poppers

[Stippled Popper 0]

i bought a couple a couple years ago that had legs they didnt stay on long with all the fish i caught, i just kept using them anyways still caught a ton of bass,im excited too start making them

 

 

Silicon legs(legs such as the four strips from left to right in the following image)

 

 

tend to break easily. They often will not survive intact if you push them through a cork or

soft foam body or if a fish grabs a leg and you pull against it. Round Rubber rubber legs

and Spandex(Spanflex) will generally survive being pushed through either cork or soft foam.

They also fare much better against a fish assuming the strand is tied tight and/or adequate

head cement applied so they just don't pull loose. Until and unless the rubber becomes

stiff and/or takes a set and loses it's elasticity, you should be good to go.

[Kirk Dietrich 0]

The round silicone legs from Cascade are much stronger than the square ones typically found. I hardly use anything else.

 

http://cascadecrest.com/index.php?page=shop.product_details&flypage=shop.flypage&product_id=369&category_id=16&option=com_virtuemart&Itemid=2&vmcchk=1&Itemid=2

 

The main cause of weakness in the square silicone legs is the glitter that is in the mix, inside the legs. That breaks the continuous flow of silicone creating break points. However, the round ones offered by Cascade are solid round silicone with the flakes on the outside thus making a much stronger leg material, not as strong as rubber, but stronger than the square silicone and strong enough to pull through heads. Although I don't use that method of threading legs through the heads of my hard bugs preferring to tie them in the skirt between the tail and back of head. I will occassionally thread some legs through a soft foam head.

 

I avoid rubber at all cost due to many bugs being ruined from melted or hardened rubber after sitting in the fly box, granted, it takes a few years but it does happen.

 

Kirk

 

Kirk

[mikechell 0]

I don't know if "Universal Vice" out of Westfield, VA. is still in business. I have a package labeled "Rubber Hackle" from them. It's basically a 12" piece of rubber sheet cut into strips creating square strands.

[Stippled Popper 0]

The round silicone legs from Cascade are much stronger than the square ones typically found. I hardly use anything else.

 

http://cascadecrest.com/index.php?page=shop.product_details&flypage=shop.flypage&product_id=369&category_id=16&option=com_virtuemart&Itemid=2&vmcchk=1&Itemid=2

 

The main cause of weakness in the square silicone legs is the glitter that is in the mix, inside the legs. That breaks the continuous flow of silicone creating break points. However, the round ones offered by Cascade are solid round silicone with the flakes on the outside thus making a much stronger leg material, not as strong as rubber, but stronger than the square silicone and strong enough to pull through heads. Although I don't use that method of threading legs through the heads of my hard bugs preferring to tie them in the skirt between the tail and back of head. I will occassionally thread some legs through a soft foam head

I avoid rubber at all cost due to many bugs being ruined from melted or hardened rubber after sitting in the fly box, granted, it takes a few years but it does happen.

 

Kirk

 

Kirk

 

 

The loose ones on the right in my image are from Cascade Crest. I find they are great for

smaller poppers. But they need some with a larger diameter for larger ones. The small

diameter ones sometimes end up pointing in the opposite direction of their original attitude

in the bend of the hook. That also goes for the regular rubber ones in smaller diameters.

 

Another nice thing about the Cascade Crest Silicon Rubber is they don't tend to have the

permanent bend in them which is common with the round rubber legs that you pull apart.

I've never found a way to take the curve out of lengths of rubber that have been folded

to fit in a bag.

 

I've never had rubber legs melt. Do you keep your poppers in the closed up vehicle during the

summer months?

[Kirk Dietrich 0]

Stippled, either in the car or the garage/shed out back. I haven't had melting happen with any of my bugs in years mostly because I haven't used rubber in a very long time. The rubber on the old Accardo and other commercial bugs would melt pretty easily and the fishing plugs with rubber skirts such as the Hula Popper and H&H spinnerbaits too; damn stuff make a mess out of a tackle box!

 

I use those micro legs on bugs up to size #2 and go to the square for larger, it depends on my mood.

 

I tried a few different things years ago for straightening rubber legs and never had much luck.

 

Kirk

[Peterjay 0]

There are several fellas on this forum that ties beautiful poppers. Some approach works of art. I started flytying by making small poppers for Bluegill. I used use 1/4" dia cork cylinders to make the bodies but I don't think the cork cylinders are available any longer which is too bad. They were very durable and I don't remember ever breaking one though I used to lose a lot of them to the trees. I used size 10 or 12 kink shank hooks and epoxied the bodies to the hook after cutting a slot in the cork. I then tied a tail of kip or calf tail and wound a small hackle on after painting the body. I quit painting eyes and never did the small ones with weed guards. I have recently used a normal paper hole punch (which is 1/4")to punch to cut small disks out of 2mm craft foam and used CA to glue 3 of them together to form a small cylinder to make a body and it seems to work quite well. I haven't yet had a chance to check out how durable they are but I think they will work out great. They are not fancy but I guarantee they will catch fish including some bass. Some of the fellas suggested I add some rubber legs which I have but I have not tested them out yet. I know they will catch without legs and supposedly they will work better with legs. I will find out next summer. I am now looking for a hole punch in 3/8, 7/16, and 1/2" dia. to make some larger poppers. Have fun with it and it is a good way to get started. Any color will work well as long as it is Yellow

 

I bought this set a while ago, and it works pretty well, although I did have to do some sharpening on the bigger punches. I also bought a 3/4" cylinder cutter ($25) from Sleazy Steve that does a great job on the thicker foam. Steve's cutters work on electric drills, and have a drill bit in the center, so you get a nicely centered hole. If you're just doing bass/bluegill sized poppers, the manual cutters are probably all you'd ever need.

 

http://www.ebay.com/itm/360298828525?ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1423.l2649

[Phish 0]

I dislike rubber legs as they will rot over time.

Like everyone has mentioned square silicone legs are not durable. I been getting my legs from Janns netcraft and they been great. They even have the muskie sized legs which are realy huge in comparision. I get the Star flash silicone cause they are the better quality and they can be used to pull through the bodies.

 

I like to do my poppers behind the body so I dont drill in them as much.

[billyzj 0]

im waiting on a new janns net craft catolog now,wish it hurry up

[Peterjay 0]

Jann's should be coming out soon - I just got the new Barlow's and Mudhole yesterday.

[billyzj 0]

waiting on barlows too,im gonna have to check out mudhole

[ditz2 0]

PJ....thanks for posting the ebay link.

[Phish 0]

Got mine Janns catalog last week.

[CoachBob 0]

http://www.harborfreight.com/6-piece-hollow-punch-set-67030.html

http://www.harborfreight.com/9-piece-hollow-punch-set-3838.html

 

Hollow punch sets from harbor freight. Inexpensive and effective.

[Phish 0]

If you already have a dremel tool then get one of these reasonable priced tool and save yourself a lot of time. Its the best thing I have found turn popper bodies easily and look great.

[famill00 0]

http://riverroadcreations.com/GaryKrebPopperJigs.htm

 

I have this kit from River Road Creations. They are a little pricy ($40), but the jigs allow you to make perfect popper heads every time!

 

-Forrest