Q’s Wonder Popper is nothing new or revolutionary — it’s just fun to tie and easy to cast, a simple popper that makes a great pop and works like a charm. If I’m fishing for bass on the surface, I never leave home without these. After experimenting with poppers for bass over the years, I think these half-inch, circular foam-cupped versions are the best. They are small, cast well, and make a fantastic blurp sound when you wiggle the rod tip and strip the fly simultaneously. It’s a subtle pop that throws great surface rings. You don’t have to hit it hard. As long as your line is tight to the popper when you pop, it will sing.
I enjoy casting these flies to the bank under trees, dropping them into the water and letting them sit still for a few seconds, then giving the fly one finesse pop. You want to hear that blurp sound. It’s like ringing the dinner bell and usually gets the attention of fish from as far away as 10 feet. Once the surface rings on the water dissipate after that first pop, wait! If there isn’t a strike, give it one more pop and wait again. Between the pops is when the fish usually decides to kill the fly. Thelonious Monk used to say it’s the space between the notes that makes the music. I am a true believer in this when popping poppers.
Immediately after you make your first cast and the popper lands on the water, always be sure to strip all the slack out of your fly line, straight to the fly, so you can stay tight once a fish strikes. I have seen many anglers cast poppers with a slack line. A fish comes up and eats the fly, they lift the rod on the strike, and the popper doesn’t move because of the slack in the line, resulting in a missed strike. I point my rod tip directly at the popper and strip strike about a second after the popper disappears. Then I raise the rod tip to stay connected and fight the fish while maintaining a tight line.
Fly fishing the surface is the bomb — it’s visual and exciting. When working the edges of structure or along banks and weed lines, there’s nothing like a violent surface strike or seeing the wake of a fish behind the popper, then watching your bug just disappear. It gets the heart pumping. As my friend Lefty Kreh once said, “It’s the most fun you can have with your clothes on.”
Materials
Hook: Mustad Stinger Hook, size 2
Thread: Kevlar thread to coat the hook shank, clear monofilament thread to tie in materials
Tail: Flash N’ Slinky to match the color of the popper
Flash: Krystal Flash, color to match the tail (optional)
Body: Grass olive 2-inch EP Shrimp Dub Brush
Glue: Zap Thin CA superglue
Popper head: Half-inch round foam Wapsi Perfect Popper heads in chartreuse, yellow or white
Markers: Waterproof sharpies
Tying Instructions
Step 1. Place the hook in the vise and create a thread base by covering the shank with wraps of Kevlar thread or other strong thread to just behind the eye. In the step-by-step pictures, I used two thread colors to illustrate where the popper head will go in relationship to the body. If using thread of a single color, lay the popper body over the hook shank and mark the end point for the tail/body junction with a marker. This will help you know where to finish your body wraps. Tie off and cut the thread.
Step 2. Switch to clear monofilament thread to tie in the materials. (I primarily use mono thread on all my flies. It disappears and I never need to match the thread color to any fly I tie.) Add a short tail of Flash N’ Slinky or any synthetic body material. It should be about the length of the hook. If you want more flash, add a similar length of Krystal Flash.
Step 3. Tie in the EP brush at the tail and wrap it toward the eye of the hook, then tie off at the point where the head will be placed. I like EP Shrimp Dub Brushes for the body because they have zero water absorption.
Step 4. Coat the exposed Kevlar wraps with ZAP Thin CA glue.
Step 5. Slide a popper head in place, making sure you leave the eye of the hook exposed. These popper heads have slits and a hole and are easy to push over and onto the shank.
Step 6. Squeeze the popper to secure it on the shank and hold it in place with a clamp until set.
Step 7. On chartreuse or yellow popper heads, add red and green dots using waterproof markers. On white popper heads, add red, blue, and yellow dots. You can also add the dots prior to gluing the popper head to the shank, which is what Step 6 on the next page depicts.
Step 8. Use a marker to color the inside of the popper cup solid red for better visibility on the water. Then fish!
Tying Steps for Q’s Wonder Popper
