So here is the BumblePopper… The name may have been used before, I’m not sure, but that is what I am calling it… I’m about to find out how well fish take to it when I am done here.
Materials-
Black thread- Whatever size works for you…
Hook- Size 10, 2x long… Or whatever works for you…
Body- Black and yellow foam sheets cut to a round 1/4 diameter and ground down to whatever size you like. I haven’t figured out a better way to do this being that I lack the experience with making these.
Tail- Orange pseudo-hackle that I purchased from Wally World…
Abdomen- Yellow Biot
You can assemble this mess pretty much anyway that you like, but I suggest putting the foam body together first. I wrapped the thread all the up and back on the shank made a hole through the center of the body with a needle and then put it on the hook with a little Sally Hansen’s stuff and a little Krazy Glue… Better safe than sorry… Then I tied on the pseudo-hackle made a few nice runs up to the body and back with the black thread and started the yellow biot. Wrapped the biot forward and tied off at the body. Coated the foam body with the SH’s stuff and presto! My fingers are covered with glue and a new popper is born…
:mrgreen:It will be a legend one day and people will remember the day the BumblePopper was born. People will remember April 26th as the day Joe Rogers made the fly with his bare hands using Krazy Glue and Sally Hansen’s Hard as Nails… They will rejoice and sing and drink beer and say, “I remember when, and I haven’t caught a fish since!”
Seriously though, I don’t know how well this will hold up… Maybe I should have used JB Weld…
Based on the size I’m assuming that it’s for panfish. My only concern would be that the biots may be too stiff. As the fish approaches the fly I think that they would hit the biots and push the fly away from their mouths.
Unfortunately I did not get to find out how well it would catch fish. Apparently the biots are so aerodynamic, it causes the fly to twist during the cast. So now I’m renaming it “The Shwizzler”… Because of the sound it makes flying through the air and because it’s fizzled out. If you furl leaders, you’ve probably broke a few during the twisting process and would up with a neat little arrangement of strange twists. That is what this fly did to my tippet…
Since I put this in fishing reports, here is the report.
Went to the pond today to try out a few flies I tied up one of which you already know about. So I tied up some Buggers and some of Al Campbell’s E-Z Nymphs. I modified a couple of the nymphs to have black marabou tails. Caught several Bluegill and another very gullible Spotted Bass. Out of all the flies I used, I used the WOW that Sir Hise gave me and had the most success with it. Caught a pretty big Bluegill with it. I guess that panfish and bass are more interested in shiny objects…
Overall the pond was nice, the water clear, birds singing, not much wind, and slightly overcast, but with breaks in the clouds. It was a good day.
I tied a similar fly (minus the biots) a couple years ago for a beginner fly swap. For the tail, I used black marabou and yellow marabou (continuing the color theme from the foam).
If you want something between the body and the tail, maybe try some hackle…
