poppers at night...? - Striper Talk Striped Bass Fishing, Surfcasting, Boating

doc · 10-06-2006, 08:06 AM

i rarely fish the night...was fishing about an hour before first light the other week in complete darkness using a smack it popper and ended up landing a 50" bass (cant somehow post the pic as it needs to be 're-sized')...the conventional wisdom is that poppers are not productive at night...obviously not totally true...but wanted to find out what people thought....and if others use poppers at night...

RIROCKHOUND · 10-06-2006, 08:09 AM

if you caught a 50" bass then it aint broke so dont fix it!

doc · 10-06-2006, 08:12 AM

i agree...just wanted to find out if there were others out there that used poppers at night...

tattoobob · 10-06-2006, 08:16 AM

I have caught Bass at night on poppers not 50 inch fish, I basically fish it like a swimmer and pop a couple of times during the retrive.

stripercrazy · 10-06-2006, 08:23 AM

they swim on a slow retreve, good for shallow rocky places, good to cast a teaser out too

bradf1 · 10-06-2006, 08:25 AM

I used to use an atom popper all night at Sakonnet point and I did real well. Nothin huge but many keepers. Although when I strapped on an eel I got a 43 pounder!

NIB · 10-06-2006, 08:28 AM

I have tried em an had some success.Usually when i need to cast far.
After a few cast's though it's hard to have faith.So they come off.

fishaholic18 · 10-06-2006, 08:25 AM

Here's your pix resized Doc. Nice fish.

fishaholic18 · 10-06-2006, 08:26 AM

Did u get a weight on it?

choggieman · 10-06-2006, 08:32 AM

stripercrazy hit the nail on the head

NIB · 10-06-2006, 08:37 AM

Reverse Atom..

Skitterpop · 10-06-2006, 08:42 AM

BM used to fish with Popper John and if I remember right killed them on big poppers at night down cape...at least the posts implied that.

Also...did`nt Zeno have a Super Strike article about great results with a sinking/swimming littleneck used at night last year in OTW or this year?

With the Fall hunger upon the bass and in a bait filled stretch the ability to take them on poppers at night is probably magnified right now..... possibly?

Joe · 10-06-2006, 08:48 AM

Super Strike Black/Purple, Squid, Transparent Amber at night but especially when there is an east blow on and you need to clear the break.
In Reading The Water there is a chapter by Roberto Germani about using poppers at night in Matunuck. That's a good expample of the type of place where they work very well. There is often quite a bit of whitewater, a dropoff, a hard sweep and the need clear the surf in order to avoid the plug tumbling in the wash.

striperchaser · 10-06-2006, 09:20 AM

doc....very very nice fish...

i have few questions about night popping...

does the color matter?? dark color??

will a pencil do the same trick at night??(since i fish pencil a lot) or must be a regular popper style lure.

rattling???? more attraction?? or doesn't matter...

thanks

Rockport24 · 10-06-2006, 09:33 AM

I think Zeno did have an article about popper at night in OTW maybe last fall? anyways, logically, needlefish are kind of worked like poppers and they are known night-slayers, so why wouldn't a popper work in certain conditions at night? Doc proved that alright...

tattoobob · 10-06-2006, 09:36 AM

Nice fish Doc

RIJIMMY · 10-06-2006, 12:07 PM

very nice fish, great job
I would have to be out of plugs to throw a popper at night, but then again i never catch 50" fish.............

Saltheart · 10-06-2006, 12:21 PM

Fished poppers with teasers for years. Work day and night.

daytime , lots of splashing , short pops , sometimes big tumbly pops , etc. Big trick is don't spaz out at the first hit and jerk it out of the fishes strike zone. Fish hits and misses , either stop and start again slow or just keep up the pace like you were before it struck. I see tons of people get so excited they jerk it hard and pull it so far from the attacking fish in one pop the fish loses site of it.

nighttime I like atoms cause they sink and i let them sink just below the surface then a slow drag or weak pop to just get them to break the surface , no big splash , just like a fish coming up to suck air at the surface.

anyway , if you learn how to work them , poppers are very versatile , day or night. I seldom use one without a teaser. At night I use a high contrast teaser. In the daylight , I switch around between high contrast and graded colors.

doc · 10-06-2006, 12:38 PM

this fish hit in some big whitewater in less than 5' of water...was using a holographic herring smack-it popper and a chartreuse peanut bunker teaser...the fish inhaled the popper...love the smack-its....

tattoobob · 10-06-2006, 01:19 PM

There is a big factor in weight by the way you messure them If you messure like the old days to fork it weights alot more than a fish messured total lenth with the tail pushed together.

Mugz · 10-06-2006, 01:22 PM

Beauty of a fish.......congrats.

vanstaal · 10-06-2006, 05:42 PM

poppers are the best. there is another way to fish ?

doc · 10-07-2006, 07:53 AM

ross, i was with kelsey and a guy named chris who just showed up at the right momemt with a camera...that spot was prety active last week...fished it the other night and nada...will be hitting it hard this next week as i took a little 'vacation'...hope to see you on the trail...