Poppers are one of the most popular top water lures in the world. They can cover a large amount of predator species and are fun and exciting to fish.
A popper is a lure that is made from wood or hard plastic with a scoop of the end that floats on the surface and makes noise as it is pulled through the water. Many predator fish will think it is an animal struggling on the surface and some might even attack it out of curiosity
Poppers can be used during any time of day but are most effective during the twilight hours where fish often come out the depths to hunt surface prey.
There are 3 retrieves that I use mainly when I fish a popper.
A slow retrieving method for any spot where there’s sure to be fish, a retrieving method that causes a zigzag motion for spots where I am uncertain of fish, and finally the easiest retrieving method for a popper lure when I want to fish slow and cover a lot of water.
This is a slow retrieve that I use when I am confident that fish are in a spot.
It involves using the tip of your rod to make a sudden snapping motion with a tight line, ensuring that the lure “pushes” a lot of water and making a popping sound.
I will repeat these 3 to 4 times before coming to a dead stop.
Depending on the temperate of the water I will sometimes wait for up to a minute before repeating the retrieve (3-4 pops before leaving it dead).
This retrieve requires a little bit of practice to pull off and I use it when I am searching for where the fish might be.
The idea behind walking the dog is to make short twitches with your rod tip whilst reeling up most of the slackline.
The trick is that you do not want to reel in all the slack, as this is what gives the lure its action and that there must be a continuous rhythm in the way you twitch the rod tip.
If you pull this off the lure will make a zigzag action in the water and it can be especially useful if you need to cover lots of water searching for fish.
This last technique is by far the simplest but is no less effective.
It is simply the same as the first retrieve but without stopping.
I think of this retrieve as an in-between the other 2, where I need to fish a lot of water, but I do not want to fish too fast.
Poppers are incredibly versatile when it comes to size.
A fisherman can fish a tiny 1.772-gram micro popper with size #4 hooks to incredibly large saltwater poppers that are normally 117 grams in weight rocking large 5/0 treble hooks.
The best way to determine the best size for you is to figure out your target species.
I would say that for pike I would fish something around 40 grams, but it is not a hard and fast rule as fish might be more willing to eat smaller poppers on certain days.
Also remember to gear your rod, reel and line to the correct size lure you are using, larger poppers will always need larger gear if you want to get maximum casting distance from your lure.
When it comes to color for fishing topwater lures there are 2 schools of thought: fishing the color that closely resembles the prey that your target species eats (matching the hatch) or fishing the color depending on the weather.
I personally will change my color depending on the weather.
On overcast days I will fish lighter color lures (white) and on brighter days I tend to fish darker colors(black).
The reason for this is to create a proper silhouette for the fish to target. If the sky is light a dark shape will be much more likely to draw attention. The opposite is also true; if the sky is dark a lighter shape will draw more attention.
This is where many people fail when using a popper, as the explosive action of a topwater strike causes people to panic striking too early and losing the fish.
There are 2 schools of thought.
Many people will say that you need to count to 2 before setting the hook.
I personally believe the best way is to point my rod tip at were the strike accorded, reel up any slack before setting the hook with a strong upwards motion for maximum chance to hook the fish up.
My last bit of advice when fishing a popper is that if a fish blows up on it, and somehow misses the lure just stop retrieving for 4-5 seconds before slowly popping the lure again. Often the fish will return, thinking it has wounded its prey and you will be given another chance to strike.
