# Poppers -- are they the best estuary lure yet?



## sunshiner (Feb 22, 2006)

Just thought you AKFFers would like to see this photo of a reasonable flathead which ate my popper in the Noosa River on Friday. There I was, blooping along in 50cm of water in a strong run-out current when I was rewarded with a spectacular surface strike and that wonderful slurping noise fish make when they surface strike. A couple of minutes later after a spirited struggle it joined me in my Espri.

Poppers in the Noosa system have been very productive for me recently and they are certainly producing variety: bream, whiting, flathead, pike and long tom.

A kayak is especially useful in fishing like this because (1) it allows easy transit of really shallow water (where the fish are hunting) and (2) the low profile presented by the fisherman and his boat makes it less likely that the fish will 'spook' in the shallow water (my theory based on many recent observations -- the hooked fish have really surprised looks on their faces).

A drogue (mine cost nothing and doubles a shopping bag -- see pic) is a useful accessory on windy days as it cuts the yak drift rate back to manageable levels, allowing more casts before drifting off the chosen sand/weed flats.


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## sunshiner (Feb 22, 2006)

Oops, seemed to have missed the drogue pic.


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## rawprawn (Aug 31, 2005)

I'm starting to agree with you on the Poppers. I have only recently started to use them and am also having great success. My favourite type of fishing at the moment is on the flats and poppers are well suited to this. I'm going shopping for another couple tomorrow


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## DiveYak (Feb 5, 2007)

Some great fish there. Wish I was going to Foster to learn how to fish poppers. Again though it seems the shallows are the place to fish.


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## T-curve (Feb 19, 2007)

The poppers sure are fun..nothing better then getting nailed on the surface, caught plenty of bream and bass this way , hopefully with more to come!!


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## Guest (Apr 22, 2007)

I haven't used poppers a hell of a lot, but am starting to use them more and more and I really like em. Very easy to get the right action on a kayak and in the right circumstances, can often outfish everything else. Although they are easy to troll, they're also a bugger to troll to, because I keep cranking my neck so I can watch it pop along the surface. Its just so cool to watch fish follow them up and then strike.


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## hairymick (Oct 18, 2005)

They are also superb on bass in the fresh. Especially dawn & dusk


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## paulb (Nov 12, 2006)

Hey 5thofNovember - how about a set of side mirrors for the Yak, you'd be able to see the popper and I'm sure your yak would be the envy of the town :lol:


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## Phoenix (Jan 12, 2006)

I have a nice collection of poppers - not caught much on them yet. Different brands seem to have a very different action.


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## aleg75 (Dec 20, 2005)

Thats is awesome! all off poppers! they really are showing how well they can work! well done.


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## Y-Knot (Sep 26, 2006)

smashing mixed bag ... fishing with poppers is reading as bloody good fun in the shallows. 8)


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## sunshiner (Feb 22, 2006)

Occy said:


> I have a couple of Poppers just like that. Any idea what brand it is?


Occy, a River2Sea Bubble Pop 35, that is 35mm long. Colour doesn't seem to be important, but I think the size is significant. Even though they're tiny, they cost $11 at BCF. They may be cheaper elsewhere, hopefully.


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## Guest (Apr 23, 2007)

Paul, now you're talkin. I didn't think of that!


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## beefs (Jan 30, 2006)

You think the size is important Kevin? Have you tried the 45's? That's what I use (can't find the 35's) and while I get a fair bit of interest, not a lot of hook-ups. Also what do you find to be the best standard retrieve? My basic technique is medium sized bloops of probably 20-30cms length every few seconds - too fast?

One thing I have figured out though is that if things are slow try putting the cast out and making the first 3 or 4 bloops as splashy and violent as you can before slowing it down - seems to get everythings attention and bring them in for a look.


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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.

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## sunshiner (Feb 22, 2006)

Scotty asked:


> You think the size is important Kevin? Have you tried the 45's? That's what I use (can't find the 35's) and while I get a fair bit of interest, not a lot of hook-ups. Also what do you find to be the best standard retrieve? My basic technique is medium sized bloops of probably 20-30cms length every few seconds - too fast?


Yes Scotty, I've tried the 45mm version and my feeling was that I got fewer customers, although haven't scientifically tested it. The big test would be to see if the whiting ate it. It's hard to try a different lure when you know that you have one that works so well...

It's common to get a lot of strikes without full hook-up. As for retrieve, I continually stop/start just long enough to cause the pop. I pause the retrieve only when I see a missed strike. Quite often during such a pause the fish will pick up the lure off the surface and swim off.

I think the main thing is to fish in shallow water (about 50cm), especially somewhere there's a current (this particularly for whiting).


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## justcrusin (Oct 1, 2006)

Gday Matt, I have been finding it the other way, the fish would come up and sniff the bubble pop35 in the same colour but would smash my sure catch 50mm green and silver.

Either way there great

Cheers Dave


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