Popping Cork Help

[UnkleRob2020]

I have been watching the tutorials on Angler's website and decided to purchase a popping cork. Does anyone have any suggestions of the best way to fish this ? I realize that I am oversimplifying as methods probably vary based on target species, current, water clarity, tide, etc.

[CHOC]

Where do you plan on using it?

In the Maryland portion of the Chesapeake Bay, they just don't seem to be effective. I've asked lots of people that know a lot more than I do, including Lenny Rudow, and Walleye Pete, and both of them say they're not effective and neither of them know why. If I had to guess, I'd say that there must be a topwater prey that lives down South that doesn't live here that the popping cork resembles. South of Maryland, the popping cork reigns supreme all the way down the East Coast and to Texas.

Hope this helps.

[UnkleRob2020]

I was planning to use it in the Patapsco, Severn and Eastern Bay. I rarely make it to SO MD, in fact I have not fished tidal waters more than a few miles South of Annapolis all year. I appreciate the input and I will likely not invest much time in it.

I was curious for a number of reasons but mostly am curious about baits/lures/techniques that are new to me. Prior to last year, I had never caught a fish on a bignose spinner, beetlespin, paddletail or senko. The majority of my success this yeart (which is negligible at best) has come on these four lures.

Prior to this year, I had never trolled from a kayak. I honestly thought trolling from a paddle kayak was a futile pursuit. Thanks to the anglers on this forum, I have learned a lot....but mostly I have learned how little I know.

[bassguy84]

I have talked to a few people that go out of Solley and use it and swear by it. I have 0 experience with it but I would use a swimbait as the lure up here and not shrimp or anything like be that.

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[Big Mike]

There’s a guy down here who uses popping corks with some success for stripers. He has a long rod, 7’ minimum, and works it hard and fast. Having watched him do it I determined two things, you have to be in shape to throw and retrieve that lure for long periods, and I’m not in shape. Also was one of those rare lures where standing seemed like an advantage over working it from a seated position.

[J.A. Veil]

Much like other types of tackle, popping corks can be very effective in the hands of anglers who know how to use them and are confident in them. I have used popping corks on several trips to TX and LA when fishing with guides or other person's boats. Here is a photo of a redfish I caught near Corpus Christi, TX in 2017. The man who hosted that visit was a big fan of the popping corks and suggested that I try it that morning.

P1030244.jpg


As Big Mike notes, working a popping cork requires a lot of effort and may use muscles that are not otherwise used. I got tired and sore pretty quickly on the few occasions I tried them. I do not have sufficient confidence in popping corks and don't have the incentive to use them rather than just a swimming lure. I have owned two of them and sold both a few years ago because I was not using them.

When using a popping cork, you attach part of the cork to your main line. From the other end, you run several feet of leader to a hook for bait (often shrimp when fishing on the Gulf Coast) or some type of lure. Some models of popping cork have a float that slides a few inches along a wire. There is a rattling device inside that makes a lot of noise.

Another way of accomplishing the same thing is to tie a popper with hooks removed to the main line. Run a leader from the other end of the popper to your lure. Work it by a series of pops or jerks so the popper causes a commotion. The fish move toward the commotion and then bite your swimming lure.

Mark was with me on the Texas trip mentioned above. See his comments on a popping cork at http://www.snaggedline.com/showthrea...t=popping+cork.

[Hemingway]

I for one almost always have one rod rigged with a popping cork. However, I really don’t cast and retrieve it constantly. I usually only troll two rods, and the popper is rigged with a 5” or so Gulp! or paddle tail. I like the cork because I can keep a bait suspended above the grass when I am dealing with a fish on the other rod or casting it to a swirl. I get a lot of strikes when it is stationary fluttering in the current, and most of the time it is a big fish. Also, if things are slow, I will pick up the cork rod and troll along giving it a few pops, and sometimes it will produce some interest.

[UnkleRob2020]

Hemingway. Are you saying that you troll two rods and one of them often has a popping cork with a Gulp or Paddletail?

[Hemingway]

Hemingway. Are you saying that you troll two rods and one of them often has a popping cork with a Gulp or Paddletail?

