Hard baits: Walking baits (walk-the-dog)

A cigar-shaped floating body with no lip: rhythmic slack-line twitches swing the nose left and right, the walk-the-dog that covers water and calls fish up from a distance. The topwater for open water, schooling fish and wind.

ItemDetail
Body9–15 cm (3.5–6"); rattling or silent; the big ones for big fish
RetrieveTwitch on slack line, reel the slack, twitch: a steady cadence; pauses over a fish
WhereOpen water over points, humps, bait schools; flats; around docks with a long cast
SeasonPost-spawn to fall; cold-water walkers for the biggest fish of spring
Rod / line7' (2.13 m) M–MH moderate; 30–50 lb braid or 17–20 lb mono
ModelsHeddon Zara Spook, Lucky Craft Sammy, Megabass Giant Dog-X, Evergreen Shower Blows, Strike King Sexy Dawg, Yo-Zuri 3DB Pencil

The rod twitches, the reel only picks up slack: if the bait moves forward in a straight line, you are reeling too much.

Top 10 dans quatre marchés

États-Unis

  1. Megabass Giant Dog X Walking Bait — $19.99. Tackle Warehouse 'Topwater Walking Baits' (130 items) sorted by Popularity: #1; topwater, 3-7/8 in (98 mm), 1/2 oz (14 g); the Dog X pencil in its largest size; walk-the-dog; 4.6/5 avg (8 reviews)
  2. Evergreen SB Topwater Plugs — $17.99 - $27.99. Tackle Warehouse 'Topwater Walking Baits' (130 items) sorted by Popularity: #2; topwater, 3-6 in (77-150 mm), 11/32 to 1-1/2 oz (10-43 g); Shower Blows walking pencils in four sizes; 4.6/5 avg (7 reviews)
  3. Berkley Slap Gill Topwater Walking Bait — $16.99. Tackle Warehouse 'Topwater Walking Baits' (130 items) sorted by Popularity: #3; topwater, 3.1 / 3.8 in (80 / 90 mm), 3/5 / 1 oz (17 / 28 g); deep-bodied bluegill-shaped walker
  4. Ima Skimmer 110 Walking Bait — $13.99. Tackle Warehouse 'Topwater Walking Baits' (130 items) sorted by Popularity: #4; topwater, 4.50 in (110 mm), 3/8 oz (10.6 g); slender stickbait-profile walker; Owner ST-36 #4 trebles; 5.0/5 avg (1 reviews)
  5. Megabass Dogmax — $24.99. Tackle Warehouse 'Topwater Walking Baits' (130 items) sorted by Popularity: #5; topwater, 5.11 in (130 mm), 1-1/8 oz (32 g); Megabass's magnum 130 walker
  6. Heddon Super Spook Walking Bait — $9.99. Tackle Warehouse 'Topwater Walking Baits' (130 items) sorted by Popularity: #6; topwater, 5 in (127 mm), 7/8 oz (25 g) (Jr. 3.5 in, 1/2 oz); the Spook: the original walk-the-dog pencil; 5.0/5 avg (2 reviews)
  7. Strike King KVD Sexy Dawg — $11.99. Tackle Warehouse 'Topwater Walking Baits' (130 items) sorted by Popularity: #7; topwater, 4.5 in (114 mm), 7/8 oz (25 g) (Jr. 3.75 in, 1/2 oz); KVD walking bait; 4.0/5 avg (5 reviews)
  8. Heddon One Knocker Spook Walking Bait — $9.99. Tackle Warehouse 'Topwater Walking Baits' (130 items) sorted by Popularity: #8; topwater, 4-1/2 in (114 mm), 3/4 oz (21 g); Spook with a single loud knocker; 5.0/5 avg (1 reviews)
  9. River2Sea Pro Tuned Rover — $11.99 - $12.99. Tackle Warehouse 'Topwater Walking Baits' (130 items) sorted by Popularity: #9; topwater, 3-7/8 / 5 in (98 / 128 mm), 7/16 / 3/4 oz (12.4 / 21 g); Rover walker with tungsten bearings and Daiichi trebles; 5.0/5 avg (4 reviews)
  10. Heddon Spook Stick Topwater Walking Bait — $11.99. Tackle Warehouse 'Topwater Walking Baits' (130 items) sorted by Popularity: #10; topwater, 3-1/2 in (89 mm), 1/4 oz (7 g); slim shad-profile Spook with a glide-walk; #6 trebles; 3.5/5 avg (4 reviews)

