The pure adrenaline rush from a smashing surface strike when a pumped predator pounces on your popper has to rank as one of the most sensational experiences in sport fishing. All too often, however, the sequence of sensations sweeping one’s nervous system ends with a feeling of disappointment, because despite the ferocity or determination of the fish’s attack, there was failure to establish a positive hook set, and contact was lost with whatever was trying to claim your offering. Part of the popper game is learning to accept the fact that compared with subsurface presentations, more strikes will be lost with top-water offerings, and this remains true even with species that naturally engage in surface-feeding sprees. In fact, there are times when even with superaggressive predators that seem bent on annihilating whatever it is that is chugging above them (East Coast bluefish are a prime example), failed hook sets are commonplace.
Why is this so? Often, you just have to chalk it up to the fact that the fish simply missed its target. Predators, whether they are grizzlies swiping salmon from the rapids or tuna targeting terrified pods of baitfish, have to be efficient, otherwise they simply do not survive. That doesn’t mean they always connect with their prey. Some are more successful than others, but they all miss sometimes, and that’s the case with the game fish we target. Spend enough time presenting poppers, and you’ll begin to accumulate memories of dramatic surface displays where fish crashed your artificial, but you came up empty-handed.
Mother Nature’s shortcomings aside, failure to effect a successful hookup when fishing poppers often lies on the angler’s side of the equation and can be blamed on two factors: improper technique and faulty popper design. As far as technique is concerned, the most common mistake that anglers make when trying to hook a fish on a popper is using the rod to manipulate the offering by flipping the tip upward. Following the law that what goes up must come down, when the tip is lowered, slack is created in the line, and the simple fact is that you cannot effectively make a hook penetrate with loose line. A related problem is using the rod to strike the fish. A more effective tactic is to keep the tip low to the water and strike by sharply pulling back on the line. Do not rely on the visual element alone. You may see a large surface commotion around the popper, but try to resist striking until you actually feel resistance against the line in your stripping hand. Then you can give a short, sharp pull backward. This way, if the fish misses the popper, with the rod tip still close to the surface with a tight line, you’re in an ideal position to set up on the fish if it decides to take another shot at the popper.
However, proper technique will not yield an optimum number of successful hookups if the popper you are fishing suffers from design flaws. Typically, the defect lies in a reduced hook gap. The gap, also referred to as the “throat,” is the distance between the hook point and the bottom of the shank directly above the point. A narrow gap compromises your ability to set the hook on the strike. Even if you manage to stick the fish, the connection is often short-lived, because a small gap does not penetrate deeply, and the fish is soon able to rid itself of this temporary annoyance. Too often, on an otherwise well-constructed popper, the hook shank is buried too deep in the popper’s body, creating too narrow a gap.
By moving the body to in front of the hook’s eye, the Low Rider system completely eliminates the flaw of a narrow gap. The system will work with traditional foam cylindrical bodies, but the results are best with a catamaran body, a design I developed about eight years ago. The body is cut from one-quarter-inch-thick foam, and in standard form, its roughly triangular shape is an inch and a quarter long. The front face is three-quarters of an inch wide, tapering to half an inch at the rear. These dimensions are suitable for a wide range of freshwater species (such as largemouth and smallmouth bass), as well as for inshore saltwater species (calico bass, striped bass, medium-size yellowtail, dorados, roosterfish, school tuna, and so on) and can be easily altered to suit specific needs or to experiment.
This is in effect a tube fly. On the underside of the foam, I glue a length of three-sixteenths-inch-diameter clear plastic tubing and run the leader through that. A variety of tubing material will work, but I prefer the plastic type. The size of the inside diameter may also vary, but be sure it is small enough to prevent the hook’s eye from sliding inside it. If this happens, the hook may lodge in such a way that the point is oriented sideways or doesn’t ride point up.
The secret to the great popping action are the two small three-sixteenth-inch square foam nubs glued to the underside of the face in front. They push a great deal of water, and it takes only a moderate pull on the line to produce a significant pop that is plainly visible as well as audible. The surface disturbance is considerably more pronounced than with the action of cylindrical poppers.
With the popper body riding in front of the hook eye, the hook remains entirely free of the body, so there is nothing in the way to interfere with its penetration. In the event that a fish engulfs the popper, its flat configuration insures that the hook point and gap remain totally unencumbered, so the hook can function effectively. The reduced profile also makes it easier to cast the popper and to lift it off the water.
A second major feature of the Low Rider system is that the streamer portion of the body is tied Bend Back style, so the hook point rides up. This helps mitigate a lot of potential snags, making the popper a good choice for waters laden with obstructions such as grass and weeds. I tied some for Lefty Kreh, who fished them on a smallmouth trip in grass-choked waters, and he found that with a vigorous back cast, the flat body easily shed the debris. Equally important, with the addition of a few wraps of lead around the shank, the hook point will sit low in the water below the popper body, which greatly increases the ability to make a positive hook set.
As with any popper, you have to consider how much surface commotion is appropriate for the conditions and species you are fishing. Usually, in areas where there is already considerable water movement (fishing in rip currents or the boiling surf, for example), maximum action may be the hot ticket, and this popper will deliver. A sharp tug on the line will create all the pop and noise you’ll need. On the other end of the continuum, a slow-paced hand-over-hand retrieve will swim the popper across the surface, creating an enticing wake with minimum noise or disturbance. I found this to be a very successful tactic for shallow-water Delta stripers, particularly under low-light, early-morning conditions.
The next time you’re thinking of slinging a popper for your favorite top-water species give the Low Rider a try, and both you and the fish will very likely end up getting hooked.
Tying Instructions
- The foam body and nubs can be cut with a sharp pair of scissors, a razor blade, or hobby-type scalpel.
- To create the proper Bend Back slant with a long-shank hook, mount the hook in your vise, grasp it approximately a quarter of an inch behind the hook eye with a pair of pliers and gently push down on the shank. What you’re trying to do is create a slight bend downward, not a sharp angle.
- Take a few wraps around the shank above the hook point with some small-diameter lead. I use superglue to secure it in place. You can also wrap over this with tying thread. When the hook is inverted, this will make the hook ride point with the up.
- Tie any pattern that you like for the remainder of the popper. Just be sure to keep it relatively sparse and take care that the material is tied on the underside of the shank — that is, on what will be the top side of the point-up hook.
