Poppers

[Merle]

I get to fish PA maybe two weeks a year. I have fished at times with a strike indicator and have trout hit it. My question is has anyone ever tried using small Bluegill poppers for trout ?

Best Fishes

 

[Padraic]

Merle,

I have tried, but did not catch anything with them. I tried a white bluegill popper and also a black one. It seems to me, that if cricket patterns work, so should poppers. And I was hanging out in Bob Clouser's shop one day when he told a hilarious story about one of the flyfishing greats he knew (I forget the name). The jist of it was, that that this guy fished the Allenberry C&R section with a 6wt and bass poppers. Everyone else was fishing tiny midge patterns. They'd be holding their breath as the trout would drift under the fly. Along comes our hero. He'd splat a size 4 popper down and a trout would explode all over the thing.

So, I'd give it a try. Black or brown (like crickets) would seem to be good colors. But again, I can't say my luck with them was very encouraging.

 

[mute]

Yea ive had brookies hit my indicator so many times. In my recent video you can see one stalk it then explode at it.

 

[skeeter]

I actually have caught a quite of few on poppers, mostly at a reservoir/lake which holds bass and summer wild brookies. I have never caught one on a stream/river except for my one and only trip to the n. branch of the potomac this past summer, a nice size brown at that, on a frog imitation. I noticed that when the popper was worker real hard thats when the take would occur, so maybe it wasn't so much the popper but the 'disturbance' it was creating.

Anyways, I think, sometimes, it can't hurt to try it at least once, you may be surprised!!

 

[shipnfish2006]

I've never tried a bluegill popper for trout but I can almost guarantee that during the cicadas a few years ago they would have been deadly.

As for trout hitting the indicator, I solved that problem 4 years ago by making an indicator "moth" pattern. Its basically a big white caddis with polypropelene wings. I've caught dozens of trout on that thing while using it as an indicator.

 

[FarmerDave]

I don't see why they wouldn't work.

I've seen wild and stocked brookies hit small pieces of sticks that i tossed on the water in small streams. Even the wild ones aren't picky as long as they don't see you first. I've even had steelhead hit strike indicators. So, why not?

One opening day, i was using an ultralight spinning rig on Tionesta Creek with salmon eggs under a small stick bobber. I was catching dinner, so the mortality rate was not an issue. Three consecutive casts i had a trout hit the bobber. Finally, he actually took it under and must have had it wedged in it's mouth for a couple seconds because I felt the tug. He quit hitting it after that.

 

[beeber2]

My theory is that they are taking the indicator for a beetle. When this happens, I switch the indicator for an orange foam beetle with good results.

Take a small popper, cast it straight across and then let it wake back across the stream. Sometimes a curious fish will give you some action! Red and green are good colors.

beeber

 

[live2fish]

Switched to using a bushy drake for that reason.

 

[mattmask]

when I fish 90% of the time I do not use an indicator. When I am nymphing I generally use a stimulator on the surface and I have caught stocked trout on it and have had many hits on it with wild trout. Its a great attractor fly.

 

[TimMurphy]

Dear Merle,

I've caught trout on foam crickets that were meant to be bluegill flies. Heck, I've even caught them on a foam yellowjacket that is black and yellow with clear plastic wings.

I've always wanted to try a bass popper on some of the big slow pools on Spring Creek one night but I've never gotten around to it. I have no doubt that while it might not be the most productive fly, I'm sure it would work.

Regards,
Tim Murphy

 

[Woolybugger]

"The jist of it was, that that this guy fished the Allenberry C&R section with a 6wt and bass poppers. Everyone else was fishing tiny midge patterns. They'd be holding their breath as the trout would drift under the fly. Along comes our hero. He'd splat a size 4 popper down and a trout would explode all over the thing."

Almost the same thing happened to me! 20 years ago, before I became a 100% fly fisherman, I fished the Allenberry C&R right below Allenberry, not downstream by the wood bridge and I had a UL spin rod with 2lb mono and tiny roostertails. I waded all over the place and didn't catch anything. I put on a small Rapala, 1 1/4" floater/shallow diver and still didn't catch anything. Then I cut the plastic lip off to make it a tiny top water plug and almost every cast the trout would explode on it!! After a half dozen trout, a big one broke my 2lb test (then I was too stupid to use a Uni knot) and I didn't have any more top water plugs.

Now that I go back there often, I always take some panfish poppers and some foam body drakes....... or foam hoppers.

Even on opening day, a big dry will catch fish when the tiny nymphs won't get a hit!

That's the wonder of flyfishing! Some of my best trips were catching trout, a couple days after opening day with a size 10 "Royal Coachman"....... now that fly goes back a long time! I'll bet most on here don't tie it anymore!!

 

[Merle]

Thanks everyone, my trips to PA doesn’t allow me much time to experiment and my “Trout Smarts’ are limited. So I take advantage of the advise from Paul G and Murice C.

Best Fishes.

 

[schrec]

Sometimes I accidently catch trout on white poppers during the white fly hatch. It's always at dusk when the hatch is at peak in early August. Of course, I'm always fishing for bass but if I'm near a cool water tributary, one of the hardy, surviving stocked holdovers will sometimes smash it.

rising fish always
schrec