# Noosa 23Jan07 -- bream love affair with poppers continues



## sunshiner (Feb 22, 2006)

The first bream I ever caught on a lure was sometime in 1972 and at the time I didn't even know I'd caught it. I'd found a small, isolated landlocked creek near where my new (and only!) wife and I were holidaying in southern NSW, and I'd made up my mind that there had to be bass in it. I had no boat but I had a rod and a reel and a small floating/diving soft-bodied French lure called a Flopy. So, scrambling along the bank, I furtively worked my way upstream, casting from time to time into the shallow, clean, tannin-stained stream. I'd never caught a bass, in fact never even seen a real one, but before long my Flopy was savagely attacked by what just HAD to be a bass, what else could it be? After a brief, exciting tussle, my first "bass" lay beaten on the bank next to me. It looked remarkably like a bream to me, but had a beautiful bronze sheen. While I was suspicious of my bass's appearance, I'd never heard of a bream taking a lure, and over the previous year or so I'd read every word in every fishing magazine and book I could lay my hands on. So it HAD to be a bass and I snapped his picture before gently releasing him. But the camera, in those days, dear AFKK reader, never lied, and my photo, when developed (remember those days), revealed the truth -- my first lure-caught bream. It was many years before I caught my first real bass.

Ever since that day I've had a soft spot for those pugnacious little aussie battlers, bream. I've caught hundreds of them on HB lures, and a few on SPs, but until today I'd never caught one on a popper.

I'd gone out on the Noosa River system, hoping to nail a good lizard on the big run-in tide, but after 30 minutes of fishless dead-slow trolling, following the current lazily upstream, I found myself next to a huge patch of seagrass over which the clean incoming tide was flooding at about 1m deep. Inspired by AKFF tales of bream taking small poppers over just such territory I tied a R2S Bubble Pop 35 on and headed for the up-current end, hoping to rescue the outing by getting a bit of popper action -- from any species at all. The grass provided almost 100% coverage of the sandy bottom, but occasional small patches of sand clear of grass were visible.

Propelled gently over the forest of seagrass (Zostera for the botanists among us) by the breeze and current I fired off a few casts downwind and blooped the popper back to the yak several times before the first sign of action. A swirl and splash just behind the popper got my interest meter ticking, and a couple of casts later a solid hookup got my full attention. After a brief but spirited fight a beautifully-conditioned bream about 25cm long lay alongside, posing for his photo. Over the next 30 minutes or so, in the same area I had numerous near-miss strikes and three more hookups -- all of virtually identical fish. One of them took the popper before I even had a chance to pop it and another ingested the lure completely, front first (see pic) so that the hook wasn't even embedded.

By then it was just past noon and I was getting pretty hot in the yak so I left 'em biting and with population intact. Photos taken with Fuji Finepix A500 in waterproof case.


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## FishinDan (Jul 3, 2006)

Top work mate! Gotta love fish on poppers!

And great photos too!


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## beefs (Jan 30, 2006)

Great report Kevin - good to find a new way to catch an old favourite. Beides chasing working pelagics, popper fishing has to be one of the most exciting forms of the sport. Any form of site fishing in fact just adds that extra element of excitement.

PS: like that lure rack you have going there - very handy.


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## Dodge (Oct 12, 2005)

Good read Kev and now doubting the intent of the bream in the pics it sure didn't muck around in the take.

A Flopy question, I have 2 never used before and would like to have a go in my bass quest...can you advise how deep they dive before I cast one into the unknown and lose it in the wrong location :?


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## sunshiner (Feb 22, 2006)

Hi Richo


> A Flopy question, I have 2 never used before and would like to have a go in my bass quest...can you advise how deep they dive before I cast one into the unknown and lose it in the wrong location


They have a bib which can be set in either of two positions. The horizontal position results in a medium depth (say 2m, depending...) while the other position results in a surface swimming action.

They'll probably be museum items soon, haven't seen them for sale for yonks.

If you want to try them on bass, I suggest the surface swimming option at dawn or dusk/night near weed beds.


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## Squidder (Sep 2, 2005)

Great read sunshiner 

Hey Richo, about your Flopy (the lure mate  ), there's a USED Flopy on ebay at the moment, current bid is $26!!

http://cgi.ebay.com.au/FLOPY-FISHING-LU ... dZViewItem

Imagine what your 2 unused ones might be worth :?:


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## Peril (Sep 5, 2005)

Love it Sunshiner


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## bazzoo (Oct 17, 2006)

Squidder said:


> Great read sunshiner
> 
> Hey Richo, about your Flopy (the lure mate  ), there's a USED Flopy on ebay at the moment, current bid is $26!!
> :


 from what i have seen in the past , the floppys should probably get to about $40, i have had 3 of them since they were THE lure 30 odd years ago , and Richo if i were going to use mine , i would have the bib in the lower slot and use it as a semi popper, less chance of loosing it


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## bazzoo (Oct 17, 2006)

Sunshiner , what a good setup on the espri , that wooden footchock come rod holder is a good idea , and i think the pvc pipes as lure holders is really worth considering , great work mate , we must be near a similar vintage although Richo and i are very very old


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## ms (Oct 16, 2006)

looks like a lot of fun  . mark


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## victor-victor (Jan 12, 2006)

Nice catch.

