toads and similar leg-kicking lures are great choices. I rig them on a 5/0 screw-lock hook tied to the braid and cast them on the same stiff rod I use for hollow-body frogs.

When fish are schooling over open water or around shallow structure-like rock piles, flooded foundations or stumps, treble-hook poppers and walking baits are great choices. Anglers can easily impart lifelike action that mimics injured baitfish, a struggling bird or even a big insect such as a cicada.

To cover water efficiently in search of topwater strikes, anglers chunk and wind buzzbaits that clatter across the surface and leave a trail of bubbles. The bubble trail can be an important part of the presentation, as hunting bass will follow them to find the gurgling buzzer.

Many veteran bass anglers learned their surface-fishing skills on the venerable Arbogast Jitterbug, made in Akron. The Jitterbug accounted for untold millions of largemouth bass, including many caught around northeast Ohio waters by Fred Arbogast himself. Legend holds that Arbogast and his buddies often visited Pine Lake in North Lima to tweak his inventions.

I’m a nostalgia guy, so I still carry two Jitterbugs on the Bass Cat. One is a green and yellow version that looks like a bullfrog waggling across the surface. The other is coal black, the color everybody used to tie on for night-fishing trips on their familiar bass waters. Both still produce.

Topwater strikes are the pinnacle of angling excitement. Strikes are big, bold and splashy, sometimes so startling that the angler sets too quickly before the hooks are in position to grip. Experts advise anglers should wait until they feel the weight of the fish tugging.

That’s easier said than done, of course, especially when a giant largemouth has hit your lure like a locomotive blasting out of a dark tunnel.

Jack Wollitz’s column is published here every weekend. Contact Jack at jackbbaaass@gmail.com.