My favorite colors. Tell him not to be surprised if he catches a few Trout on them.
I think the lake he fishes is called Diamond res.or Diamond valley res.. something like that… in Hemet california. He pulls some nice Striped bass and SMB out of there. I think he said he gets a rainbow here and there but mostly bass.
Those look really good. I’m sure the bass will like those.
Here are some bass patterns that I’ve made that should be heavy enough to cast on spinning gear that have been effective for me.[inline “smallie popper small.JPG”][inline “grubber fly small.JPG”][inline “bass popper small.JPG”]
I also tied these up recently and am really anxious to try them out in the spring.[inline “streamers small.JPG”]
Nice! I need try try and make some poppers. Those look fun. I have used them but haven’t tied any yet. Do you make the bodies from scratch? Are they foam or wood?
Though I ought to try making them from scratch someday, I just use Wapsi “Perfect Popper” kits. They come in a lot of different sizes and the pencil poppers are killer sometimes. They also come in both hard and soft foam. Those big hard foam ones are tough to cast though, even on an 8wt. I use Prismacolor markers or paint markers to color the soft foam, and paint markers to color the hard ones. I also use the markers to add the vertical stripes on the perch streamer. They are a ton of fun to fish, and when they’re on them, they’re really on them.[inline “yum small.JPG”][inline “big fat night bass small.JPG”]
Awesome pic’s. Do you have to order the Wapsi bodies online or where can I pick them up?
I’ve seen them at Round Rocks up here in Cache. It seems like they had a pretty good selection last I looked. I bet the fly shops down in your area would have them too. If not, they’re pretty common online.
One word of advice on them. If you buy the hard foam poppers, use two part epoxy to seal the hook into the body. Super glue just doesn’t work that well. If you use epoxy, those hard ones hold up forever. The soft ones are pretty durable, but as you can see in the photo, they do get beat up eventually.
Very nice bugs!
I have also seen the poppers done with ear plugs. The green and even the yellow ones are killer. I haven’t tried the orange. You could probably do some heavy coloring on them with markers too.
RAINY’s also:
http://www.rainysflies.com/foamproducts.php
gstott, when you say “super glue” does that mean Zap-A-Gap. Super glue is not waterproof, but Zap is. That is what I use on all foam flies.
JLG, another fairly new item on the market and featured in gstott’s last picture
“fish skulls” http://www.caddisflyshop.com/fish-skulls.html
Great for streamers and nice weight to them.
One other one is “sculpin helmet” http://compare.ebay.com/like/250949619983?var=lv<yp=AllFixedPriceItemTypes&var=sbar
I love these things. Nice weight but the weight is on the bottom so you tie with the hook up. Same effect as the clouser. Hook up is great. Another nice thing about them is, you tie the fly, leaving room at the eye, then add some Zap and stick the helmet on. This allows you to get the material right up under the head, not like cones.
I have tied some EASY killer sculpin and Rockport LOVED them.
Thanks! I will have to try making some out of ear plugs as I’m addicted to sleeping with them and have always thrown them out when they get gross. Now I can recycle them!
Those sculpin heads are way cool. Well, that’s another thing to add to my list of things to buy. I’ll have to try some sculpins made with them up in the Oneida Narrows. I’ll bet the smallies and big browns and maybe even some walleye will chomp them.
That’s good to know about super glue. I never knew it wasn’t water proof. Still, with the hard foam I really think the epoxy makes an extremely durable fly. I will be getting some Zap for the soft poppers though.
Again the neat thingn is add the head AFTER you tie the fly and tie fly upside down as the head is weighted so it rides hook up:
This is a straight eye #4 streamer hook from Cabela’s.
Those look very cool. Did you get into the bass, trout or both at Rockport with them?
By the way, I got looking at Rainy’s site and I’m really intrigued by this: http://www.rainysflies.com/turbopoppinhead.php
I’ve heard about people using redfish popping corks with soft plastics under them to catch smallmouth, I bet this would work with one of those fish skull streamers or a Clouser under it.
I just remembered another fun alternative to a popper when the bass want something more subtle.
The Gurgler: [inline bassgurgler2.jpg]
They hold up to a lot of fish and can be really effective.
Also, you can try turning your popper head around so it’s more of a cone shape to make a diver.[inline diver.jpg]
They dart just under the water when twitched and then rise back up. It’s kind of like fishing a floating super shallow jerkbait.
Probably irrelevant, but since I read about markers n’ such… I raided my wife’s fingernail polish (wow, does she waste money on that stuff or what?!) and use it to paint my popper heads. That stuff is absurdly durable and goes on easy. There is some new crap called, “Crackle” or something like that that when it dries, it looks like a muddy flat in a lake bed that has dried up – you know, with the cracks – and the color underneath shows through. Awesome effect.
Anyhow, if you’re short on markers or ink, try nail polish – it’s $$$.
My wife has a HUGE nail polish stash. I bet she has well over 50 bottles. I think she has some crackle (which she decided she didn’t like anyway), so I just might have to do some experimenting. Thanks for the idea.