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Post by solomogo on Sept 25, 2011 21:22:13 GMT -5
Water level the lowest I've seen it, water temp 65. Waded downstream of the bridge trying a minnow swing with the 1st cast fly. Thought the smallies might be keying on minnows for the fall. No bites. At about 6pm fish started hitting the surface. Switched to a big, white Kreb's popper. Caught a few working across the river. A 14" chunky fish fought me hard just about level with the creek inlet. Next cast got a huge flush, fly disappeared and promptly broke off. Saw another big swirl and the popper bob to the surface. Wish I'd seen that fish! That's what I get for only having a 4x tapered leader with me for the popper. Oh well, it was still exciting. Had trouble tying on a new fly, my hands were shaking so bad.
One question, anybody use swivels with poppers? I noticed after I lost another popper to a bite that the line was all twisted up.
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Post by krebsie on Sept 26, 2011 6:07:35 GMT -5
8 to 10lb test tippet min. That's what I've found works best on the river. U just never know what's gonna hit your fly. From Pike to giant Carp to a Smallie of a life time. Why chance loosing a fish with small tackle? The stiffer tippet will also help with the spinning of the popper, also try tying a loose loop type knot instead of tying directly to the eye. But, poppers just simply spin in the air, the nature of the beast. All u can do is minimize anything and everything that might cause spinning, when and where u can.
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Post by solomogo on Sept 26, 2011 9:53:55 GMT -5
When I went into the river, I didn't think I'd be fishing poppers, so I only had some tapered trout leaders in my kit. Maybe I should have left on the 10# fluorocarbon leader that I had been using for the subsurface stuff.
I've used a perfection loop to tie poppers on in the past and they seem to get fouled up easily. Probably because my loop was too big.
I saw a video from Flymasters talking about using swivels for poppers. That's why I asked if anybody had tried this.
I will say that the popper I tied on after the Kreb's was one from Tim Holschlag and even though fish were hitting the surface all around me, I never got a bite on it.
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Post by TroutKing on Sept 26, 2011 14:55:41 GMT -5
I have used barrel swivels before with the poppers and they do seem to minimize the twisting but nothings perfect. The swivel also weighs down the popper so it doesn't ride as high. As for loops, Jcpilot showed me a nice one that is easy to tie though not too adjustable. I'll show you at fly tying if you remind me. I also like the Duncan loop because you can adjust the loop size and the knot will tighten down when the fly is hit. You can also back it off as needed too. Lots of possibilities.
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Post by krebsie on Sept 27, 2011 9:33:36 GMT -5
Absolutely love your comment Solo. Hahahahah gotta love it!
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