Favorite Top Water Popper

[Delawhere?]

If you are talking freshwater I think the best popper the Lobino Rico is the best. Pricy, but I have seen it outperform a PopR 10 to 1 before. You don't have to "pop" a good popper all the time. Good ones can be "walked the dog" like a spook also. I definitely would change out the hooks on the smack it as the hooks are junk. You can buy gamagatsu's with a feathered hook for the trailer and they hold up well in brackish water.

[Yak Fish]

Back when I hit the Columbia River hard for smallies, I noticed that late in the season they were crazy about dragon flies. would launch themselves clear of the water trying to snatch them out of the air or off vegetation. When I started seeing that O switched to the best dragon fly imitator i know ......clear Torpedo. Let it sit, then twitch it just enough to turn the prop once.....KaPow!

I actually bought one of those in black hoping for the cicadas this year, which never really happened.

[Yak Fish]

After today I may have a favorite popper. A rapala skitter popper, SP-7. I took off of work this morning because Saturday was so much fun. Armed with a nice popper with razor sharp hooks I had 17 blowups, 6 of which made it in the yak. All were smallies in the 1-2 pound range. I fished from sun up until around 10. Top water action on the susky was a lot of fun, not to mention the perfect weather.

[Mark]

Were you trolling or casting?

[Fishinfool]

They aren't "poppers" but my two favorite topwater lures are Arbogast's Jitterbug and Heddon's Super Spook. There's a reason they haven't changed since the beginning of time.

Yep. I remember using a Jitterbug fishing with an older gal cousin on Bennett Lake in Maine in the summer of 1964. My misty memory from nearly fifty years ago says we got skunked, but it surely wasn't the lure's fault. I am sure it had more to do with a couple of kids from Maryland fishing in Maine for the first time.

[Yak Fish]

Were you trolling or casting?

I was casting the popper. I didn't do any trolling for them yesterday.

[Mark]

Yak Fish,

I have never trolled a popper but I would think your hook-ups would be greater by casting it over trolling it. I say that because I find that some rod reaction is often helpful in setting the hook and of course that comes only after actually seeing the strike. In my case with a fly rod all I do is raise the tip of the rod and that is usually sufficient to ensure a good hook set without pulling the fly from the mouth of the fish.

I wish others would comment on their top water methods for stripers. I rarely sight fish on top for freshwater bass. I cast to likely areas and hope the fish are present. Would that same method work with stripers in tidal water? Or do you need to see them breaking to catch them on top.

Thank you,

[Memory Maker]

Yak fish

A little trick I learned with a Smack-it Jr. is to tie a Clouser Fly off the back treble hook ring with 8"-10" of 20# mono as a stinger. If they miss the Smack-it they very often get the fly. The major set back is that the line tends to foul on the back treble when you cast if you are not very careful. Trolling is no problem. I've caught Rock two at a time with this set up.

Terry

try taking off the back hook and just have the dropper with the hook .............. the popper is usually the attracter and the fly usually gets hit

[reel-em-in]

After today I may have a favorite popper. A rapala skitter popper, SP-7. I took off of work this morning because Saturday was so much fun. Armed with a nice popper with razor sharp hooks I had 17 blowups, 6 of which made it in the yak. All were smallies in the 1-2 pound range. I fished from sun up until around 10. Top water action on the susky was a lot of fun, not to mention the perfect weather.

What part of the river were you fishing? I tried last Saturday starting at the Dam but the trip was cut short about an hour in when my buddy buried a treble in his thumb. Might try again this Saturday.

[CB kayak 02]

REBEL Pop R Magnum

I use this as my go to topwater lure for both freshwater and saltwater!!!

[Mike]

I second the Skitter Pop. Size 7 in frog is my go to for both SMB and LMB. I've noticed the biggest difference seems to be in the tail or skirt. A while tail with those longer streamers of reflective glitter seems to entice a strike for me. I was fishing with a cheap Rebel popper with a short white tail with limited success. I switched the rear treble hook out for one with a similar tail but had the long reflective streamers in it and the fish went crazy. The water that day was stained and I figured it was a visibility issue.