Yes

[summersoff]

I have used a popping cork in SC and GA but never above. I always felt the pop was simulating the snap of a shrimp, which ain’t the bait swimming around up here. Shrimp are everywhere down there, and you can constantly see them popping around creeks. Of course, the cork is an attractor, just like any popper, and can used with a Vudu or an actual bait. But popping corks can be a pain, and I only used them in certain situation, where the current, tide and depth are just right. You have to constantly adjust the length of leader past the cork, because you want it close to the bottom, but when your drifting, the bottom depth is constantly changing, making them a pain to work properly. Don’t get me wrong, there are days, you will crush it on a popping cork. I remember one day, one red after another on a Vudu using a popping cork( honestly corn may have worked just as well that day). But they’re trickier than they look to dial in. Buy one, they’re only a couple bucks, screw around with it. They’re kinda like walking the dog on a spook - at first they’re a pain, and just don’t get it, but when you dial it in, it becomes a vital tool in the right situation.

[Mark]

My only experience with a popping cork was in the Laguna Madre near Corpus Christie, TX, as John Veil mentioned.

It wore me out. It's a heavy and awkward rig to cast that requires conventional rods that are stouter than I like to use. You don't really cast it. You sling it.

The first day I used one in TX, I caught only specks, a good number of them but no reds. On day two I finally caught a redfish with it. But I never worked so hard to catch a red. Specks and reds are much easier to catch with lures and flies simply by casting and retrieving.

Nevertheless, I bought a popping cork in TX like the one I used. It's called a "Cajun Thunder". I've kept it in its package as souvenir of my once and likely only popping cork experience. It's not a fishing technique I would choose to do again.

An alternative I would suggest to use here in the Chesapeake for stripers is to attach a Clouser Minnow (or small jig and paddletail) on 3 feet of mono as a dropper on the back hook of a bass or striper popper. Then fish it the same way as a popper. It would certainly be an easier rig to cast than a popping cork and you could use lighter tackle. Plus, occasionally you will get hookups on the popper. Even in TX and LA and other areas where popping corks are common, fish sometimes hit the cork.

I use a dropper in freshwater to catch bluegills, bass, crappie and even pickerels on the fly. Nine times out of ten, they'll hit the dropper fly suspended under a popper before they hit the popper. At least, that's my experience. I do a similar thing for white perch, although, I use a foam float with no hook, a homemade popping cork as it were. Under that I dangle a fly. I have caught small stripers and not so small pickerels in addition to white perch on the dropper in tidal creeks. I think the disturbance on the water created by the float is an attractant and the fly beneath it is an opportunity for a quick meal when fish come to investigate what's happening on the surface. They'll hit the dropper hard. There are few misses.

So, you don't really need a genuine popping cork to catch fish locally with a dropper rig. You can press a conventional tackle popper into service or you can use a foam popper or float on a fly rod. It's the same principle as a popping cork.

[UnkleRob2020]

Yesterday, I launched onto the Patapsco at sunrise. I had two forward rods trolling paddletails. On my rear, starboard side, I trailed a popping cork with about 3' leader and a white gulp. This technique allowed me to troll a third rod without getting the lines tangled. I caught two rockfish on the popping cork rig, one of which was my largest of the day.

[Hemingway]

Yesterday, I launched onto the Patapsco at sunrise. I had two forward rods trolling paddletails. On my rear, starboard side, I trailed a popping cork with about 3' leader and a white gulp. This technique allowed me to troll a third rod without getting the lines tangled. I caught two rockfish on the popping cork rig, one of which was my largest of the day.

Glad you decided to give it a try, sounds like you had a great day! I also like how easy it is to manage the lines under troll. However, if it is windy and you are dealing with a fish on the non popper rod and the wind is coming from behind or the side you can wind up with a real rat’s nest because the cork will travel pretty quick while you are at a stand still. On those breezy days it is best to crank the cork in sooner than later.

[rugbyfish]

I’ve actually had some decent success using popping corks on the lower eastern shore. Like Hemingway said, I’ve caught fish trolling it and letting it sit while I’m dealing with another fish. I generally only cast and retrieve it when I find sod banks in more than two feet of water. I’ve caught plenty of fish right up against the banks in these situations. I don’t use it often, but I do like carrying one with me when I’m fishing that area. I normally use a Gulp Swimming Mullet on a 1/8 or 1/4 oz jog head.

[dsaavedra]

Anglers put out a couple videos on using popping corks about a month ago: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bosJ5_ZjHl0 and https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7pm-roQ6x3M

Never used one myself so I have no other advice.