Lets talk poppers.

[keithdog]

Recently I submitted a post about wolfpack bassin. The bass were attacking schools of small baitfish at the surface throughout the day. I caught lots of bass, but only on a couple lures. The lure I had my best luck with was a bone colored popper that says PJ Popper on it. I don't know anything about the company that made it. Anyways, although I caught a lot of bass on that popper I wasn't very saticfied with how the popper performed. It has a small cupped mouth and kinda darted irregularly all over the place. That was the only time I've had much success with a popper, but now that I have, I want to pick up a couple more. I'm specifically looking for a popper in the 3 inch, 1/2 oz. size range so that I can cast it a good long ways to those schools that are too far away to reach with a small light weight popper. I've been looking at a few different ones at Tackle Warehouse. Some I'm interrested in are...
Don Iovino's large size popper. TW does not list the actual size other than just "large". It's about a $14.00 lure.
Lucky Craft Splash It 70. 2 3/4 inch and 7/16 oz. $15.00 popper.
Rebel Pop R 3" and 1/2 oz. only $4.99
Yellow Magic Japanese popper at about $15.00

I'm not very well versed in poppers, what makes for a good popper, color schemes that would be prefered, and so on. The Rebel popper is cheaper but not as impressive as the others when it comes to appearance. The others cost 3 times as much, but are they 3 times as well made, and do they perform better. So for you popper fisheerman out there, how about helpin out a popper newbie? Whats your favorite popper makes/models and why. And suggestions for colors? Match the hatch, or something more subdued so the fish cant see the lure too clearly? Any helpfull suggestions and tips would be greatly appreciated.

[BigBassin144]

I'd check out the larger size XCalibur Zell Pop. I've got a couple and love the action they have.

BB

[CamG]

Iovino Splash It's are about the only poppers I use (unless I'm fishing for white's or hybrids).

I've been fishing with them since about 2001, and have a bunch of confidence in them. I've thrown them at times when a topwater shouldn't have worked, and still caught them. King Shad is my favorite.

[keithdog]

Originally Posted by CamG

Iovino Splash It's are about the only poppers I use (unless I'm fishing for white's or hybrids).

I've been fishing with them since about 2001, and have a bunch of confidence in them. I've thrown them at times when a topwater shouldn't have worked, and still caught them. King Shad is my favorite.

What is the weight and inch size of the Iovino large popper?

[CamG]

Originally Posted by keithdog

What is the weight and inch size of the Iovino large popper?

http://www.basstackledepot.com/don-i...splash-it.aspx

I don't own any of the larger size as I haven't seen the need.

[thekevster]

Poppers are great lures,one of my personal favorites and a classic is the
hula popper made by Arbogast.Great lure and has a nice action to it.
There are different sizes you can get.Arbogast also makes another topwater lure called the jitterbug and it is great as well.I have landed some lunkers on these lures you will too.

[lilmule]

That pj was a go to bait at kerr years ago,if its working why change.
At times they want a walk as well so one that spits pops and walks -gplash or gunfish is a different offering,while the popnimage works the old popr with a carved front bottom lip(cupped) can be deadly.Also available in bone.

[walkeraviator]

I like the good ole fashioned Pop'R myself. BUt the Zell Pop and Hoola Popper are excellent designs as well. I recently have become interested in the SkitterPop, because it appears that it would walk teh dog as it pops... but that is just guessing based on teh angle of teh cup and teh placement fo teh tie ring. (one of these days i need to learn to type "the" properly huh?)

I have never been one to even think about spending $30 on a lure, but teh MegaBass X Pod has me intrigued... it has an adjustable lip which makes it do different things as you work it on the surface.

http://www.tacklewarehouse.com/Megab...age-MXPOD.html

As for popper colors, i keep it simple like buzzbaits since they are reaction baits that are only viewed from below anyway. Black at night, silver or white in the day. Sometimes ill go to red, gold, chartreus, or orange color is the water is a little more stained... the big thing here is retrieval. Change it up a lot til you find out what they want... sometimes they want it popped so hard it sounds like a rock got dropped in the water from 50ft... other times they want it to hardly splash at all... sometimes they want pop and stop... sometimes they want constant movement.

[walkeraviator]

what rod/reel are you using?

[keithdog]

Originally Posted by walkeraviator

what rod/reel are you using?

Sorry it took so long to reply walker. I've been at work, lol. I don't have a particular outfit that I use for poppers as I'm just getting into using them. The other weekend when I DID use one with great results, I was casting with a 7ft MH casting Cabelas XML casting rod with a Revo SX loaded with 17 pound mono. But that probably wouldn't normally be my first choice. I have a 6 1/2 ft medium action casting outfit with 12 pound line that might work better. Also I could go with a 6 1/2 MH action casting outfit. Still at the experimenting stage here.

[bigbasser]

I like the Yellow Magic, it's a great bait and Alewife is my fovorite color. As for the other brands I own just about all of them, but if I had to pick one it would be the yellow magic. bigbasser

[RPBassin']

I give the Skitterpop's two thumbs up. Great lure.

[Kevin]

I use and like Don Iovino's Splash-It II (Big) and catch fish on it.

But the hooks are incredibly weak and will straighten out every time. I have no idea what brand treble comes stock on it, but it really is amazing how weak they are. So first thing I do is swap in some new trebles.

