Tying foam bass poppers

[JerryInLodi]

I've had so much luck using these flies that I'd like to share the method of construction. In additon to being easy to tie, they're fun as well. I've put a set of photo instructions at:

http://www.deltastripers.com/poppers1.htm

I'll put some additional pictures of a few different patterns as well as the one pictured on in a few days.

[Hairstacker]

Jerry, outstanding tutorial, really appreciate you sharing it! It also seems like it wouldn't be very hard to create a Dahlberg Diver-style head using the methods you employed. Very cool. Really looking forward to the other pictures you mentioned.

[JerryInLodi]

Mike, I agree, probably the only thing necessary is to cut an inclined plane at the front of the popper head rather than dish it to make it pop.

I'll give it a try in the next week or so. The only thing that prevents me is that the fly I showed and the other pattern work so well that I'm too lazy to do much more.

Many of my guests bring commercially tied Dahlberg Divers to fish with. Almost without exception, after about three casts the fly turns into a subsurface streamer rather than a floating diver. I'll tie on one of my Dahlberg poppers and they immediately begin catching fish. When they hang one up on the rocks they worry they'll loose their "hot" fly!

I think the real challenge is to make a hook up model of the fly that REALLY hooks fish. I've already made a hook up version that turns over well as long as it lands in clear water. It strips easily over delta debris without snagging and then can be popped again when it hits clear water. I haven't had the occasion to use it yet though since I've been lucky enough to fish high tide ever since I tied the fly.

[Jay Murakoshi]

Why a hook up fly? You have a foam body, why not take a large needle and punch two holes in the bottom and use 50lb hard mason from the glue in point and just beyond the hook point.

I've tied some foam poppers using a 30 degree hook. Just doesn't act like the "J" hook.

Jay

[JerryInLodi]

Mike, I cleaned up the photos and included a header picture of the three proven patterns so far.

The Dahlberg is a great daytime fly. I use it whenever there's adequate light. It's the one with the tying instructions on the web page. My wife will not use any other fly and in fact has used the exact same fly for about seven or eight outings. The deer hair on her fly is looking a little chewed on after about 150 fish.

The Striper fly has a white bucktail and silver flashabou tail, a black ice chenille collar at the base of the while popper head. The popper head is covered with epoxy and sprinkled with silver glitter. The front of the fly is cut at an angle the same as a crease fly and is not cupped. The fly shown is already responsible for three stripers including a 7 pounder that was hooked on the fly's first cast! The ice chenille is looking a little used when compared to when new.

The Gen-X fly is very basic and was the first prototype I tied. It's simply three or four chartreuse hackles tied on each side of the hook facing out for a splayed tail, a black hackle collar and a black foam body with a cupped front. I've experimented in sticking rubber legs through the foam but it doesnt seem to make any difference. The fly catches lots of fish either way. I use the fly in low light conditions.

Jay, I agree, that a bent hook does have hooking problems but I also think that weed guards are obstacles in fish hooking. However Sturmer white ties a lot of flies with weed guards and seems to hook just as many fish as I do.

I've found some new hooks at Bass Pro that REALLY have a large gape and can be purchased from 2/0 to 5/0. Even better, they are priced right at 4.99 for 25. They're super sharp and seem to be VERY high quality. I've listed them on the web page. I think the wider gape may be the answer to a good 30 degree hook up fly. KD seems to make it work with his KD Rat.

Sturmer and I are going fishing next week and we may do some head scratching and see if one method seems superior to the other. In fact we may field test the hook-up and weed guard models whether we need them or not.

[Jay Murakoshi]

Jerry,

What do you mean by "obstacles" when it comes to weed guards. If you look at the jig hooks that some of the bass guys use, I'm talking about the ones with the short "stiff" guards. They seem to still hook into fish. 30lb or 40lb heavy mono is definitly not an obstacle but needed when you throw deep into the backside of the tules or heavy weed cover.

I have found that the 30 degree jig hooks that I"m tying on right now have the widest gap so far. They are the Mustad 32886 BLN style hooks. They will be listed on my web site (new website) under the on-line store link. I'm still working on it. The fly section is taking the majority of my time right now. Then I'm trying to decided to go with the .Mac account or try and download it to my current ISP account.

Jay

[JerryInLodi]

Jay, I'm going to try the mono guards again now that I'm tying using the foam. I've seen some of the double mono guards and they seem look effective.

I wasn't pleased with the single mono guards with the hair stuff I had tied. I kept hooking up on the weed mats. That's why I became so interested in the hook-up patterns. My early experiments with them were less than satisfying. It seemed the flies missed too many fish.

The other reason I like the hook-up flies is that they sit flat on the mats rather than cocking to the side because of the hook and weed guard. That's a minor thing though.

Right now the fish are working a lot of open water and the need for a weed guard seems less. The exact opposite is true in th spring, then I find the fish much deeper in the cover. I'll work on the problem more in the spring.

Lots of stuff to work on.

I'll have to look at the Mustads you've mentioned.

If you have time to do some "research" send me a PM.

[East Bay Ed]

Hi Jerry,
I loved the link you gave us in honor of "Chevyvan37". I was visiting a store with my wife called Tuesday Morning. It's a place that sells items at discount. Selling items that major stores could not sell. They had foam pads for your knees when working in the yard. These are big enough (15/16" in width) that I could forego glueing thongs together. Anyway, I thought this was a good topic to bring up again with the recent flurry of activity with Leo Gutierrez and balsa poppers.

[JerryInLodi]

Very good East Bay Ed. I don't think I mentioned it in the article but ChevyVan37 used all kinds of foam once he got into it, from very light stuff to very dense. I've only tried the flip-flops so far, each pair of size 10-12 seem to be able to make from 40-50 popper heads, maybe more since I've never counted.

I agree though, if I come across some foam that seems to be the right density, regardless of the source, it's in danger of becoming a bass popper!