A Few More Thoughts And Questions About Poppers

[BilletHead]

First I have a question. Is there a rule of thumb for head to tail ratio when tying poppers? I know when doing flies tail is X amount long compared to hook shank length. Just what looks good? I know some I have tied look a bit goofy and the back end gets knifed off.

Now some things that might help others who want to carve your own I have learned. Others might already know this but I did not until trial and error.

#1 Even though I am hand carving the balsa I have been using the dremel for cupping the face. The first few I made and the store bought heads I made were flat faced but I liked the sound of cupped ones. I use a pointy carving bit to rough out the face and then change to the round ball gritty grinder to finish off. Here is a photo of three bodies that have been made. Face and side profile. A couple of 2/0 and a 4 size.

#2 Cup the face and then glue in the hook before carving. Hook gives you something to hold on to when slicing off wood. Also when slotting your wood block just use an exacto or single sided razor blade. Lots of super glue and the balsa is soft enough the hook will widen the wood when you force it in. Carve to shape and this brings us to,

#3 Super glue is your friend. Yes kind of expensive but you can get a big bottle at Grizzly tools reasonably priced. I use the maxi cure. After you carve and sand your body to shape coat your balsa with the glue. It will soak in and harden, besides making the balsa strong it seals the wood for painting. Sand once more before painting. You will understand after painting one before and after using the glue.

#4 obvious but try to keep your epoxy out of your hook eye. What a pain in the rear to clear it afterwards. I know.

#5 I like marabou for the pencil popper tails. When wet just laying in the water the marabou just quivers looking so real. Another obvious choice I know but I was just wading and had a popper just floating a foot in front of me as I was checking it out a bass attacked it and I got wet on its tail turn.

More photos, a couple of my carved bodies. One tied and one not.

A couple of factory flat faced bodies. Froggy and a golden shiner.

Finally one that caught this morning,

A final question for Gavin if you read this. I have slept since I remember this topic from somewhere but did you do a fly rod balsa prop bait? Post about it or is my vivid imagination making this up?

BilletHead

[fishinwrench]

They look awesome!

I'm a huge fan of the cupped face but I've had problems with marabou for popper tailings. I switched to silicone for my bigger LM poppers and never went back.

I still like the of fashioned hackle tails for smallies though.

Length and bulk on the tails is a guessing game, I had a habit for a long time of not tying them full enough and came to the conclusion that there's no such thing as "too full". If I can fit another set of hackles on the tail then I slap them on there....cuz when they're wet they seem to loose the bulk that they had on the vise.

[ness]

I'm liking these poppers guys. BilletHead -- you've got some pretty good looking color schemes on those guys.

[BilletHead]

Thanks for the tips Wrench. I need to try the silicone legs. Ness thanks. I am kind of getting a bit In a color funk this morning trying to figure out how to paint the three balsa ones,

BilletHead

[Flysmallie]

I don't like a whole lot of splash most of the time so I don't worry about cupping the face. I have something made out of sheet foam that makes more noise than any cupped popper if that's what they want.

I also don't like using super glue on the bodies. Yeah for putting it on the shank it works great but not over the whole body. It does seal it up good for sure but it also sands like a rock too. And I want/need them really smooth before I paint. The best thing I have found so far is DAP Patching Plaster. It sands really easy and leaves everything smooth. Then a coat or two of primer, sand again, and then paint. It's all overkill though. I should just take some sharpies to some bare balsa and the fish wouldn't care but it's so much fun to tinker.

I install the hook/shank after I have the body formed. Super glue it in and then fill the gap with elmers glue mixed with the balsa sanding dust. I like the idea of having that hook or shank to hold onto while using the belt sander but I would either nick the hook point or bury it in my hand.

Tails? Silicone is good, Marabou is good, Hackle is good. It's a popper, you can't go wrong.

Your flies look great Billet.

[Jason R.]

Dude Billet I think your the one that should be answering the questions- those look real nice. I have found that all I need is black or white with a Gami B10 hook- with a marabou tail and a bunch of legs preferably.

[BilletHead]

Ronnie a belt sander? I got to get with the program, I'm using sandpaper to finish off after carving. As far as the superglue I have the body sanded before applying then just a sand with 320 and paint. Have not seen it is hard to sand yet.

Jason, I think painting different colors is overkill as I think fish look up and see a dark form when floating. Just like Ronnie said. As a fisherman we like a cool colors. Just a plain white or black popper catches. Thanks for the comments fellows, I am having a good time doing this for grins and giggles. Then catching fish reinforces the feeling. It also gives me one more element of doing it yourself,

BilletHead

[Flysmallie]

Ronnie a belt sander? I got to get with the program,

Yeah I bought this little cheap one at Harbor Freight for $40. You cant beat that plus it works great on the lawnmower blade. And it has an attachment to hook up a shop vac to cut down on dust.

http://www.harborfreight.com/1-inch-x-30-inch-belt-sander-2485.html

Then you can buy some or make some fine grit belts. It comes with a really coarse grit belt which is good for initial shaping, I don't carve any more!! Belts are quick and easy to change. I go from the coarse one which I think is 80 grit all the way up to 600 grit.

[Wayne SW/MO]

Wrench did you ever do any good with Hula replica?

[fishinwrench]

Wrench did you ever do any good with Hula replica?

Just a bunch of dinks so far. It doesn't have enough YELLOW to keep my confidence level up between bites.

Everytime I switch back to ol' Yeller-tech the water explodes, so I have to force myself to throw anything else.