First and foremost you should wait after a strike until you feel the fish's weight before you set the hook. Even veteran anglers will get excited and pull the bait away from a fish occasionally. When that happens, you have to deliberately tell yourself to wait to feel the fish's weight on your rod before you set. The second item that will help you catch topwater bass is good hooks. That can't be stressed enough.
Many baits come with hooks that are sharp out of the package but dull quickly.
You must monitor the condition of the hooks frequently. If they become dull sharpen them carefully or replace them. My preferences for replacement trebles are either Gamakatsu round bend trebles or Excalibur rotating trebles. You can have great confidence in not only the sharpness but also the strength of these two hooks to perform well on the biggest of bass. The third thing that will help put fish in the boat is to use a rod and reel that is correct for the application.