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jakeryan

material for popper heads

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Wanting to tie some poppers for bluegill and was wondering which of the materials would work best: foam or cork. im sure both have their pluses and minuses just curious what everyones preference is. And where could a guy go about purchasing some heads (in bulk preferably) that arent going to break the bank and/or fall apart quickly.(asking alot I know)Thanks.

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Do a search for double barrel popper heads, maybe not exactly what your looking for from a bulk order stand point but they are very easy to work with, color, and are durable from what I have seen.

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Flip flops ... $0.98 a pair.

Brass tube ... $3.00 (approximately)

Punch out as many as you want.

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For panfish, I wouldn't buy either.

 

Both pre-formed foam and cork have their own appeal, but are more labor intensive. Glue, paint, seal..ect.

 

Get you some sheet foam from craft stores or Wal-Mart. Our wally world has thin, color variety packs for around $4-$5. And in one pack you'll get more than enough foam to fill 50 fly boxes.

 

I began tying a couple years ago simply because I was tired of bying foam spiders every summer for bluegill. Play with folds, layers, and tie in points to create your own. They are quick, and easy peezy. Here are few I've done that work very well on bluegill.

post-59266-0-59120800-1498100310_thumb.jpg

post-59266-0-69968600-1498100436_thumb.jpg

post-59266-0-78471400-1498100482_thumb.jpg

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post-59266-0-25858600-1498100655_thumb.jpg

post-59266-0-35815200-1498101034_thumb.jpg

post-59266-0-74561200-1498101218_thumb.jpg

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I agree with already posted threads. Unless you're tying for exhibition, about anything will do for bluegills. I tie flip-flop flies for both bream (bluegills) and bass, they're cheap and VERY effective. And they float like forever. Legs work OK, but I'm not convinced they really add to the effectiveness.

 

I've got sheets from Hobby Lobby that will tie a zillion flies and are CHEAP for smaller flies and offer a lot of different colors, but a cheap pair of flip-flops work extremely well and provide a whole lot of material.

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foam spiders are dealy for bluegills. cheap, quick and easy to make and color combinations are ALMOST endless smile.png

 

Spiders%20600_zpsaac73gh9.jpg

 

for "poppers" i prefer the wapsi hard foam perfect popper bodies

 

5567.Jpg

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I like making my own cork popper bodies from cork bottle stoppers. You can buy a bag of 20 or so of assorted sizes from the craft store (or craft section of your local big box) for about $2-3. You can get fancy and sand them into whatever shape you want, or just mount them on the hook as-is, paint them (I like either Testor's model car enamel for this; if you want to give them a little more "bling" you can also use glitter nail polish), add some feather tails and rubber legs and go fishing. I tie these for bass, too. http://www.flytyingforum.com/index.php?showtopic=83998&hl=#

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I like making my own cork popper bodies from cork bottle stoppers. You can buy a bag of 20 or so of assorted sizes from the craft store (or craft section of your local big box) for about $2-3. You can get fancy and sand them into whatever shape you want, or just mount them on the hook as-is, paint them (I like either Testor's model car enamel for this; if you want to give them a little more "bling" you can also use glitter nail polish), add some feather tails and rubber legs and go fishing. I tie these for bass, too. http://www.flytyingforum.com/index.php?showtopic=83998&hl=#

What size cork do you figure works best for panfish?

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I have gasket punches from Harbor Freight that a friend trimmed down for me to fit in a drill.

I glue sheets of Darice foam together with rubber cement, 5 layers. I them cut the bodies out with the punches.

Then use a 1q/64th inch drill bit to drill a hole in the lower part of the cylinder to run the hook shank thru.

With a drop of Zap-a-gap on the thread on the hook shank they never come apart.

Put some sort of tail on and legs thru the body with a darning needle.

 

Rick

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I like the soft foam popper bodies. For me, they're easier to work with, I don't have to shape them. They take permanent markers real well and if you want to get fancy and do a fire tiger popper it's easy. Easier to pull legs through them if you want to add them. I usually coat mine with a light coat of UV resin, thinned Liquid Fusion or thinned flexament. Makes them a bit tougher and keeps the eyes in place.

As mentioned foam sheets open unlimited possibilities. Here are couple of other ideas for using foam sheets. This may be one of the easiest poppers to tie. The guy who showed it to me 20+ years ago called it a "fun foam" popper. Consists of a circle punched out of a sheet of craft foam, hackle of your choice for the body and marabou for the tail. Hardest part is pinching the foam circle when tying it in to form the cupped head. I have a set of punches I use or brass .45 Colt, 20 ga or 12 ga for the circles. For panfish, think nickel or quarter size circles, half dollar size for bass. Here are couple of not so great pictures of what it looks like.

 

post-309-0-00860600-1498164170_thumb.jpgpost-309-0-72076800-1498164201_thumb.jpg

 

The other one uses a heart shaped piece of foam for the popper head. I modified a foam bug that Harry Steeves showed 15 or so years ago. I don't remember what he called it or if it even had a name. Here's what the original looked like.

 

post-309-0-18331000-1498164815_thumb.jpg post-309-0-42591600-1498164829_thumb.jpg

 

Three years ago, I decided to add it back to my warm water boxes with a modification. All I did was open the mouth up.

 

post-309-0-31665600-1498164987_thumb.jpg post-309-0-32846500-1498165000_thumb.jpg

 

If you work the retrieve right it acts like a Jitterbug. It's been one of my most effective since then.

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Flip flops ... $0.98 a pair.

Brass tube ... $3.00 (approximately)

Punch out as many as you want.

Bluegill love flip flops. Easy to make and fun to catch.

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I like making my own cork popper bodies from cork bottle stoppers. You can buy a bag of 20 or so of assorted sizes from the craft store (or craft section of your local big box) for about $2-3. You can get fancy and sand them into whatever shape you want, or just mount them on the hook as-is, paint them (I like either Testor's model car enamel for this; if you want to give them a little more "bling" you can also use glitter nail polish), add some feather tails and rubber legs and go fishing. I tie these for bass, too. http://www.flytyingforum.com/index.php?showtopic=83998&hl=#

What size cork do you figure works best for panfish?

 

The two smallest sizes in the assortment bags (see photo below) are the only sizes I've used so far. I've caught both bass and bluegills/sunnies on both.

 

post-36073-0-99969200-1498278137_thumb.jpeg

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