Depends on what you are calling a prop bait. I've got a few that I carry constantly.
On calmer days, when there isn't a ripple on the water and they just aren't hitting a popper style lure, I'll break out a subtle twitch bait - my favorite being the Bang-O-Lure, which I don't even think is available anymore. Every time I run across some, I buy up every one I can get my hands on. It's basically a jerkbait with a small prop on it. I'll toss it past my target and then LIGHTLY twitch it. The jerkbait bill pulls it ever so slightly under water, while the tail spinner leaves just a little splash. Most fish I catch on it hit so subtly, you won't realize at first, so you have to pay attention. They just slurp it gently off the surface. Very few will crush it hard.
Other times, when I want to make some racket, I break out a Torpedo and treat it like a real one. I pull it through the water like I'm in route to sinking a battleship, and then they crush it hard, it's like the battleship firing back - good explosions on this one.
Modifications I do to the Torpedo - I take off the cup washer in the back and file an X into it lightly. Then I do the same for the prop surface that is going to touch it. When you work it for a while, it develops the same squeak that my buzz baits do (and I file the X in them the same way for the same reason), but it's intermittent because I'm jerking it and then letting it rest.
Like most topwaters I fish, I will initially throw it out and let it sit until the ripples disappear. Then I'll twitch it lightly and get into the cadence I want. Lots of my strikes happen on the initial movement after letting it sit so long.
Hope this helps.
All the best,
Glenn