Simple Popper

[FlatsRoamer 0]

Anyone know of a simple popper fly that doesnt involve spray painting foamheads and expensive stuff like that, also a popper that would actually work since i just bought a dozen poppers that do not make a single noise!!!

 

thx for all that help!

[FlaFly 0]

I've made hundreds of poppers and have never done any fancy spray painting. When I started years ago, commercially available popper heads were made of cork, so I always painted them with Duco model paint, though any paint would do. Today's hard foam heads come in white, yellow, chartreuse, and possibly some other colors. With just those colors, you can use different dyed hackles and stuff to provide color variety. Keep in mind none of this matters to the fish... it's just mainly to look pretty in your fly box, and maybe to make it easier to see on the water.

[rstaight 0]

Check out Gary Kreb's Popper Jig. They are made by Riverroad Creations. I know Gary and was fortunate to test one of the prototypes and I still use it.

 

These sets use foam rods and each set has jigs for three different size poppers. The beauty of these jigs is each size popper fishes the same. The 100th popper you make will be the same as the first.

 

Depending on where you purchase these sets the cost can vary. The cheapest I have seen has been direct from Riverroad Creations.

[mikechell 0]

All you need is some flip flops, a cheapo duster and some rubber legs.

 

 

A punch is nice, but you could cut square shapes.

 

End up with a popper that makes plenty of noise.

 

 

See the SBS here ...

http://www.flytyingforum.com/index.php?showtopic=79962&hl=mikechell&do=findComment&comment=610653

[tidewaterfly 0]

There have been several threads posted here about making poppers. A search should reveal them and provide the answers you need.

[add147 0]

mikechell is right...Nothing is cheaper and fast to tie than flip flops poppers!!!

[Capt Bob LeMay 0]

Here's a bug I call the Speed Bug (very quick to tie up....). It employs soft foam Perfect Popper heads that are super-glued onto a hook that has a base of thread in place. These things are deadly on small tarpon, large speckled trout - and everything in between. The size head I use is meant for a #4 freshwater hook - but, instead I use a #1 Mustad 34007 hook (it's stainless since I'm a saltwater guy...). Here's a series of pics on the actual routine I follow. They're pretty much self-explanatory.... We use them at dawn or dusk and don't try to make a lot of noise - simply keep them "blipping" along. I tell my anglers that the first hit is usually a miss -but the fish never miss on the second strike if you keep the bug moving slowly with very sharp six inch strips... By the way we never use poppers if it's windy -they work the best in calm waters....

[FlatsRoamer 0]

ok will do!

[Poopdeck 0]

I refuse to pay for popper bodies. I use corks and paint them with testors model paint. I also tie small gurgler patterns from cheap sheet foam that work as good or better then your traditional poppers. I just use the foam color and do not paint the gurglers.

[FlaFly 0]

CapBob.... that's what I'm talking about. You can get lots of variety from the tail-half of a bug with different colors and materials, add rubber legs if you want, put eye on the head if you want, turn the head around and make a slider... all from the same kind of head. I only tie for my own fishing and enjoyment, so I don't mind buying heads. I get mine from either Cabelas or BPS.

 

Those are pretty bugs and guaranteed to get bites!

[Capt Bob LeMay 0]

What I was looking for when I came up with this pattern was something very quick to tie up in quantity that would get bitten without much fuss. In my world a popper seldom lasts more than a fish or two so spending lots of time shaping, then gluing up cork heads, then painting them (and adding eyes...) simply didn't make a lot of sense. Years ago when I was just tying for myself it was lots of fun working to come up with something carefully crafted - but those bugs didn't last one bit longer than the Speed Bug (and both drew strikes from small tarpon, snook of every size, large speckled trout and others...

 

Forgot to mention that we'd also take the trouble to carefully bend a kink shank hook to be able to use cork or balsa headed poppers (no one made a kinked shank stainless hook for gluing heads onto back then (and I doubt there's one available today....). Each Mustad 34007 hook (with no modification at all....) gets a base of flat waxed thread (back and forth -two layers of thread...) that's tied off and the portion of the shank with the thread is worked down into the pre-cut slot that comes with the Perfect Popper head... You then lay a thin bead of super glue (I like Krazy Glue in the original small plastic tube) on the thread, the head is rotated back and forth quickly before the glue sets then the soft foam head is clamped in a clothespin (or micro clamp) for about five minutes to seal up the slot and you're ready to tie on whatever tail you want. When you remove the head from the clamp there will be indentations where the clamp bit down into the foam head -but those quickly dissipate as the head returns to its normal shape... I worried at first about not being able to add eyes and other extra touches -but the fish take them on sight just as you see them... We even get strikes from spanish mackeral when we're fishing shorelines with a bit deeper water (along with everything else -snapper, ladyfish, jacks, small bluefish - anything wiling to strike at small minnows at the surface.

 

Unlike most poppers these small bugs aren't actually popped much. You just keep them working slowly and making a tiny bit of noise with each short, sharp strip and it imitates a small minnow that's in big trouble and struggling to move at all - the fish do the rest. One more minor point... for this bug to be really effective the tip of the rod needs to be in the water with the rod pointing directly at the bug as you work it by hand (if the rod is above the surface your ability to make the bug "talk" isn't very good). Every freshwater angler that I fish usually has great trouble hooking fish on fly since they always try to strike with the rod.... Until they begin strip-striking with their line hand every hit is a miss... Strip strike with the tip of the rod in the water pointing right at the bug and you'll rarely miss (but I know the habits of a lifetime are hard to change....).

 

Since I'm a commercial tyer I buy my heads by the hundred direct from my wholesaler (when I can get them...). Most will have to buy them a few at a time from their local fly shop or catalogue provider....

[FlaFly 0]

You really have to be dedicated if you're willing to tie a bug for just two fish! I still have poppers I tied 30-ish years ago in good condition, but then again bluegills and crappies aren't as toothy as mackerels and snappers. A snapper bit me once while I was picking him up. Hurt like hell!

 

So Perfect Poppers have slots? That's one thing I don't like about the heads I'm buying... they have a hole down the center instead of a slot. Do PPs come in hard foam too? And smaller quantities? (I get about a dozen heads per pack).

 

And I'd like to compliment (not complement) you on spelling dissipate correctly! My head has a built-in proofreader, and a misspelled word on a page looks to me like it's in red and bold font. :-)

[Capt Bob LeMay 0]

let's here it for spell-check (or whatever the built in thing is that shows when you mis-spelled something...). I'm not any more proficient than the average banger in that regard.

[FlaFly 0]

Ewe seddit!

[FlaFly 0]

CapBob Where do you buy Perfect Poppers? (I'm assuming that's a brand name.) I've googled it and can't find anything sold by that name. Ward Bean ties something he calls a Perfect Popper but there's no indication that the brand of head is called that. Lots of sites refer to their pattern as a perfect popper (small pees).