I'm fairly new to all of this and for the most part have lurked in the site, trying to learn as much as I can from all of you guys. I have a question that I've been trying to figure out and I need some help. Not even sure that this is the right board, but here goes. I have noticed that with SW poppers the attitude of the popper at rest in the water varies quite a bit from plug style to plug style. There are some that I have that sit in the water nose up, some that sit level and some that actually sink nose down(very slowly). I have decided that each one is probably more suited (or limited) to partiulcar presentation techniques. I'm not sure what these techiques are yet, but I find it intriguing. And fun experimenting with them. For example, I have some made some small pencil poppers that sink very slowly, yet when retrieved skim and twitch and dart (with some help from the rod tip) across the water quite nicely, but that seems to be about it. I have made a few small Polaris style poppers that sit tail down and when retrieved can be made to do all sorts of interesting things from chug, pop out of the water, dart side to side, etc. Do different style poppers work better based on how they are weighted? Are different poppers more suited for particular wayds of being fished? And in differnt kinds of water?

Hello Steelhead,

Some very interesting observations and questions. Last year I did several seminars on popper fishing.

To answer your first question Yes different popper styles work better weighted than others and also where they are weighted. For a large mouthed popper (ie. polaris) you want the popper to sit with the tail below the water to capture greater amounts of water when pulled. The more slender and small mouthed poppers work better with less of an angle in the water. It's about how much water you want the lure to grab when pulled.

Now for the more interesting question: Are different poppers more suited for particular wayds of being fished? And in differnt kinds of water? Yes

When you have flatter/calmer seas where the noise of the popper is the greater attractant than the visual you want more noise generally. This will be more of the larger diameter poppers or those with larger mouths. however if your fishing breaking white water where the noise is less of a factor the more slender poppers that will have tendency to cut through the water and be more visual to the fish may be a better choice. Also the more slender poppers tend to be easier to maintain in the strike zone in very fast moving waters, ie. the canal when tides are ripping.

These are my experiences only based on lures I make and use. I'm sure someone will say I'm full of it or something less flattering but I've eaten a few nice fish :) Good luck and if you have another popper questions, feel free to post them.

Armand

I'm a big fan of poppers that sit arse down and just I mean just sink slowly. To me they really mimic a fleeing squid.

If theres schooling bait fish around, then I'll pull out one of my poppers that lays more horizontal.