Accardo Bluegill Special Poppers

[Kirk Dietrich 0]

Accardo is special in the sense that Tony tied his firs bug in 1952 when Ernest Peckinpaugh passed away, which in and of itself isn't all that special but it is ironic since Accardo built his business and in 1961 quit his regular job and became one of the two largest commercial producers of warmwater bugs. The other being Peck's bugs (which was carried on by Ernest's son and continued to sell bugs). Then in 1980, Tony Accardo purchased the patents from EH Peckinpaugh's heirs and the then struggling business. I guess his specialness is that he was a self made man and even went to the extent of buying a cork farm in Spain to have his heads made directly for him.

Tony Accardo's son sold most all of his father's bug making supplies after Tony passed in 2006. The business was dormant for years but just recently, the son has been making some bugs for a local shop in Baton Rouge on a very limited basis. A friend Ted Cabali visited the little tackle shop and bought a few bugs, but there was not a large selection at all - nothing remotely like Tony had going.

As the others said, a little bream bug is easy to make from foam, can be done from small tapered cork bottle stoppers, balsa and the pre-formed hard foam bodies from WAPSI - to name a few options...

[FlaFly 0]

Who in the world needs six dozen poppers????? Planning to flip them on EBay? I tie (or tied) my own, and have way more than I'll ever need. As I said once before, I have never lost a fly. Not to a tree, or a cattail, or anything. And I've fished them since the 1960s. I must be doing something wrong, huh?

 

PS I will admit that I've lost several ultralight lures when spin-fishing from the bank.

[vicente 0]

I just bought two packs and some of the bluegill flys Mike. I was just thinking keep 1 of the things of poppers for myself sell the other one for 50 bucks on Craigslist,and if I don't use them it doesn't matter.

[mikechell 0]

Oh, I think anyone who has an once of ambition could jump on one of those display packs. Even if you just stood outside of Bass Pro Shop with a table and sold off the flies for $1.50 a piece, you could make a fair bit of profit.

 

I am happily not ambitious. Wife and I have all we want ... and unless I could make enough to retire on ... you get the picture.

[vicente 0]

That is a great place to be Mike, our country/world would be much better off if more people had that mindset. Most of the ponds I fish in are pretty nasty so I lose a lot of fly's/poppers and I don't really enjoy making poppers very much so if I can get a bunch for free I might as well.

[skeet3t 0]

Cabela's has a Tacklecraft catalogue that shows all kinds of stuff for rolling your own lures, flies, etc. I'm sure that you could find the components or kits for tying poppers. My father and I made some from corks that we got at the hardware store. I might still have some- I'll have to check Dad's tackle boxes.

[Roland58 0]

@Flafly

You have been fishing for over 50 years and NEVER lost a fly?! Not even a break off? You should call Guiness as that has got to be a world record or you restrict your fly fishing to cement ponds.

I guess i am just jealous because I lose them rather frequently.

[FlaFly 0]

When I was a young'un, I fished in reservoirs in Texas....that was before I escaped. The banks where I fished were gently sloping and sparsely grassed, but I was wading, and even if I did snag some grass (tho I don't recall any time), I could just walk over and unhook it.

 

I came to Florida in the US Coast Guard, and was surprised to find that the lakes are all surrounded by dense shrubs and trees, and the littoral zone is solid cattails out to about 4 ft. depth. No way to fish from the bank, so I started fishing from canoes or inflatable boat and casting toward shore. Even if I did snag something, I could just paddle over and unhook.

 

I never had a fish break off... remember I fish for panfish and being in Florida, all I use for a leader is monofilament. Even in saltwater I only once had a grouper break my line (Spinning rig... not fly).

[FlaFly 0]

BTW Roland.. up until now I've never fished a wet fly... only poppers, foam spiders, etc. Thus I don't have problems hanging up on submerged veggies. If I want to fish wet, I use a beetle spin on an ultralight rig. I've been tying a few wets lately but haven't had a chance to try them out.

[vicente 0]

Oh yea if I could fish from my boat or canoe all the time it wouldn't be too much of an issue flafly, out here in the great state of CA they got this silly idea that paddling a canoe around a small lake right by the free way is somehow going to make the water less safe to drink, but all the garbage and pollution from the road is OK.

[FarmerCharlie 0]

I've been out of town visiting friends and family at Orange Beach and Navarre Beach, and I enjoyed all the responses after getting home. I had been buying Accardo poppers for about 40 years, but I never had heard the history of his company. He must have been an interesting fellow. When I got home this afternoon the poppers I had ordered from BreamBugs.com were here. They look quite similar to the old Accardo bugs. I guess what I really liked about the Bluegill Specials was that I could get them in all sorts of colors and sizes. Not sure it mattered all that much to the Bluegills.

 

I might just try making some myself. It doesn't look all that difficult compared to the works of art some of the folks on this forum make.

 

As for the weight of that bass, I was just estimating based on his length of 21.5 inches. I do know that he was not nearly as much fun as those nice fat bluegills.

 

BTW. If you ever have occasion to be in Pensacola, be sure to check out Joe Patti's seafood market. They could charge admission just to watch their operation. It was like something I would expect to see in San Francisco or New York--not the Florida panhandle. And Navarre Beach (but not Orange Beach) is just as beautiful and pristine as I remember it from 40 years ago.

 

Charlie

[FarmerCharlie 0]

As the others said, a little bream bug is easy to make from foam, can be done from small tapered cork bottle stoppers, balsa and the pre-formed hard foam bodies from WAPSI - to name a few options...

 

Kirk,

I enjoyed your videos and images. I noticed that you had an interest in Monarch caterpillars. Last year I decided to try some milkweed plants I got from MonarchWatch plus some unknown milkweed seedlings a friend gave me. The ones from MonarchWatch grew pretty large, but I never saw any eggs or caterpillars. To my surprise I did find some caterpillars on the small unknown milkweed plants, but the dozen or so caterpillars quickly ate the small plants down to the stems.

 

In sort of a panic, I moved them over to some of the larger plants. Two days later they were still there. They appeared to be eating, but did not seem any larger.

 

On the third day there were no signs of the caterpillars. I don't know whether they all died or moved to some other plants to pupate. Maybe this year will give some better results. Last year's plants are coming on fast and may be ready by the time the Monarchs reach Alabama. I have also planted some seeds of several milkweed varieties, and they are beginning to come up. I don't guess this has much to do with fly tying, but your images motivated me to look at some of my old images.

 

More to the point, my new chartreuse Gaines #12 Pan Pops are doing a good job with the bluegill, but I still miss the many varieties of the Accardo Bluegill Special. But now I am so busy with other projects that I guess I'll have to wait 'til winter to start making some myself.

[FlaFly 0]

Wife and I have raised lots of butterflies. If the monarch caterpillars were large enough, they probably wandered off to make a chrysalis. They crawl long distances to do that. And they do tend to each up all their host plant, so the last ones to hatch may just starve when they run out of food. Black swallowtails are also bad at over breeding and eating all of their host plants till there is nothing left.

[buyingpoppersonline 0]

Hi guys, can anyone recommend me some online shops for poppers?




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[caloosa bug 0]

I used to buy from breambugs.com quite often till I started making my own. Much cheaper making your own. Service was great and always came with a personal thank you letter. If something was out of stock they would send extras for free. But I highly suggest making your own!