-Mike

[Yak Fish]

Yak Fish,

I have never trolled a popper but I would think your hook-ups would be greater by casting it over trolling it. I say that because I find that some rod reaction is often helpful in setting the hook and of course that comes only after actually seeing the strike. In my case with a fly rod all I do is raise the tip of the rod and that is usually sufficient to ensure a good hook set without pulling the fly from the mouth of the fish.

I wish others would comment on their top water methods for stripers. I rarely sight fish on top for freshwater bass. I cast to likely areas and hope the fish are present. Would that same method work with stripers in tidal water? Or do you need to see them breaking to catch them on top.

Thank you,

Just to be clear, I've never trolled a popper either. I'm not sure how that would even work I troll plugs and mini umbrellas for strippers, but casting for top water is fun. Trolling is nice because you can cover a lot of water. You could be casting top water poppers all over the place and the fish may not even be there. If you catch stripers in less than 10' of water, remember that spot because chances are that this isn't the only time they're there. Then return with your top water casts. After you know a few spots then you can more easily target them on top water. Otherwise it seems like there's just too much water to cover with the slow top water presentation.

[Yak Fish]

What part of the river were you fishing? I tried last Saturday starting at the Dam but the trip was cut short about an hour in when my buddy buried a treble in his thumb. Might try again this Saturday.

Haha, I got one in the hand too. The SMB was hooked with both trebles. I got the rear set out with long pliers, but when I tried to spin the fish around to get a better angle at the other set of hooks, it went wild hooking me to the fish. It was going so nuts that it eventually pulled the hook back out of my hand, thankfully...leaving me a bit bloodied. I guess it's just justice.

I fished from the launch at Lapidum all the way to Deer Creek as well as around the islands up there. It's amazingly bouldery up there, if that's a word. I hit my fins on the bottom so many times which isn't a lot of fun. I caught fish along the shorelines, in the middle of the river and along the channel drop offs....so pretty much they're everywhere it seems fishy. I've only been up the river twice so I'm far from knowing the waters up there. Day 1 was largely exploratory and day 2 was to hit some fishy places harder and it turned out that they were there.

Also of note was that the water wasn't really moving. I'm not sure if that's typical, but when it seems like the water is always coming down the river when I fish below it. So I'm not sure if it's been different because of the lack of rain or if I'm flat out mistaken. If that water's moving, your best bet may be to paddle upstream and let it carry you back, rinse/repeat. But like I said, I've only fished that section twice this week so I don't know all the ins and outs yet.

[Mark]

Yak Fish,

I'm sorry. I misunderstood. In post number 14 of this thread you said you trolled for stripers. I thought you were talking about poppers. Obviously, you weren't.

I was just trying to learn how to catch stripers on the surface since I have been unsuccessful at it this year.

I have indeed popped areas in shallow water where I've caught stripers on swimming plastics and crank baits. But I have yet to hook one on the surface.

So I gather they will rise to get poppers? In other words they do not have to be actively feeding on the surface to be attracted by a popper? That's what I'm trying to determine.
I have been targeting structure and current in the shallows like I do for river smallmouth but as of yet, no stripers on the top.

[Yak Fish]

Yak Fish,

I'm sorry. I misunderstood. In post number 14 of this thread you said you trolled for stripers. I thought you were talking about poppers. Obviously, you weren't.

I was just trying to learn how to catch stripers on the surface since I have been unsuccessful at it this year.

I have indeed popped areas in shallow water where I've caught stripers on swimming plastics and crank baits. But I have yet to hook one on the surface.

So I gather they will rise to get poppers? In other words they do not have to be actively feeding on the surface to be attracted by a popper? That's what I'm trying to determine.
I have been targeting structure and current in the shallows like I do for river smallmouth but as of yet, no stripers on the top.

It seems to me that early in the morning is the only time I've had success with top water. From say 6AM-9AM seems to be the window. After 10 AM I'll start using other methods.

I assume they'll rise to get them. The method I use is a couple of pops and then a rest. On that rest is when they seem to attack it. Pop, pop, rest, pop, pop, pop, rest. Once I figure out the cadence, I just patiently stick with it. I think the hardest thing to do is find them.