The Rico and G-Splash are good too.

Don't forget about the Gunfish 95. It's a compact pencil popper that is much more subtle. It works great very close to cover and I tend to power fish with it.

[Mac2]

Keithdog,

I remember reading an article about the Rebel Pop-R and in that article several pros were mentioned and they were sanding the bottom lip to create a slide on the pop....meaning without so much bottom lip to dig in the lure would more likely create a feeding splash on the surface. I would think if you accidentally sanded a hole in the bottom lip, it could be filled with JB weld or some other similar material. The modified lure was reportedly often used by a fellow with the last name, Martin as I recall.

[Garry2rs]

I own a couple of old (40+ year old) Heddon Pop'in Image's. They are white with red heads. The bait I usually use is a more resent Pop"R" with a baby bass type finish.

On the Pop"R" I switched to KVD hooks. The Heddon hooks are attached in the old style with hangers that are built in.

As far as colour is concerned, if you are submerged and looking up, the surface appears silver and anything floating on it is a silhouette.

In my tackle box, I want a popper with a white belly and perhaps one with an orange belly, the paint job on the top is just window dressing.
Garry2R's

[3dkicker]

Pop R (P-70 or P-65) in the baby bass is my go to bait for topwater recently. RICO Suave is my second when I'm using a larger popper. Lightning shad, I believe, is the color I use. I have a Black/Chrome Pop R in the 70 or 65 size but haven't used it yet.

Thanks for the Lobina link Kevin.....but I got my names wrong.....Rio Rico is what I meant.

[thekevster]

All this talk about skitter pops im going to have to get one and try it out,just read some reviews on it and it looks like a winner
What about the skitter walk anyone ever tried that out?

[Lilmoosecountry]

Best poppers with the best action are mine made with real wine corks as heads with real feathors. I tune each in a bowl of water trying to find the right angle. Before i glue there heads.

[BigBassin144]

Bryce, I see you're getting some practice with your wireless trigger. By the way, what rod do you throw that popper on?

When it comes to topwater rods, it's as versatile as spinnerbaits. I've used a 6' M XF, 6'6" MH F, 7' M F, 7'6" MH F and all have worked fine. The one I haven't tried yet is my crankbait rod (7' M M). I'll give it a try one night in my pond and let everyone know how it works.

BB

[thekevster]

Originally Posted by BigBassin144

When it comes to topwater rods, it's as versatile as spinnerbaits. I've used a 6' M XF, 6'6" MH F, 7' M F, 7'6" MH F and all have worked fine. The one I haven't tried yet is my crankbait rod (7' M M). I'll give it a try one night in my pond and let everyone know how it works.

BB

Yea topwater is very versatile just like spinnerbait rods.The only thing I could see wrong with using your crankbait rod is if your using a MH rod and its glass its going to be heavy.

[BigBassin144]

Originally Posted by thekevster

Yea topwater is very versatile just like spinnerbait rods.The only thing I could see wrong with using your crankbait rod is if your using a MH rod and its glass its going to be heavy.

I used my 7' Med Mod graphite crankbait rod tonight for topwaters in my pond. I tried everything from small buzzbaits to poppers to a walk-the-dog bait.

It worked great for the popper and small buzzbait, although I would want something a bit stronger for larger buzzbaits. Also, I like something a bit faster action for walking the dog. I'll have to remember my crankin' stick next time I fish a popper.

BB

[thekevster]

Im going to do some experimenting with this myself and see what feels more natural to me .
Did you try to catch fish in your pond and did you get anything or were you just practicing casting and retrieving? If you got something how was the hook set?

Yea It seems like you would need that fast action for walking the dog style baits so the question is would you really get better hook sets using a moderate action rod or would it be all around the best choice to stick with a medium power fast action rod for poppers,buzzbaits,topwater lures etc etc.It would be weird to have one topwater rod for buzzbaits/poppers and another for lures you walk the dog with.Also It would be kind of hard to get used to two different action topwater rods instead of mastering it with one kind of action.It really is just down to the individual angler and what you feel comfortable with and what works for you.

[BigBassin144]

Originally Posted by thekevster

Did you try to catch fish in your pond and did you get anything or were you just practicing casting and retrieving? If you got something how was the hook set?

I got one hit on the popper, but all there is in our pond is small 7-12" bass. I was mostly just checking out retrieves and such.

BB

[Jrob78]

I'm by no means an expert on poppers but I like to use a Powell Max 702c, 7' M XF. It is pretty lightly powered as far as mediums go. It is the same rod I use for hard jerkbaits.

[walkeraviator]

Sorry I didnt get back to this thread Keith... the reaso i asked teh rod/reel question is because you stated you want larger to throw farther... So I was gonna suggest using a spinning setup. I use a 6'0" medium/fast spinning setup... though as you know a fast action spinning tip is still pretty noodle-ish... i like em short cuz i fish around cluttered banks a lot, and shorter means more accuracy when i need it... but with the buggy whip tip, and spinning reel... i get all teh distance i can stand from even small poppers... another good reason for the whip tip is teh same reason you like em on crank baits... treble hooks come out easy if you dont let teh fish have some room to move so teh medium tip and mono line let it move however it wants without throwin the hooks...

just my $.02