STOFLYFISH

fish arefeeding
with a popper
d exciting angling
expenen "@ein:g and hearing your lure
pop and gurgleacrossthewater, followed
by an explosivestrike, is about as good
as it gets. You can find commercially
made poppers in the bins of most fly
shops, but they cost four or fivebucks
apiece. No self-respecting fly tier is go-
ingto stand for that, so thebest bet is to
makeyour own.
Youhaveacoupleof options forbuild-
ingpoppers. First,youcancarve,sand, and
Per f ect Popper s
. f or t he
T opwat er Bi t e
M a k i n g p o p p e r s i s a g r e a t w a y t o g e t i n t o f l y t y i n g ,
a n d i t ' s e a s i e r t h a n y o u t h i n k ! .
shapepopper bodies out of cork,balsa, or
foamblocks, then paint and seal them
with acrylicpaint andvarnish. Thisentire
process requires considerableskill,special
tools, paints, andbrushes. It's alsotedious
and time-consuming work, taking hours
72 [ www.f l yt yer .com
to accomplish. Or,you canbuildpoppers
theeasyway;asI do, byusingready-made
bodies painted with waterproof markers
andsealedwithnail polish.
I construct poppers in three stages.
The first stage involveswelding the pre-
made popper body to ahook with super-
glue. The second step involvesattaching
molded plastic eyes, applyingappropriate
colorsusingwaterproof markers, andthen
sealingthebody with Sinful Colorsfinger-
nail polish. Thefinal stage.involvesattach-
ingthetail materials,wrappingasoft-hackle
skirt, and sewingrubber legsthrough the
body It takes less than 30 minutes from
the timeyou clamp the hook in thevise
until you place the finished popper in
your flybox. If you use aproduction-line
Perfect Popper bodies, distributed by
Wapsi FlyPerfectPopper bodies come 10
toapack infour differentsizes, andretail
for about four bucks. The size6body is
just right for asize2Mustad 3366 bass-
bug hook, and the smaller size 8 body
fitsnicelyon asize4hook. If your local
flyshop doesn't stock them, gotowww.
wapsiflycom to find a dealer that does
carry them. ( N ot e: The aut hor ' s i nst r uc-
t i ons al so wor k when using ot her br ands of
pr emade f oam popper bodi es. - edi t or )
Using waterproof marking pens is
the most efficient way to color a pop-
per body There arethree brands of wa-
terproof markers availablein most craft
and officesupply stores: Sharpie, Prisma-
color, and Copic. Anyone of themwill
remember: The fishseeonly the bottom
of apopper, so all the artsystuff you do
on thetop isof no consequence tothem.
However;your efforttogivethebody frog-
likespots might impress your friends.
Once thepopper body ispainted and
the adhesive-backed eyes are in place,
I apply two coats of Sinful Colors Opal
Glitternail enamel asasealer Opal Glitter
dries quicklyand givesthebody abright,
durable, fish-scale appearance. You can
purchase Sinful Colorsnail enamel at any
Walgreens or almost any large discount
pharmacy or retailer
Pol i shi ng Of f 1bur Popper
Aftercompleting thehead, but beforein-
stallingthetail assembly;you might want
approach by first gluing several popper
bodies to abunch of hooks and proceed-
ing fromthere, you can crank out half a
dozenpoppers inacoupleof hours.
Getti ng the Goods
Several manufacturers offer pre-formed
popper bodies. I prefer the soft-foam, ta-
pered, cupped, and slotted bodies, called
do thejob, but I prefer Prismacolor and
Copic pens because theyhaveawidetip
on one end for broad strokes and afine
tip on the other end for detailedwork. I
don't spend alot of time painting pop-
per bodies, preferring to paint most of
themasolidcolor.If you havean artistic
flair,go for it, and use as many different
colors, spots, and stripes asyou like. But
5u m mer 2010 I 73
to consider adding aweed guard. Toat-
tachasimplesingle-loopweedguard, cut
athree-inch-long pieceof hard monofila-
ment about equal to the diameter of the
hook shank. Tieit to thetop of theshank
slightly beyond the hook bend. (You
should also position the popper body
slightly behind the hook eye to expose
enough shank to tiedown the tip of the
P e r f e c t P o p p e r
74 I www.Jl yt yer .com
P e r f e c t P e n c i l P o p p e r
weed guardwhen finishingthefly) You'll
complete the weed guard after tying on
thetail of thepopper.
Make the tail assembly using almost
anysynthetic or natural materials, includ-
ing Flashabou, Krystal Flash, craft fur,
calftail hair, chicken feathers, deer hair,
and bucktail. I prefer simple tailson my
poppers made using marabou and afew
strands of rubber, and a soft hen neck
feather fortheskirt. Thosethreematerials
givethepopper moremovement and ac-
tionin thewater than do other materials.
Nopopper iscompletewithout rubber
legs. Legmaterial isavailableinavarietyof
colors and sizes; some even has stripes.
Youcan make aneat littledeviceto sew
rubber legsthrough thebody First, clipa
six-inch-longpiece of 3X tippet material,
and thread the monofilament through
the eye of a sewing needle that is just
largeenough to accommodate it. Next,
tieboth ends together to createa three-
inch loop, and trimthe tagends. Tosew
therubber legsthrough thepopper, push
theneedle through thebody at an angle,
insert thetip end of therubber legin the
mono loop, and pull the loop through
thebody with thelegin tow Adjust the
legmaterial soyouhavetwolegsof equal
length. Next, insert the needle and a
second piece of rubber legs through the
body at an opposite angleto the firstset
of legssothat theyfonn anX through the
middle of thepopper's body
Wapsi Fly also offers Perfect Pencil
Popper bodies in two sizes: 1 and 4. A
size4body matched with asize4 Mus-
Summer 2010 175
tad 9674 streamer hook makes aperfect
offeringwhen bass are chasing baitfish.
Finally, many smallmouth anglers swear
by thefamousSneakyPeteslider.Tomake
your ownslider,simplyreversethePerfect
Popper head on the hook-the rounded
end should faceforward-paint it char-
treuse, add molded eyesand rubber legs,
and tieon atail and skirt. .
If you want to fishpoppers but don't
want tospend hours makingthem, trythe
PerfectPopper,whichisinexpensive,quick,
andeasytobuild. Bestofall,thePerfectPop-
per looksandactsgreatinthewater.
War d Bean is a r egul ar cont noui or t o our
magazi ne. When not f i shi ng, he at t ends j l y-
f i shi ng shows t hr oughout t he M i dwest . War d
livesin I owa.
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