poppers?

[Ryan L]

have never thrown a popper want to start. when is the best time of year to throw them, color, brand, line, ect thanks in advance. is it the same as a spook buzzbait bite?

[Andy Giannini]

There are many poppers to try, the Rico is pretty famous along with the Splash- it, and the Rebel one. There are many kinds of poppers to choose from with all the new imports nowdays. They look more like little fish, but I am not sure how much it helps the way these baits are fished. Most of these are fished with about 15 pound test mono tied direct to the line tie, this helps to keep the bait straight upon retrieve. Blooping or slicing the surface to spray, are common retrieves with some pauses mixed in. The cadence just depends on how you are able to generate strikes. Sometimes real fast is good idea, or it could be just twitching the thing out there, and leaving it sit a lot.

One of my favorites, isn't really an awesome popper as a specialty bait. Storm's Chug Bug will pop pretty good, add a snap and it walks the dog real well. You can really mix up the retrieve with this bait. Chug, pop, slice, twitch, walk around a weed patch, bloop, etc. Jack of all trades topwater. The colors all seem to work, but chrome finds itself at the end of my line most often.

.02 A.G.

[Barry Watson]

My top three poppers last year were Rico, chugbug in white and chrome and Excalibur Pop-n-Image. Biggest fish came on the Excalibur.