Lefty Kreh “Classic Popper”

[Phil Lilley]

Lefty Kreh “Classic Popper”

I don’t know if you will be able to find this exact molding. They are kind of hard to find on the market, but another way you could get away to tying this, is with the pencil poppers that have the pre-made with styrofoam that come together as a set. You can get away with coloring that foam any color you want. This is a very simple pattern that does not require any complicated steps in tying this fly. This pattern was designed for small mouth bass and you will grow to like fishing this fly in rivers, creeks and lakes like I have grown to do.

Recipe:

Hook: pencil popper hooks with pre-made Styrofoam heads

Thread: color to match tail. I like to use red or yellow / UNI 3/0 or UTC 140

Tail: Bucktail (Yellow)

Flash: Mirage Flash

Body: pre-made foam glued down in-between the hook

TYING INSTRUCTIONS

Get the thread started behind the body. I like to use this new material called Mirage flash. It is a lot stiffer and will not twist up or around the bend of the hook when casting long distances. Go ahead and tie that in. Cut the length to what you desire. Just remember to leave it shorter when fishing for smaller warm water species. Now Pike fishing is a different story. They don’t care how long it is because they it from all directions.

Measure the bucktail to about the same length as you cut the flash. I don’t like to go real bulky with the hair so make sure it looks like it fits the profile of the rest of the fly. If you don’t know what part of the hair you need then pick from the top part of the tail. The further down you go the bottom you will notice the hair is a lot stiffer and will create a flare hen you go to tie it in and cinch it with your thread. When you first start tying thread try to not tie it in with to much tension on the thread. As you get it really tied in with a smooth thread base then you can secure it tighter.

That is pretty much it. Whip finish the fly and your done.

NOTE: If you don’t have the pre-made hooks with the head then you will need to glue the Styrofoam style ones. Then you can paint the white with prisma color markers.