To Pop or Not, that is the Question

We’ve all experienced that moment out on the water, fishing next to your best mate, the fish are on the eat but he or she keeps getting the hits and you don’t… and then you look at them all smiley (forcing that smile through gritted teeth) and say “awesome fish, well done!!” but inside you’re burning up like a North Korean nuke about to detonate….… sound familiar? It does to me!

I thought it would be useful to tap into the experience of a few topwater anglers I know to try and gather views to create a guideline around how one goes about in selecting what to throw when out searching for topwater predators. The growing popularity of topwater GT fishing over recent years has sparked a whole new generation of topwater anglers but given the type of destinations one must visit to practice the sport, being able to spend time on the water experimenting is a luxury most don’t have, so a few guidelines to keep in mind may prove useful.

Poppers

Poppers often get the bulk of the airtime in tackle talk and general chit chat around topwater fishing however, like any other lure, they are very much a specific tool that is one of many in an angler’s toolbox. They are the lure of choice in certain conditions but are not always the first lure I find myself reaching for when arriving at a spot or when faced with conditions that make a popper or chugger less than ideal.
We could probably differentiate between 3 main types of poppers – all are identified by the cup on the front of the lure.

1. Cup faced poppers
When conditions are flat to moderately flat or a mild chop a big cup faced popper is typically the lure of choice. These lures throw a big noise and a big splash and have incredible drawing power that can call fish up from significant depth or distance to come take a look. They do not cast as far as other types of lures so are not the most efficient in terms of being able to cover a lot of water quickly however, given their noisiness and drawing power, they do somewhat make-up for this.

Big cup faced poppers are not always ideal when the wind gets up a little and the water has some swell to it. You would typically find them a little more difficult to throw but more importantly, working them becomes harder as they start tumbling or even leaping as they struggle to maintain contact with the surface of the water. If this is happening, it’s a good idea to switch lures.

 

 

 

 

2. Diving poppers
Sometimes, the fish are keyed onto the surface noise that a popper makes however the surface conditions make it difficult for a cup faced popper to maintain contact. In other cases, the cup faced poppers sometimes have the opposite effect and though they can draw interest from fish, they are too noisy to illicit a reaction. Diving poppers offer a slightly subtler approach to this lure class. Instead of throwing a big bloop and spray, the angled cup throws some water but captures air as the cup dives below the surface leaving a very attractive bubble trail for fish to key onto. In instances where turbulent water makes it harder for a fish to zone in on a cup faced popper, a diving popper offers a great advantage in its ability to create noise yet dive below the surface and leave behind a crumb trail for a following fish to key onto.

 

3. Skipping Poppers
Typically, long in shape with a very small cup, these poppers work very much like good old plugs and I would use them in the same circumstances as when I would opt for a plug. Often when conditions are glass-out or fishing white water zones, a lure that’s creating disturbance but moving quicker through the strike zone can be the difference between a fish committing or not. The logic (at least in my own limited mind) is when you have ultra-flat conditions, any fish can take a really good look at a slower moving offering before deciding whether to eat it or not. A skipping popper or plug offers a limited window to this fish so - the ”eat don’t eat” decision has to be made a lot quicker. Similarly, in whitewater zones, predators hunting there have limited time to decide to eat a lure or not given how much the water is moving and so putting a bait in the strike zone that can elicit a reaction strike is ideal. These types of poppers (or plugs for that matter) are fantastic search tools particularly when one just arrives on a spot. They are typically better casting than other popper types and allow the angler to cover much more water given the ability to throw them further and the speed at which they are worked. You could easily cover 3-4 times the amount of water with a skipping popper or plug versus a cup faced popper and, in many instances, capitalizing on active fish in the area has less to do with the chosen lure and more to do with the anglers work rate and ability to put in more casts than the guy next to him. More water covered with a lure that’s spending more time in the water means more bites – simple equation that works. Lesson here, don’t always get caught up in the hype of amazing looking lures and discount the classic nylon plug, they have been around for ages for a very good reason – fish eat them!
 

Stickbaits

Stickbaits are often overlooked and underfished given that poppers and popping steal the show. They are however an incredible tool that can entice a bite when nothing else will. They can be categorized largely in 2 types:
1. Floating stickbaits
As the name suggests, these baits float at rest and can be worked in a variety of ways from a flat out skipping retrieve on the surface, to long sweeps and short twitches. Floating stickbaits offer versatility in that they are great choppy water lures that retain better contact with the surface even in a big swell, are able to leave behind a noisy enough bubble trail and also emit plenty flash given their erratic action that reflects light as the angle of the bait changes. A floating stickbait is subtle enough to use in flat calm conditions or used to stay in contact with the surface when conditions get rougher.
The other key attraction of a stickbait is obviously its shape – it has a natural baitfish shape and is available in so many sizes that one can never find it difficult to accurately show the fish exactly what they want. I find myself reaching for a floating stickbait more often than a popper of late, one because of the relative success I’ve been having but also because it aids significantly in efficiency – stickbaits require a whole lot less energy to work in comparison to a popper and on average, one is able to cast them further – again, being able to cover more water quicker.

2. Sinking stickbaits
When the fish are shy to eat up off the top, or they’re feeding below the surface zone, or conditions up top are just too turbulent for floating baits, the sinking stickbait comes into its own. Many of the popular spots offered by Go Fish Tours feature areas of deep ledge drop offs rather than shallow reef. I’ve experienced many occasions where the fish would not succumb to being called up on poppers but allowing a sinking stickbait to be worked 5-6m below the surface turned a piece of dead water into action very very quickly! The generally slower sweeping action of the rod coupled with the way sinking stickbaits shimmy slowly as they sink are very often the exact trigger required to get fish aggressively attacking the lure.

I would add 2 more overarching principles that can be useful as you decide what to throw on your next adventure:
1. Profile
Though the debate around colour is endless, my own experience and talking to other much more experienced anglers reveals the same thing. Being able to “match the hatch” in as far as profile is concerned is more important than colour. This is not a rule by any means but there are times when fish are keyed onto eating garfish for instance, where long bodied poppers and needlenose plugs are the trick, other times, when the baitfish are smaller in profile, shorter fatter bodied lures seem to be able to draw more strikes.
2. Action trumps colour
Again, there are times when the fish would be so zoned in on a certain type of baitfish that they will only attack a lure that matches that colour as close as possible…. There are other times when the fish are zoned into a certain baitfish but presenting something that looks so out of place is what allows them to see the “odd one out” and triggers predatory instinct. Colour for me has been situational but has never beaten action. Pay attention to how your lure moves in the water, don’t fish it mechanically but fish it with purpose - when your lure swims right, when you perfect that distressed baitfish movement, when your bubble trail can be picked up a mile away, when the cadence of your pops can have a fish zone in on the noise from a distance, that’s the moment you have that smirk on your face when you’re the guy getting the bites!
Hope you guys find this useful, I know these principles have helped me put more fish in the boat!