Had some smallie fun this summer with Walt’s poppers and decided to try tying up some of my own. The one I fished with had no legs, but I see some do use legs.
http://www.mossycreekstore.com/Walts-Popper-4-WP2-4.htm - Walt’s w/o
http://lh3.ggpht.com/_HaBvI7HO4Xs/TJDiSxNTGxI/AAAAAAAABtM/TIi_IY3PEhw/IMG_5394.JPG - walts with
http://www.murraysflyshop.com/flydesc/Shenandoah%20Poppers.html - Harry’s with
What is your experience - legs or no?
Here’s some ideas.
For small poppers resembling insects, legs add attraction. Use them.
For larger poppers resembling frogs, the same applies.
For larger poppers resembling minnows, no legs.
For slower worked poppers use legs. They wiggle enticingly even when the fly is at rest.
For faster retrieves, no legs.
Only use legs appropriately sized to the fly. Too long and they will foul in the hook. To big and they can hurt the action of the fly. Too short and they don’t resemble anything attractive. Rubber legs are stiffer than silicone but stand out more.
For small insect patterns use FINE size rubber legs. Available at jannsnetcraft.com.
pillcaster,
I have limited experience with smallie poppers, but, I do intend to change that this coming summer. I have caught a few on poppers and sub-surface and find that they are a lot of fun to catch. Since my trout water is getting more and more crowded each year, I have decided that it is time for me to explore other areas of my rivers for bass.
I have done a lot of searching on the Internet for bass fly patterns to tie up and poppers and I would say that 98% of the bass poppers I have found do not have any legs and the bass poppers I have tied up without legs have worked very well. Most flies with the rubber legs end up losing the legs soon after being used but continue to produce strikes. I think that adding legs is more for appealing to the person buying them then to their fish catching ability.
Most of the bass poppers I tie up are tied using the “blockhead” type head which I really like and since I found a source for the unique shape blockhead material, I have not tied up any using any other type head. I do not install any legs on mine and feel that they are not needed for bass. I do feel that legs are needed on poppers that are going to be used for bluegill.
Just my thoughts on your question based on a limited experience using bass poppers. Hopefully, I will know more after spending time this summer chasing the smallmouth on my rivers and lakes. Come join me and we can gain knowledge on this together…
I find that using poppers with legs helps to give them some stability on the water but they sometimes have a tendency to rotate in the air and twist the leader. Coach Bob’s outline is great. I prefer legs on bass flies because you can use a more sublte motion when it calls for it (shallow water-less than 2 ft.) by just vibrating the legs instead of popping the whole bug. We had some great weather in Canada at Thanksgiving so I decided to take my nephew out bass fishing. I figured the sun and warmer temps would turn the bass on. By the time we were done we had caught and released 139 smallies. Poppers are my favourite for the fun factor but you would have a hard time beating a clouser that matches the local bait fish on our smallie rivers.
I vote for legs on mine, but I don’t fish them very often.
Wow! looking at that picture,Who’da thunk of such a thing! Actually they use them on the leopard raindows in alaska
Dragonfly “hatch”. Coach Bob’s logic makes a lot of sense when deciding if your popper needs them.
Actually, as soon as I read Coach Bob’s response, I realized that he had stated it better than I could have.
Jim Smith
Coach Bob hit all the high points. Here are some other things to consider regarding legs and poppers. If you fish for bass in an area where there are lots of small bluegills, you’ll have them pulling on the legs regardless of the size of the popper. Can be a bit of a pain. Rubber legs don’t float, so if floatation is an issue, avoiding them will allow your bugs to float higher/longer. Rubber legs are dense, so they add weight. Depending where you place them, they can alter the action of the bait. Silicone and ‘living’ or ‘round’ rubber, degrades over time. If you are going to be using the poppers soon, it’s not an issue, but the legs seldom last for more than a year or two. If you tie with balsa bodies or spend a lot of time spinning hair, being able to store them for a couple of years, or longer even, before use can be an issue.Good Luck!Buddy
This should be a FOTW submission.
We use a lot of minnow-imitating poppers and legs improve them… Mostly we are fishing for lake trout feeding on out-bound salmon smolts up to about 6" long. Schools of them get hammered by schools of lake trout. Dazed smolts drift downstream and can be seen behind the thrashing lake trout schools frequently.
Most are trying to get it together and spasm and twitch regularly. Legged poppers get more action than floaters.
Hap, are these dazed minnows with legs anywhere near that gold mine? S
Nope, entirely different area of the state… But there ARE lots of lake trout downstream from a particularly well-known proposed copper mine, with some gold and assorted other metals in the vicinity… 
Should have added at the time this was fresh that many flesh fly patterns now use cream colored rubber legs sticking out at rackish angles to simulate bones… They do seem to fish very well…
