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Buffalo Bob

Freshwater poppers for bass

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Looking for any suggestions, help, information for tying poppers. Any suggestions re: sourcing components, hook sizes / types, bodies, do's / don'ts, etc. will be appreciated.

Primarily will be fishing farm ponds, small rivers and creeks.

Thanking responders in advance.

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Flip flop foam. 

Synthetic hair and soft feather.  (I use the feather boas from Dollar Tree for the feather material)

Rubber legs

size 6 hook, heavy wire if you're going to be fishing in weedy areas.

Aug 2017 flip flop poppers (2).JPG

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If you have a rotary tool you can turn out your own bodies using craft foam sheets of foam marshmallows. You can get either one at most craft stores. The black one was hydro dipped in black fingernail polish then clear.

DSC01316_kindlephoto-33161677.jpg

DSC01815.JPG

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Get flip-flops at $$$ Tree, sharpen the end of a piece of copper tubing as a cutter and go to it!

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2 hours ago, skeet3t said:

Get flip-flops at $$$ Tree, sharpen the end of a piece of copper tubing as a cutter and go to it!

Spent bullet casings work well too.

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Just now, flymanaj said:

Spent bullet casings work well too.

Yes, unless it is a .22 rimfire.😉 Just need a source for empties. I got a set of plug punches at Harbor Freight a while back.

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8 minutes ago, skeet3t said:

Yes, unless it is a .22 rimfire.😉 Just need a source for empties. I got a set of plug punches at Harbor Freight a while back.

I use 9mm

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4 hours ago, flymanaj said:

I use 9mm

Good size. Have heard of guys using .45 ACP for the bigger ones.

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Components-  Well you've already got a lot of advice on doing it on the cheap.  For empty shell casings, 9 mm is good start, I've have casings ranging from .32 to 12 ga.  I use them mainly for punching circles out of craft foam.  You best bet would the a cheap set of plug punches.  Like flymanaj, I picked mine up at Harbor Freight.  The diameters range 1/8" to 1" with my set.  I would start out with buying pre-formed soft foam popper bodies, white and yellow.  I don't like the double barrel popper that are now the rage.   You should be able to find them on line or in a fly shop.   Medium to large would be good sizes for bass.  You can color them with permanent markers.  Here's a couple I made with pre-formed soft foam popper bodies.  

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Hooks:  There are "popper" hooks available.  I don't use them.  I prefer straight shank, straight eye,  wide gape, 2xl or 3xl hooks,  The Daiichi 2461 or the Eagle Claw Aberdeen Crappie hooks are some of the ones I use.  I'll also use heavy wire straight eye streamer hooks.  I wouldn't go smaller  than a size 6 for bass.  My bass poppers are tied on size 6 to 3/0 hooks.  The ones above are tied on 1/0 Daiichi 2461.  And Super glue, I wrap the shank with thread and coat it with super glue and slide the body on.  Once it sets it's not going anywhere.

Other materials,   feathers(Schlappen or saddle hackle), marabou, buck tail, some sort of flash material, eyes are optional.  I like them on my poppers, but I don't whether it makes a difference or not to the fish.  Something to coat them with.  I use a flexible UV resin, but Liquid Fusion or similar product will work.  Toughens up the popper and keeps the foam from absorbing water.  Super Glue.  I wrap the hook shank with thread, coat it with super glue and slide the preformed body on. Once it set the body isn't going anywhere.

You can also just use craft foam for a popper by punching a circle out of a piece of 2 mm craft foam.  This is first popper I learned to tie.  The guy who showed it to me called it a "fun foam" popper.  It's a good little popper and easy to tie.

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A marabou tail,  hackle of your choice and a foam circle.  This one is tied on a size 6 Daiichi 2461.  You have to pinch the foam circle when you tie it on, in order to get the cup. This is what it looks like from the front.

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It can push a lot of water.

I tie another one out of a heart shaped piece of foam.  It's a variation of a pattern Harrison Steves showed me.  But you need a heart shaped punch to make the head.  I can get it to act like a Jitterbug with a little bit of manipulation.

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Here's another popper made from a sheet of craft foam.  Can't remember the name of the guy who taught the class.

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The Crease Fly is a similar pattern that can be tied a craft foam sheet.  With a wide mouth it can be a popper, closed it's a floating minnow.

There are a lot of options and materials you can use to make poppers.

 

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Lefty's Bug - as simple as it gets from Lefty Kreh.

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Hook - Mustad 9672 or popper hook, 2-14

Thread - black

Tail - grey squirrel tail (can use red or fox squirrel tail)

Body - small cork tied on front half of the hook shank, painted as needed, slice a slit in the bottom of the cork to accommodate the hook and glue of tie into place

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Is it possible to take multiple 1" x 1" squares of 2mm sheet foam, glue them together to make a cube and then drive a 9 mm casing through them ?  I've never tried this and wondered if the casing is sharp enough to do multiple layers at once.  If so, you could come up with some really neat striped color scheme poppers.

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9 hours ago, robow7 said:

Is it possible to take multiple 1" x 1" squares of 2mm sheet foam, glue them together to make a cube and then drive a 9 mm casing through them ?  I've never tried this and wondered if the casing is sharp enough to do multiple layers at once.  If so, you could come up with some really neat striped color scheme poppers.

It can be done. You might have to put an edge on the brass to cut cleanly.

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With a  9mm casing, the max you could probably glue together would be somewhere between 5 and 8 squares.  You'll end up with a square 10 to 16 mm thick.   It might be more economical to glue 8 1/2" X 11" sheets together and then cut the 1" squares.  If you can find them, you might try using sticky back craft foam sheets, saves the mess of dealing with glue.  They come in a variety of colors.  You'll definitely need to keep the edge of the brass sharp and that also applies to a punch set if you buy one of them.   You need to keep the inside and the outside edge sharp in order to get a clean cut.

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