Canada

  1. Heddon Super Spook Jr. — C$12.99. fishingworld.ca 'TOPWATER BAIT' collection, best-selling sort #3 of 36; anglingsports.ca 'Top Water' collection, best-selling sort #43 of 136; runs topwater; 3-1/2" / 1/2 oz; walk-the-dog
  2. Berkley J-Walker — C$15.99. anglingsports.ca 'Top Water' collection, best-selling sort #15 of 136; runs topwater; 100 mm / 120 mm; walk-the-dog
  3. Heddon Zara Spook — C$12.99. fishingworld.ca 'TOPWATER BAIT' collection, best-selling sort #7 of 36; anglingsports.ca 'Top Water' collection, best-selling sort #34 of 136; runs topwater; 4-1/2" / 3/4 oz; the original walk-the-dog
  4. Jackall PikuPiku 78 — C$19.99. fishingworld.ca 'TOPWATER BAIT' collection, best-selling sort #11 of 36; runs topwater; 78 mm; small left-right gliding topwater
  5. Rapala Precision Xtreme Pencil — C$18.99–C$19.99. fishingworld.ca 'TOPWATER BAIT' collection, best-selling sort #16 of 36; anglingsports.ca 'Rapala Fishing Lures & Tackle' collection, best-selling sort #92 of 110; runs topwater; 87 mm / 107 mm; pencil walker
  6. Berkley Cane Walker 110 — C$12.99. anglingsports.ca 'Top Water' collection, best-selling sort #52 of 136; runs topwater; 110 mm; walk-the-dog
  7. Heddon Feathered Super Spook — C$12.99. fishingworld.ca 'TOPWATER BAIT' collection, best-selling sort #14 of 36; runs topwater; 5"; walk-the-dog with feathered treble
  8. Berkley Cane Walker 125 — C$15.99. anglingsports.ca 'Top Water' collection, best-selling sort #53 of 136; runs topwater; 125 mm; walk-the-dog
  9. Megabass Giant Dog-X — C$28.49. anglingsports.ca 'Top Water' collection, best-selling sort #54 of 136; runs topwater; 98 mm / 1/2 oz; walk-the-dog
  10. Strike King KVD Sexy Dawg — C$14.99. anglingsports.ca 'Top Water' collection, best-selling sort #62 of 136; single store, position 62 — weak evidence; runs topwater; 4-1/2"; walk-the-dog

