So after my first somewhat successful casting in saltwater I decided to take my 8/9wt to a nearby lake with some large poppers to look for largemouth bass. I absolutely could not get the poppers to cast. I tried modifying my cast and I just could not move that big popper through the air without it falling in a pile 10-20 feet in front of me (the back casts were equally bad.) I was rapidly losing my sanity and thought I was going to throw the whole outfit in the lake after an hour of trying!

I finally tied a small foam spider on for a few casts just to calm down and confirm I was casting ok otherwise and it fluttered out there much better.

My setup was - 8/9wt rod, WF9F line looped to a 8' 12lb tapered leader with a 1' 20lb bite tippet. Do I need a bass bug line to cast these big poppers or different terminal end? Maybe a technique change?