07-05-2001, 04:52 PM
Bill,<br>Well, you're dead right about the effectiveness of popper & flyrod...when I was about nine years old I used to catch pickerel (and the occasional largemouth) on a cork popping bug and about fifteen feet of that old, black dacron line attached to a long, slim hickory branch. I'd seen photos of fly fishermen in the outdoor mags and fisgured I could the same sort of fishing with my homemade rig...darned if it didn't work. I did a half-a**ed sort of roll cast dropping the popper over weed beds...let it sit for a good two minutes and gave it a twitch...I had some hellacious hits from big pickerel and the 8 or 9 foot hickory branch I'd skinned & whittled down some was so flexible it absorbed most of the shock.& acted like the stretch that mono gives you...I caught a lot of fish back when i was too green to know what i was doing....then i got older, leaned a whole bunch of stuff about what gear went with what and ended up catching fewer fish...but, I suppose, looking "cool" in the process. Ah youth...definitely wasted on the young.<br>tight lines & welcome to the board,<br><br>Jerry Vovcsko<br>Moderator: Massachusetts, Connecticut and Rhode Island Forums