Ok, here goes. . . why can't I catch any bass on these darn things?
Poppers
Ok, here goes. . . why can't I catch any bass on these darn things?
I do not know a lot about fishing for bass with a fly rod, but I do know the bass around here this time of year are about 40 to 50 feet deep.
I meant in general, not neccesarily in the winter (though I heard it was supposed to get up to 80 degrees here today).
It is funny you ask. There are many individuals that will only fish poppers for bass. I was talking with a friend last week that mentioned if they didn't hit poppers they wouldn't hit anything else. It was not worth arguing with him otherwise.
How do you fish them? Where do you fish them? How big are they? Have you tried different sorts of presentations?
It is just like anything else. Experiment!!
Sometimes fish will only hit a popper if it has been sitting still for almost a minute and then given the slightest twitch all hell will break loose. Other times a popper can't be pulled through the water fast enough. Sometimes they will hit poppers when there is a steady chop on the water surface, other times if there is the slightest breeze that may leave a tiny ripple on the water all activity will stop. Don't get into the simple mindset that they can only be fished one way all the time.
I caught a trout on a deerhair popper one time, so anything is possible.
Your hooks sharp????
Have you tried the jalipino ones with the cream cheese???
Eric
"Complexity is easy; Simplicity is difficult."
Georgy Shragin
Designer of ppsh41 sub machine gun
I usually do pretty well during the summer on poppers of various kinds in the lake I live on and also the river that feeds it. I have found through the advice of others that the "Miss Prissy" do about as well as any I have tried if you can find them. I have turned corks down myself and made them but it is much easier to go to Wally World and spend a buck or so for a Miss Prissy. I know these should work for you since I am only about 2 hours south of you and know people up around you area who swear by them.
I've got poppers with bodies ranging from 1/2 to over 1 inch (excluding the tails). Poppers made of different materials, deer hair, foam, cork. I've tried different speeds and movements and I have fished them in the evenings or in particularly shaded areas, but have not, for the most part, waited longer than 20 seconds to get them moving. Usually I can take some bass on anything but a popper.
BTW, I have tried the ones with Jalepenos and cream cheese. If you put a hook in one of them you could probably catch me.
I catch lots of bass on poppers, not the little bluegill ones either, Big chunky deer hair bugs, foam bugs, even mouse imitations. I throw em on an 8 weight Pfluger with a Martin Multiplier reel. I make my own foam body flies, but I got a great deal on ebay for user roasty1. His bass asst. is great. I'm pretty patient, like said above, let em rest, for what seems too long, then chug it once, wait 10 sec chug. then chug in it 2 or three chugs pause. Vary the retrieve if it isn't working.
I love the big splash...
Oh yeah, wait for the fish to actually have it in his mouth before setting.
I have better luck with poppers in low light conditions. Early mornings and late evenings are best unless there is some cloud cover, when time of day doesn't matter as much.
Steve
"If there are no dogs in Heaven, then when I die I want to go where they went"
Will Rogers
hopper poppers
A friend made me a popper from foam on a 2/0 wide gap hookthing was 1 inch in dia.Grn with frog legsout of hair.
a super slow pop let the rings disapaite and pop again.retrieve yeilded several in the 1-1 1/2 lb class and 1 3 1/2 last year before something swam away with it.
I usually let them set and count to 2 before the set of the hook afterthe strike.I miss some but the rest have a solid hookup.
Dennis
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