Pencil Poppers

[Fishidiot]

The slender "pencil" style poppers have worked well for me for river smallies in summertime and here's a new batch of 'em.

These flies are built around the readily available, pre-made, hard body popper bodies. The key to getting these flies right is to use liberal amounts of a good, strong epoxy glue to set the hook into the body's grooved split. I don't recommend "5 minute" epoxy as this stuff is often merely water resistant.

These ready made bodies also (usually) come with a flat front. I prefer a cup-faced front and so I bore out the front with a dremel tool. The paint is basic acrylic with a thick coating of Sally Hansen's Hard-as-Nails. A rotary dryer is helpful to get an even coating.

These pencil poppers have the elongated, minnow shaped profile that bass seem to really like and make a wild a commotion on the surface, much like a fleeing or injured baitfish. Next time you see minnows scatter across the surface at you favorite bass river, throw a pencil popper at that spot and hold on!

 

[lv2nymph]

You should have no problem enticing mr. lips with those.

 

[addictedangler]

Any color combo working better then another?

 

[Fishidiot]

addictedangler wrote:
Any color combo working better then another?

I dunno.

I've pondered this and have done a bit of experimenting with different color combos, but nothing that has been definitive enough for me to jump to any solid conclusions. I do think, if one is going to use multiple colors, that they should have some contrast (black goes well with chartreuse, for example).

I do tend to like poppers in the "warmer" color range; yellow, orange, chartreuse, etc. Many bass gear guys like a dash of red, or even red treble hooks, as part of their lures and so I often use some red in my color combos.

 

[JerryC]

I've had decent luck with pencil poppers though I use the soft foam popper bodies for mine. I've had most of my success with white, fluorescent yellow, chartreuse, fire tiger/perch, frog(green back, yellow sides and a white belly with black spots) and silver with olive or blue backs