Popper Swap, Fall 2011

[peregrines]

Thanks to all the participants-- this turned out to be a great swap with some great looking patterns from Kelkay's old school hand carved Balsa Wood beauties and Riptide's test tube poppers to new-fangled stuff including JoJers's stacked foam poppers, and Dan's Tube Fly Ear Plug Popper. Smalliesrule even incorporated Stealth technology in his pattern.

Lots of great deer hair work too in this one. Now the long wait for open water....

Sorry for the long delay in getting these in and back out to you.

Here they are:


Tied by: JoJer
Quick-tie Foam Popper

Hook -Mustad S82-3906B #6 *
Thread -Green 3/0 Monocord
Body -Stacked/glued craft foam
Legs –Medium rubber various colors
Weed guard –50# Mono
Glue –Brush-on Crazy glue
*Jojer widened the hook gape to allow more clearance with this size body.


Tied by: Swirlchaser
Deer Hair Popper

Hook size 4 2x Aberdeen


Tied by: Smalliesrule
Kent’s Stealth Bomber

Hook: 2/0 Allen Octopus Hook
Thread: Yellow
Tail: Chartreuse and White Bucktail and Pearl Krystal Flash
Shellback: Yellow 2 mm Foam
Body: Rust Antron dubbing
Legs: Yellow rubber
Note: fish on heavy leader with loop knot, Dead drift with twitches or hard chugs. Hang on….


Tied by: Famill00
Soft Foam Popper

Body: Soft Foam Popper body
Tail: Splayed white and red saddle hackle
Rear collar: white and red saddle hackle


Tied by: Kelkay
Hand Carved Balsa Wood Popper

Metallic White Paint covered with coat of Bug Bond



Tied by: Diver Dan
Ear Plug Tube Fly Popper

Tied by: Pocono
Frogger

Hook: TMC 8089 size 6
Thread: Danville FlyMaster 6/0, Peacock
Body: Wapsi Perfect Popper #1/2
Paint: Cream underside, Green topside
Eyes: 3-D molded gold 3.5 Spirit River
Tail/Thorax: Whiting green dyed grizzly saddle
Legs: Montana Fly centipede legs speckled olive, small


Tied by: Gatortransplant
Deer Hair Popper

Tied by: RipTide
Cork Popper

Hook: Size 2 Kink shank
Body: #5 Test tube Stopper
Double Mono Weed Guard
Tail: Yellow splayed
Rear Collar: Black Hackle


Tied by: Mcnerney
Yellow and Brown Deer Hair Popper

Hook: Daiichi 2722 size 3/0
Thread: Black 3/0 uni to tie tail, Kevlar 200 natural to spin deerhair body
Tail: Yellow Schlappen and marabou
Skirt: Deerhair dyed olive
Body: Yellow and Brown dyed deer hair


Tied by: Peregrines
Hard Foam Popper

Hook: Mustad #33903 (a kinked shank popper hook) size 6
Popper: Wapsi Perfect Popper Body size 6
Body: Acrylic Paint (yellow belly, orange sides, green back, black spots) coated with 3 layers of Sally Hansen’s Hard As Nails
Tail: Orange dyed grizzly cape feathers splayed,
Rear collar: Green dyed strung saddle hackle

 

[s fontinalis]

great looking flies all. I'd have had crack at that swap too only i'd have been totally out of my comfort zone. Maybe the next time.

Congrats on a great set!

 

[mcnerney]

Great looking poppers, I can't wait until spring rolls around! Thanks again Mark for hosting the swap!

 

[Pocono]

Great looking poppers, everyone!

Mark, thanks for hosting this one!

Now, where are those Smallies hiding................

Pocono

 

[grassonfly]

Aj really tied a spectacular bug

 

[swirlchaser]

I will catch a Bass on EVERY popper in this swap. Pics to follow. Thanks Mark for keeping these swaps going, your place must look like an Orvis warehouse!

 

[gatortransplant]

I'm loving all the foam poppers, I'm a big fan of the stacked foam and the ear plug poppers in particular, but that stealth bomber popper looks like a killer for sure. Heck, that might be seeing some use with redfish too!

Thanks for the compliment Robert, definitely a stretch though if you saw them in person, haha!

 

[Guest1]

Those are all great! I can't wait to get them. Hey, where's the 'Happy Feet' smiley?

 

[sumojo]

Those are some great poppers great job guys

 

[JoJer]

For everyone in this swap: I never got around to mentioning that I left the rear legs on the quick tie foam popper pretty much as they came out of the package, so you could customize as you like.
I generally separate a single strand of rubber, tie it in a single overhand around the other two strands a 1/8 inch or so from the end, then separate the other two strands. It gives it a neat frogfoot look. You can also add a "knee joint" by tying all three strands in a single overhand. They usually stay tied once knotted, or you can add a dab of glue. Shortening the legs with knots will help avoid the legs fouling on the hook.
If you prefer a look like a skirted bass fly, you can just separate all three strands.

 

[swirlchaser]

First up was Marks popper. It landed an early season Bluegill. I was a bit over gunned with a 7wt but this early in the season, I'll take it. And I hooked him on the right side!!!

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[mcnerney]

Congrats! Nice looking fish, good to see that Mark's design is working great!

 

[swirlchaser]

Thanks, one down, 10 more to go. I can't wait til June to see the bucketmouth your fly is going to produce.

 

[peregrines]

Dang, I'm not sure what surprises me more-- someone actually catching a fish on a fly I tied or catching a bluegill on top in February--- You did a great job finding a bluegill with an overwhelming death wish!

 

[swirlchaser]

Dang, I'm not sure what surprises me more-- someone actually catching a fish on a fly I tied or catching a bluegill on top in February--- You did a great job finding a bluegill with an overwhelming death wish!

I know! I was fishing weighted buggers until I saw a swirl, staying true to my screen name I grabbed your popper and went for it...

 

[swirlchaser]

Next up was Famill00's soft body foam popper. It was the last hour of daylight and fish started breaking and swirling. The good news is this fly catches fish. The bad news is that a big, toothy Pickerel swam off with it before I could snap a pic . If you haven't fished it yet this fly has an awesome pop. I wanted to bite it myself as I watched it work. Make sure you get this one wet guys.