Question for seasoned fly anglers
- Thread starter jimmy
- Start date
YoursTruly
Well-known member
Jimmy, yes you can use surface poppers at Sharpley as long as they are not some form of booby.
Nice PB by the way, soon you'll be getting your first double.
Nice PB by the way, soon you'll be getting your first double.
jimmy
Well-known member
Cheers Terry, hope to see you up there again soon, thanks for the advice mate. Dont know if they are a booby or not, soft rubber heads, hook throught the centre length ways and legs like a spider, they are a;; different colours which he has i.e yellow/green, red/orange, blue/ white, etc
think this is the kind of thing Terry mate
YoursTruly
Well-known member
They are legal and you can use them on sharpley
jimmy
Well-known member
Cheers Terry, hope to see you up there again soon, thanks for the advice mate. Dont know if they are a booby or not, soft rubber heads, hook throught the centre length ways and legs like a spider, they are a;; different colours which he has i.e yellow/green, red/orange, blue/ white, etc
think this is the kind of thing Terry mate
Christ wtf is that ?
If i saw that on the water I'd think someone had hoyed some rubbish in
When I used to fly fish years ago if you wanted something to create surface disturbance you made up a muddler and cut down the deerhair head to whatever shape was required. Guess things have moved on (or not looking at that contraption)
jimmy
Well-known member
its called a surface popper mate, dont know if they work or indeed if they are any good at all, just something my mate has in his fly box
I know you're new to fly fishing Jimmy but try to resist the urge to use things like that. I don't fly fish anymore but would imagine that would be a pig to cast. If you tie your own, find out what a muddler is and learn to tie them in all different sizes, small ones can be used to match sedge hatches. larger ones use as you would a standard lure. Trim the deerhair heads to suit what you want. Deerhair is hollow so it floats so you'll get your surface poppers. When you've sussed out how to tie them just keep a few untrimmed ones in your box and give them a haircut at the waterside to suit your needs. Much more 'natural' than a coke can with some bits sticking out
Charlie_Thompson
Well-known member
Poppers dont work in the same way as muddlers I'm afraid. The poppers are designed to have a concave head so that when they are stripped quickly (in fly fishing) the fly creates a popping sound due to the air getting trapped in the concave shaped head. Their main purpose is to great a popping sound, hence their name, to attract fish by their sound rather than the general disturbance a muddler would create on the surface of the water. Poppers are used a lot in spinning especially in the USA when targeting Bass and the idea was brought into fly fishing by scaling down the popper in order to be able to cast it with a fly rod and line. I presume they originated from the USA and started life targeting the Bass and Crappies etc but, as with all things these days, they get adapted to target different fish.
I haven't used them myself but they have been featured in magazine articles and I'm sure you will find evidence on the internet and the like of you tube. :yltype:
I haven't used them myself but they have been featured in magazine articles and I'm sure you will find evidence on the internet and the like of you tube. :yltype:
jimmy
Well-known member
jimmy
Well-known member
t0mb0la
Well-known member
why can't you use a booby?
jimmy
Well-known member
i am glad Terry told me that, i actuaslly thought it was eggs that was not allowed, i got 3 boobys in my box
Charlie_Thompson
Well-known member
Apparently boobies on sinking lines fished lazily can cause fish to be deep hooked, not good for C&R.
jimmy
Well-known member
cheers Charlie, thats the same reason i was given why eggs are not allowed either
Yup, its more to do with the way the fly is fished than the actual fly. If their just left static the fish have a tendancy to take them right down. I wouldnt have thought boobys would have been banned if fished on the surface but best check with the gaffer. Places I fish will allow Boobys on Hi-D lines if your on a kill ticket but again, check with the boss.
Charlie_Thompson
Well-known member
Aye it's usually boobies on a sinking line that are banned. You want to see some of the rules on Southern chalkstreams, dry fly only, but only certain dries fished in a certain way.
oldessox
Well-known member
There was a nice little promotional video for poppers filmed on stonebridge lakes , the trout were going mad for them and it seemed impossible to fail to catch with one. Lob it out , give it a twitch and the trout came up and wolfed it down. I heard some time later that the trout were being fed floating pellets prior to the popper being cast , once the pellets were eaten the popper was plopped where they had been 
They do work , even without pre baiting with floating pellets , but they are no better than a muddler or any other surface disturbance fly, and as already stated , they are a pain to cast. I bought some in Florida to fish for bass , brought them home and used them on the trout lakes here occasionaly , it can be great fun watching the bow waves come up behind them as you draw them across the surface , but it's not really fly fishing is it?
Better a sedge dropped in the path of a cruising trout and wait for the rise and gentle sip of the trout , see him turn , "god save the queen" and strike
No better feeling in the world as the line begins to rise from the water beneath the tip of your rod and zips it's way across the lake to where your fly was before coming taught and putting a satisfying bow in the rod , better still if it dosn't stop there and starts removing spooled line from the reel.
Time I went fly fishing again
Ray
They do work , even without pre baiting with floating pellets , but they are no better than a muddler or any other surface disturbance fly, and as already stated , they are a pain to cast. I bought some in Florida to fish for bass , brought them home and used them on the trout lakes here occasionaly , it can be great fun watching the bow waves come up behind them as you draw them across the surface , but it's not really fly fishing is it?
Better a sedge dropped in the path of a cruising trout and wait for the rise and gentle sip of the trout , see him turn , "god save the queen" and strike
No better feeling in the world as the line begins to rise from the water beneath the tip of your rod and zips it's way across the lake to where your fly was before coming taught and putting a satisfying bow in the rod , better still if it dosn't stop there and starts removing spooled line from the reel.
Time I went fly fishing again
Ray