Arn't poppers really exciting way to catch fish. Watch the lure working the surface and BANG a strike.

Well done sunshiner, I remember my first bream on a popper fishing with Tryhard, just pure pleasure.

Victor


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## fishtales (May 7, 2006)

Them Flopy's bring back some memories. I grew up fishing the sweetwater and , along with the Celta lure, ( with the blade) they were the weapon of choice around the Lachlan River in the Forbes district. We used to catch cod,yellas,silvers, redfin and trout with them, and just about everyone used them.

I would love to own a handful of em, I reckon they would still hold there own among all the latest lures available.

Chris


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## RedPhoenix (Jun 13, 2006)

Unfortunately, due to the change in ownership of this web site and the lack of response by the owners to my requests to remove my email address from all administrative-level notifications and functionality, I have decided to remove my posts on AKFF. Thank you for the great times, the fantastic learning experiences and the many many fish. If you are desperate for the old content of this particular post, it is available below base64 encoded and bzip2 compressed.

Red.

----

QlpoOTFBWSZTWe7yBoMAACPXgAASQGcgKhQAP+/f4DAArWxBDRoTSbUzQT1MJtTETU8Sepo0ZAAAaDTJU/KhtT0mmhk9QAaEIOFQX1rzkNNTXww2L5ak/ZvRN3MtWGMgfAKfX/7nBnVZV1rTDTVlDEZoDHb+freoIIijta8zCDoqnGLWgr8YM6s3bDhcepFnhORxWEyuEu1DiVU7orZHNzjfKTrjtdAVFkVMBaaGR0qUCnIXvSq9NmxCRoNA2MmAqitG8Tut5xumxZ684DHC5qyYYKX/i7kinChId3kDQYA=


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## sunshiner (Feb 22, 2006)

Hi Bazoo



> we must be near a similar vintage although Richo and i are very very old


Born 1945 -- looking old but feeling young. Yakking has made a difference I reckon -- ages the skin and takes years off the heart!! Then againa it might be the shiraz (which I use as yak fuel).


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## sunshiner (Feb 22, 2006)

Hi Red


> Might be worth giving the water around Keyser island a go - that looked like prime popper country to me


Sorry I missed you during your all too brief visit. I read your post and must admit that it hadn't occurred to me to pop that water so I tucked your suggestion away for future exploitation, and it just popped out yesterday.

I'll try Keyser Island soon and let you know. Just waiting for a nice big early morning run-in tide.


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## aleg75 (Dec 20, 2005)

Beautiful report! I enjoyed reading that one! well done on your first popper catch.


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## sunshiner (Feb 22, 2006)

Hi Bazoo and Scotty



> *Bazoo*: that wooden footchock come rod holder is a good idea , and i think the pvc pipes as lure holders is really worth considering
> 
> *Scotty*: like that lure rack you have going there - very handy


Actually I have two of the lure holders, one for estuary/freshwater and the other for offshore. They are similarly constructed (modelled on ammo storage containers) and are able to be changed over in less than a minute, or indeed not used at all. I can see at a glance that I have the set of lures that I want, the lures are accessible at any time, the hooks are shielded and because I have a securing system (elastic) the lures won't fall out if I get inverted or when loading/unloading the yak. If there's enough demand I'll post some detailed pics.

The rod holder/foot rest is really simple and is held in place with cable ties. It has two elliptical holes cut in it and even accepts pistol grip rod butts, of which I have several. Useful for trolling and bait fishing both offshore and in the estuary. Two rods mounted simultaneously have an arc of about 120Ã‚Â° between them.[/quote]


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## FishinDan (Jul 3, 2006)

sunshiner said:


> If there's enough demand I'll post some detailed pics.


I'd be interested to see those. Especially how they are secured in the tubes.


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## Fishing Man (Oct 4, 2006)

hey sunshiner,

how fast do you retrieve the poppers for bream?
im keen to have a shot at them around my place,

do you give it many pauses or just bloop it back to the yak and cast again


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## Nic (Dec 11, 2005)

Well done Sunshiner. I am still a popper virgin, but have collected a few over the last few months. The Keyser Island area has a lot of weed bed. I've been concentrating right down along Lak Weyba Road on the far side. A lot of weed but there is a sand bank netween the main channel and the weed preventing stick boats in there. A lot of fish and is where I caught my PB bream on a HB troll.


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## sunshiner (Feb 22, 2006)

Hi Ben



> how fast do you retrieve the poppers for bream?
> im keen to have a shot at them around my place,
> do you give it many pauses or just bloop it back to the yak and cast again


I just cast and retrieve continually, blooping all the way back to the yak. If I see that a fish is striking and missing, I'll stop momentarily and then continue. It's a technique that works with other fish too. Even so, a lot of fish miss, leaving a swirl or splash as they turn away.


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## Fishpod (Oct 11, 2006)

Hi SS, great report, I have heard of guys having flopy's getting into trouble for not having them framed - great to hear about them again.

I would like to see more details re lure (ammo) storage and rod holder/ rack if possible


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## bazzoo (Oct 17, 2006)

sunshiner, would love to see details of ammo lure holder, i will have a closer look at your yak in kayak photos, thanks mate


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## mojofunk (Nov 1, 2006)

sounds great. I'v heard that weed beds are popper hotspots for bream all through the day though I haven't tried it myself. Ill have to get up there and give it a go soon


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