Heavy overcast skies and scattered rain showers over the past week or so created perfect conditions for bass fishing with surface lures.

Bass have no eyelids so they tend to hang out in whatever shade they can find and ambush prey as it swims by.

When the skies are dark the bass will look toward the surface for a meal. When the sky is bright the bass feed more on bottom dwelling aquatic creatures.

There is nothing more exciting in the freshwater fishing world than catching big largemouth bass with surface lures. Most strikes are hard and will scare the daylights out of you.

The bass has the best “hole shot” of any fish that swims. Their broad tail and muscular body can send this hard fighting fish from sitting dead still to 3 or 4 feet in less than a second.

I guess that’s one of the reasons the largemouth bass in the most sought after freshwater game fish that swims.

The other reason is they can be difficult to figure out and the angler gets satisfaction when his or her pattern falls in place.

Over the next few months surface lures and shallow water cover is a good place to start when looking for bass. On the area lakes filled with cypress tress the bass will hold tight to the trees that offer the thickest root systems.

Locate a few productive cypress trees and they will produce bass time and time again. If one fish likes the root system and it’s caught another will soon take its place.

A good fisherman or fisher-lady is one that can recall the areas where their fish came from. GPS has made this really simple. It’s as simple as catching a fish and pushing a button to create a waypoint. My GPS units allow me to think of other things than where that last fish came from.

The very best bass lakes that offer surface action usually have some sort of aquatic vegetation like hydrilla, coontail moss and/or lily pads. For the past few years our local lakes have lost most the green stuff.

The surface bite is still good but instead of moss beds we target pier ladders, the shady side boathouses and the thick cypress roots as well as the rocks placed along seawalls to help with erosion.

Surface lures require a different rod action. You can use the same rod and reel combo as you use for bottom lures but there is no way you will get the most action then lure has to offer.

Try medium action rods rigged with 12 to 15 pound test mono. The rod needs a lot of tip but strong mid section. Lures like the Heddon Zara Spook have no built in action.

Cast a Zara Spook out and reel it in and it does nothing. Cast the lure out, lower your rod tip and twitch the lure with short consistent jerks of the rod and the lure comes to life with a side to side sashay that drives bass bonkers.

The poppers and chuggers require the angler to impart the action as well.

Top water fishing will be good now until about early December when the water temps drop below 60 degrees.

Eddie Roberts writes a weekly fishing column for The Democrat. He can be reached at fishingwitheddie@bellsouth.net.