Popper Size for Smallmouth and Largemouth

[feathers5 0]

I was wondering, would size 6 poppers work well for both species? I'm thinking that anything smaller might get too many small panfish to strike. They have poppers and hooks in a kit at Fish USA. Opinions sought and Appreciated.

[mikechell 0]

My two largest bass on a fly rod (4 and 6 pound Large Mouth Bass), both came on bluegill flies. One on a small popper (size 8 hook), the other on a small streamer (also a size 8, I think).

That said ... there is some truth to the adage, "If you want to catch big fish, use big lures."

You'll get a lot of small fish hammering a small fly ... and you'll catch a big fish if you put the fly on it's nose.

You'll get much fewer small fish hits on a large fly ... and big fish in the area are more likely to check a large fly out.

But I am one of those anglers that's happy to catch fish. I'd rather catch little ones and an occasional big un' than to trophy fish all day and not get one fish on the hook.

[feathers5 0]

Me, too. I just like catching fish.

[mikechell 0]

So a size 6 popper can get smashed by Large Mouth and Small Mouth Bass. You might have to battle a few smaller 'gills on the way. I like using 6, 8 and 10 because you never know what the next strike is going to be.

[Dave G. 0]

I caught a 3lb largemouth on a size 10 Muddler Minnow. I caught another one on a 1/6 oz Colorado spoon. Years ago there was an article on catching big fish on small flies in one of the fly fishing magazines so for a period of a few years I just didn't tie anything big. Then I was bait fishing with my stepson after work for about a week straight, we trapped minnows right where we were fishing and using those for bait. Seemed the perch were rather active and also smaller 1lb bass. I set one rod up down the shore a ways with a worm. That rod kept wiggling and I went and set the hook. As I cranked in a small fish the rod suddenly loaded up on some fish I had no control over from the beach, it just went where ever it wanted and it was going to spool my reel out when it let go and I reeled in a sunfish. So while I mostly tie smaller flies I'm also now trying some of these big perch patterns and such, big in like 5-6 " long.. This all tells me that at least some of the really big fish are taking what is on our small flies.

 

That all said, if to use poppers I mostly use panfish poppers for small mouth bass and sometimes a large mouth takes one too. Too early to tell how my foam creations are going to work out but I have used the chartreuse Betts panfish poppers for years with good luck.

 

Yesterday I got booted out of the same stretch of water all that activity took place in many years ago that I described above. Closed to fishing now. So I gotta get the boat out. I came home to get it ready for today, the battery is dead. I'm about to go out and put the charger on it now. Some girl came paddling over on a wake board wearing a little two piece bathing suit, she said this entire stretch is closed to fishing. I was between the landing and the beach. I wasn't really fishing anyway, I was more trying my flies out and wasn't staying long in the bright blazing sun and shallow bath water.. Well there are 729 acres with 6 miles of shore line there, all accessible by boat..

[Poopdeck 0]

I use size 2 and 4 hooks for SMB. If a bass is near a popper it will take it regardless of size.

[tidewaterfly 0]

I prefer big poppers for either SM or LM, and have made poppers for LM on hooks as large as 5/0 and 3/0 for SM. However, like Mike has said, you never know what size fly they'll take at any given time. I've caught both on size 8 poppers while fishing for panfish.

 

Also, much of the time it's going to depend a lot on the type of water you're fishing & the depth. On a small, shallow stream, a size 6 might be a "big" size, but on a big river or lake, it probably won't be. Most of the SM I've caught have been in streams or rivers and like Poopdeck, most of the time I was using poppers made on hooks in the 4 to 1 size range. For LM, I've used 1/0 or 2/0 sized poppers a lot in brackish, tidal rivers.

 

I once had a 6" SM bass grab a big 8" long saltwater type pencil popper (conventional tackle) I was tossing for Striped Bass. That told me a fly can't be too big for SM or LM bass if a SM so small would try to eat a lure that was bigger than it was. This happened on the MD portion of the Susquehanna River below Conowingo Dam. On a river that size I would have no qualms about tossing poppers made on 1/0 to 3/0 size hooks for SM or LM.

 

If you're going to fish a variety of waters, then it's usually best to have a variety of sizes. To answer your question, size 6 is not a bad choice.

[BoSmith 0]

I like larger sizes only because they 'pop' louder and can call fish in from a greater distance. But as was said, if you put in on there nose, who knows how big a fish will take a small one. In most situations I make the longest cast possible with a popper and hope to rattle them in from every direction... In this case bigger can be better (especially if fishing around heavy cover).

[Kentuckysteve 0]

I use size 6 and 8 when panfishing and occasionally catch bass on them.

 

If i am just targeting bass i use bigger poppers.Bluegill will hit them but usually just push them around.

[Philly 0]

Most of top waters are tied on size 6 to size 1 hooks. The average smallmouth/largemouth in the streams I fish are 8-12 inches. Since I do most of my fishing with a 6 wgt, I use the same size on larger rivers and lakes.

[Striperknight 0]

I use size 2 and 4 hooks for SMB. If a bass is near a popper it will take it regardless of size.

image.jpeg

I like your hoppers in this pick.

[Poopdeck 0]

There called triple decker hoppers I found on you tube. Tied with colors of craft store foam sheets (33 cents for a 8 1/2 by 11 sheet). For 99 cents you can tie a hundred hoppers.

[tidewaterfly 0]

I like those Triple Decker & other large foam flies as well for bass. Size 4 or 6 works great for SM bass.

 

 

Here's a large Adult Stonefly foam pattern I tied. Basically the same tying technique. This one was tied on a size 2/0 straight shank worm hook, so any size is never an issue!

 

[Big Fly Bob 0]

I fish mainly for large black bass and have been very successful at it. To catch them regularly then you need to use big poppers. I tie almost all of mine on H2o, 5/0 worm hooks. They have a huge gap and are very sharp right out of the pack. For bass poppers, they are the very best. But even with this size bugs, you will still have to deal with small fish occasionally.