Lure of the Month / bi-week, bi-weekly curious - Part Five - Something Cuttyhunk?

[slow eddie]

in the words of bonnie, hostest with the mostest. if it ain't blue and white, it won't work.

[numbskull]

Let's talk poppers.

Everyone knows they're for googans, right? Well maybe not a full sized polaris in the canal........that's a man's plug.....but otherwise aren't poppers just stuff you buy when you don't know what or when to fish?

Maybe not.

Some years ago it started bothering me that every time I heard a story of some novice fisherman catching a massive bass (several over 50 lbs) it was always during the day, on a popper. Well "DUUUUUUUHHHHH", you say, "that's when and what novices fish with". True enough, but that doesn't explain away a 50 lb bass eating a poorly worked plug under the noonday sun does it? What's with that?

So, I do a lot of daytime boat plugging, and this thought always nagged at me, but naturally I never acted on it. Until one day I shared it with Flap, specifically a story about a local casual fisherman who got a 50 on a chrome creek chub. So next trip Flap shows up with a chrome creek chub and starts throwing it. He worked it steady with long sweeps....pop, pop, pop,........KABOOM........35lb fish! Over the next several years he fished poppers every time we went. Creek chubs, Gibbs, and eventually his own. I saw him take 3-4 fish over 30 lbs (and many in the 20s) on them, often during the slowest doldrum-type days.

Still not convinced? Here is something else to ponder. Look back at old plug builders and note what they built back then. Big swimmers, big flaptails,.....and big poppers. Clearly there was a demand for BIG poppers.......clearly there was a reason for that demand. You think that reason no longer exists, or have we just forgotten why?

So here are some poppers.

First the old stuff

Fishmaster...... Cuttyhunk
Bluestreak...... Capt'n Bill
Gibbs polaris ...... Atom 40
......Gibbs

Then some plastic (the Capt'n Bill on top is for scale)

Creek chub ....... Troublemaker?
Yozuri....... Atom
Smack it....... Superstrike
Rebel ........ Pili

[numbskull]

So, like everyone else, what I know about using these plugs is infantile and fragmented.

I've fished the superstrike seriously. The 2 3/4 oz plug is probably the king of modern poppers. Casts great (better than the larger version) works great, and can be slowed and swum like a swimmer. Usually I swim it 5-6 feet, pause and pop, let it drop a bit, then swim it another 5-6 feet. You can also drop them deep and slowly swim them back up.
Probably they work at night, but I can't say I've tried it.

The Pili is also a great bass plug, I don't know why, it pops poorly and doesn't swim. It is fragile and breaks when it hits a rock. But there is something about the way it rolls on its side when worked, or maybe the subtleness of its pop that makes it a very good plug.

The creekchub we have talked about. The Troublemaker is a plug a friend I fish with likes, it floats and can be worked very slowly and gently as well. I can't bring myself to try one. I've seen him take 20-25lb bass on them.

The atom shown is a bluefish plug, but atom also made a very fat version. I've heard guys used to like these for bass, and I think the plug could be swum, but never fished one. Likewise, the Rebel had a cult following. Again it could be swum. I remember hearing that some experts fished these at night as their "go to" plug. There is also mention by R Germani in "Reading the Water" about using these plugs at night when fishing rough conditions with a cross sweep, because they would hold in waves better than plastic swimmers.

The Smack It is a high quality plug that I use in small sizes for schoolies. I recall a post a few years back by a novice who caught a 50" bass the first time he ever tried fishing at night on one of these plugs. Hopefully someone has since set him straight so he knows not to use poppers in the night.......right?

As for the big old school poppers..........well this year we'll begin to find out just what those old guys knew

[BigBo]

Excellent and very informative George. Bravo.

[MAKAI]

I've used poppers and tin at night for many years, just can't knock the googan out of me.

[Tagger]

Originally Posted by numbskull

You think that reason no longer exists, or have we just forgotten why?

For the most part ,,, No longer exists ... smaller thinner plug profiles are in because we are mainly imitating sand eels and spike mackerel .. There are no pogeys so why imitate them .. When's the last time a harbor filled with pogeys and died from lack of oxigen due to high numbers ? Talking with Rockfish 9 about this today. Talk to a real old guy like Angler #1 he'll tell you about back in the day how you could hear the Silver Hake (whatever those are) coming down the canal before you could see them .. Then you'd see the Silver Hake all skittering(big popper?) on top of the water trying to get the hell out .. I remember in my short yrs. seeing the canal loaded full of squid . All the plugs hanging in the bait shops now are blue,green,mackerel . If you need a Squid color your screwed, but who's going to need one of those ?? Yea ,,, sadly enough the need no longer exisist for the most part .. Only bright spot is we can bring back herring imatations due to latest conservation efforts . More striper conservation ? I think the whole eco system needs an overhaul . Gotta feed em ..