A Few More Thoughts And Questions About Poppers

[Flysmallie]

I use an old rotisserie from a grill.

[Lancer09]

From my understand, and not being an expert in theory the rods under eight feet are allowed in some tournaments but even them some tours fly not allow fly fishing.

The original idea wasn't to rule out fly fishing but to keep guys from flipping with really long fly rods with a casting or spinning reEl on them instead.

Though even if it is allowed it'd be hard to really covered enough water tl be practical in a tournament. But with the nature of flies and fly fishing some of those guys could probably clean up during the spawn in shallow water.

[Old plug]

Well now they got high priced casting rids 8 ft long. I still think it is connected to B A S S and al the sponsors if this stuff. I bet you a good fisherman with a fly rod might really surprise a lot if people and that would not sell bait casting and spinning reels and all the other stuff they push.i still do nit think its fair and it should be challenged.

[fishinwrench]

The day for that is coming soon. More and more fishermen every year are becoming bored with slinging hardware on 30# braid and winching fish to the side of the boat.

A flyfisherman will be pretty darn stoked over a couple of 15" bass, and SO ELATED about a 5-7lber that he can't get the smile off his face for hours, whereas a gear fisherman will not.

That's because the gear guy truly didn't accomplish anything awesome, and deep down he knows it.

[BilletHead]

No truer words have been spoken Fishinwrench,

BilletHead

[Old plug]

That is true. But i do not use anything over 10 lb test anymore. Maybe 12 on one bait caster. The only heavier thing I use is a 20 or30 lb 9" steel leader I use on Gar and deep jigging where i might run into a large catfish. I might not ever catch one if i didn't. Down deep they shoud be afraid of the fly rod people. The fly rod is much more versatile than gear.

The big difference i think between most people I see on here is there is a joy in fishing. Most tournament types are engaged in something else. I think they have lost touch with what fishing all about. I say this in spite of having friends that do it

[Jason R.]

The limitation I see with fly fishing is anytime you need to fish deep. It is pretty tough to fish a fly past about 25 feet. I disagree about covering water though- a guy with a good cast and a 9wt can cover a ton of water very quickly. Caught this dude on a popper on my 6wt the other day.

[Lancer09]

Oh, a fly rod can cover a lot of water, just not at the sheer speed of a guy through lipless cranks or spinner baits. They never stop running the trolling motor. Maybe it is just me though but I have tried it, and I was having to cast as far ahead of where we were going as away from the boat just sothat I wouldn't be dragging fly line half way into my retrieve.

[fishinwrench]

Here's a design that I have been playing with for over a month now, and at first you might think its just another version of a "blockhead", but it kicks a blockheads butt bigtime which gives me great pleasure because I can't stand Tim Holshlag (I think he's a douchebag)

It casts great,and lands with a sexy "slap". You can control the volume and disturbance of the 'blooop' by how hard you pop it. And on a long steady strip...if you just pretend that your stripping a streamer instead of fishing a popper.... it gurgles like a buzzbait and if tied on with a no-slip loop knot it wiggles side to side like a TWM leaving a trail of bubble behind it.

I've always been a 'Cupped and Slotted Cork' kinda guy, but this bad boy here does triple duty.

It is just 3 layers of craft foam laminated using 3M Super 77 and then cut into 5/8" wide by 1 3/4" long strips, poke it on after dressing the tail, loc-tite gel that baby and fold it over, then do a cinching wrap a little bit behind center and slap on some googly eyes (sorry Ronnie Moore)

The really cool part is that after it gets chewed on a bunch it may begin to come "unlaminated" at the face which causes it to make even more racket, and more bubbles....but a little less wiggle.

Pretty cool!

[Wayne SW/MO]

I think the reason fly gear isn't popular is because there is very little after market $. You can bet that every Tom, Dick, and Kevin would be tying some secret fly up and BPS would be left holding the $15 Japanese super popper.

I've seen that pattern before Wrench and glad to hear it's a keeper from someone whose judgement I trust.