Japon

  1. Evergreen Shower Blows 77 — ¥1,808 (naturum list price). naturum 'ペンシルベイト' (Pencil baits) category, best-selling sort #1; 77 mm / 9.3 g; pencil
  2. Bomba da Agua Amazon Spook Jr. — ¥2,420 (naturum list price). naturum 'ペンシルベイト' (Pencil baits) category, best-selling sort #3; 95 mm / 15 g; pencil
  3. Evergreen Combat Pencil Justine — ¥2,191 (naturum list price). naturum 'ペンシルベイト' (Pencil baits) category, best-selling sort #4; 95 mm / 11 g; pencil
  4. Geecrack Akashic Pencil — ¥1,870 (naturum list price). naturum 'ペンシルベイト' (Pencil baits) category, best-selling sort #6; 90 mm; pencil
  5. Bomba da Agua Magnum Amazon Spook — ¥3,300 (naturum list price). naturum 'ペンシルベイト' (Pencil baits) category, best-selling sort #11; 140 mm / 50 g; big pencil
  6. Megabass Dogmax Sliding Model — ¥2,420 (naturum list price). naturum 'ペンシルベイト' (Pencil baits) category, best-selling sort #14; 130 mm; pencil
  7. Megabass Dogmax Walking Model — ¥2,420 (naturum list price). naturum 'ペンシルベイト' (Pencil baits) category, best-selling sort #15; 130 mm / 1-1/8 oz; pencil
  8. Whiplash Factory Live Wire — ¥2,420 (naturum list price). naturum 'ペンシルベイト' (Pencil baits) category, best-selling sort #16; 100 mm / 12.6 g; pencil
  9. Evergreen Shower Blows Shorty — ¥2,860 (naturum list price). naturum 'ペンシルベイト' (Pencil baits) category, best-selling sort #17; 16.3 g; short pencil
  10. Heddon Super Spook Jr. — ¥2,138 (naturum list price). naturum 'ペンシルベイト' (Pencil baits) category, best-selling sort #20; 3.5 in / 1/2 oz; walk-the-dog pencil

Chine

  1. 慧爱渔具 (shop) 微物之字狗 浮水铅笔 — ¥3.9 - ¥42.25. Taobao list page '水面铅笔' sorted by sales (fetched 2026-09-28): position 4 of 20; shop 慧爱渔具户外店. Walking pencil; listing photo used as is. Folded in as sizes/variants of the same design: 微物之字狗 浮水铅笔 1.8 g (#3), 微物之字狗 浮水铅笔 (#5), 微物之字狗 浮水铅笔 (#7).
  2. 国王路亚 Kingdom 之字狗 微物浮水铅笔 — ¥56 / item. Taobao list page 'walking topwater lure' sorted by sales (fetched 2026-09-28): position 5 of 20; shop 国王路亚旗舰店. Kingdom walking pencil; cropped from the listing.
  3. 水灵契 SHUILINGQI 3.2 g 浮水之字狗 铅笔 — ¥5.99 / item. Taobao list page 'walking topwater lure' sorted by sales (fetched 2026-09-28): position 9 of 20; shop 福城路亚装备店. Silver micro walking pencil; cropped, logo removed.
  4. 钓之猪 DIAOZZ 水面系之字狗 浮水铅笔 5 g / 20 g — ¥14.58 / item. Taobao list page 'walking topwater lure' sorted by sales (fetched 2026-09-28): position 12 of 20; shop 钓之猪路亚. Walking pencil in two sizes; cropped to the three lures, badge removed.

← Prop baits · Wake baits →

Hard baits

Sub-surface hard baits by what makes them move: crankbaits with a lip (squarebill, medium, deep, flat-sided), lipless crankbaits, jerkbaits (suspending, floating, deep), hard swimbaits (glide baits with one joint, multi-jointed swimbaits), spybaits, and the topwater hard baits: poppers, walking baits, prop baits, wake baits.

  1. Crankbaits
  2. Deep-diving crankbaits
  3. Medium-diving crankbaits
  4. Squarebill crankbaits
  5. Flat-sided crankbaits
  6. Topwater hard baits
  7. Poppers
  8. Prop baits
  9. Walking baits (walk-the-dog)
  10. Wake baits
  11. Jerkbaits
  12. Suspending jerkbaits
  13. Water temperature and buoyancy tuning
  14. Nose split ring and loop knot
  15. Jump the slack and rod work
  16. Jerkbait colour and rattle selection
  17. Jerkbait rod, reel and line formula
  18. Jerkbait treble hook sizes and feathered tails
  19. Floating jerkbaits
  20. Slow-sinking jerkbaits
  21. Sinking jerkbaits
  22. Deep-diving jerkbaits
  23. Hard swimbaits
  24. Glide baits (single joint)
  25. Multi-jointed swimbaits
  26. Lipless crankbaits (VIB)
  27. Spybaits
  28. Choosing a hard bait: mechanism, depth, season

Hard baits