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Poppers for Trout
Moderator: Paul Arden
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Willy Franzen
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- Location: Chicago, IL
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Poppers for Trout
When I'm mousing after dark, I like to fish something with a big head that moves water. I'll give the fly one big sploosh/pop and let it drift in the current for a second, then I'll start waking it back to me. I only started doing this last summer, but it seemed to draw fish to the fly.
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Paul Arden
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Poppers for Trout
One of the most successful methods I have ever used is to fish a greased muddler minnow on the top dropper, followed by a couple of wets. http://www.sexyloops.com/stillwater/augustboat.shtml
Often in the dog hot days of summer when no one was catching fish, a greased up muddler would lift the fish, they would either chase and eat or chase, turn around and eat the other flies. When I say this was successful on days when nothing else was being caught you can really believe it. At times it was devastating.
Only about four people on the reservoir knew about it and the comp boys hadn’t picked up on it either. I learned over the years not to share too much outside your close circle - and this was one method we actually managed to keep under wraps*. I know Steve Parton is credited with introducing muddlers to the UK but he was stripping them. We were fast figure of 8ing them with long pauses. From what I’ve read someone later discovered you could do this with a booby. (One of my boat partners was already doing this back in the mid-late 80s).
A popper for me is different - but only a little bit - and the sound of the bloop can be the drawcard. Certainly I strip poppers here in the jungle in a way that I have never stripped a muddler before for trout.
The last few years in NZ I went back to the greased up muddler - this time for night fishing. I’m sure that a small Vince popper in the evenings and after dark would be devastating. If I was still fishing hard for trout nowadays I would definitely be pursuing this.
(I did try setting up a Vince Popper on the top with a big Clouser underneath for Snakehead, but it was difficult to cast and there was a lot of wire involved
I’m sure it would work if it didn’t land like a swan landing).
Cheers, Paul
* I don’t want you to think that we kept it totally go ourselves. About 10 years later I did finally write about it
Often in the dog hot days of summer when no one was catching fish, a greased up muddler would lift the fish, they would either chase and eat or chase, turn around and eat the other flies. When I say this was successful on days when nothing else was being caught you can really believe it. At times it was devastating.
Only about four people on the reservoir knew about it and the comp boys hadn’t picked up on it either. I learned over the years not to share too much outside your close circle - and this was one method we actually managed to keep under wraps*. I know Steve Parton is credited with introducing muddlers to the UK but he was stripping them. We were fast figure of 8ing them with long pauses. From what I’ve read someone later discovered you could do this with a booby. (One of my boat partners was already doing this back in the mid-late 80s).
A popper for me is different - but only a little bit - and the sound of the bloop can be the drawcard. Certainly I strip poppers here in the jungle in a way that I have never stripped a muddler before for trout.
The last few years in NZ I went back to the greased up muddler - this time for night fishing. I’m sure that a small Vince popper in the evenings and after dark would be devastating. If I was still fishing hard for trout nowadays I would definitely be pursuing this.
(I did try setting up a Vince Popper on the top with a big Clouser underneath for Snakehead, but it was difficult to cast and there was a lot of wire involved
I’m sure it would work if it didn’t land like a swan landing). Cheers, Paul
* I don’t want you to think that we kept it totally go ourselves. About 10 years later I did finally write about it