Fly tying ... Bass popper flys

Popper Tying Time!!!

  This is the time of the year to restock my fly box and make a bunch of my favorite largemouth bass fly's...POPPERS! There is nothing like watching any fish explode on a surface fly. Its my favorite way to take a largemouth, anytime!

  There are lots of  heads you can make them out of, but I prefer the hard foam wapsi heads. Tying them is pretty simple and you can get creative as you want in the paint job. I prefer to use acrylic paints and a brush, but an airbrush will get your creative juices flowing.

  To secure the popper to the hook, I like to lay down an aggressive thread wrap on the hook shank and coat it with zap a gap. After coated, slip the popper on and squeeze for 30 seconds. Once dried, I like to fill the gap of the popper in with super glue.

 

wapsi popper

  You can add a piece of 30lb mono if you want a weed guard as well when you lay the thread base on the shank. After its dried, I like to add a thin coat of CS seal coat to seal the head and add a good base for the acrylic paint to ahear too.

  Once dried, its time to get creative with the paint! You can use many paints and sealers. I prefer acrylic paints and CCG hydro to seal the head or loon thin and flow. These are freshwater bass bugs and when I do saltwater fly poppers I prefer Devcon 2 ton epoxy because of the toothy critters in the north east.

 

bass popper heads ready to be tied 

  Acrylic paint, a few brushes, sticker eyes, or round dowels for eye stamping and you good to go. The possibilities are endless and this makes a great winter project!  After your head is painted and sealed with your products of choice its time to tie a few hackels, marabou, bucktail, silly legs  and flash of your choice. Again, you can do any materials you like for the tail, but these are the norm.

Bass Popper Fly

popper fly

  Go tie yourself up a few bass bugs and have a blast this spring. I promise you will be hooked!

Brian