Presenting poppers

I'm just curious. When fishing top water on small lakes and ponds just
before night fall on lazy summer evenings for bass I usually present a
popper with a relatively fast jerking retrieve. This almost certainly
produces a catch of Bluegill and Bream with an occasional Bass. Would
anyone here suggest a different approach, perhaps a slower retrieve of the
popper with as much if not more time idle on the water between line jerks.
I've always feared that an idle popper gives the bass more time to
appraise the presentation as being fake. In short, how do y'all present
your poppers for bass at twilight?

"Joseph Ritz" wrote in message
news
I'm just curious. When fishing top water on small lakes and ponds just
before night fall on lazy summer evenings for bass I usually present a
popper with a relatively fast jerking retrieve. This almost certainly
produces a catch of Bluegill and Bream with an occasional Bass. Would
anyone here suggest a different approach, perhaps a slower retrieve of the
popper with as much if not more time idle on the water between line jerks.
I've always feared that an idle popper gives the bass more time to
appraise the presentation as being fake. In short, how do y'all present
your poppers for bass at twilight?


First of all, if you're catching bluegill with a bass popper, get yourself a
BASS popper.

I start out letting the popper sit motionless until all ripples fade away.
Then slightly twitch it. If nothing happens, give it a good pop. Let it sit
for a bit and then retrieve with a twitch, pop, pop, pause. Sometimes you
have to vary the length of the pause.

If I can't get a strike using this method, I'll speed up the retrieve. Let
the fish tell you what they want.

If this fails, I go home. Or try some other fly like a Dahlberg Diver. Or
instead of using a popper, try a slider and wake it across the surface.

On Thu, 03 Jun 2004 04:15:25 +0000, Hooked wrote in part:

I start out letting the popper sit motionless until all ripples fade away.
Then slightly twitch it. If nothing happens, give it a good pop. Let it sit
for a bit and then retrieve with a twitch, pop, pop, pause. Sometimes you
have to vary the length of the pause.

If I can't get a strike using this method, I'll speed up the retrieve. Let
the fish tell you what they want.


So your first presentations would be slowly retrieved with that
interesting rhythm as you described. Then, only if necessary, would you
speed up your retrieve. Hmmm.... I need to slow down. Thanks.

Joe

After fishing with live bluegills I came to relize If you want big fish fish
with big bait. I average 3-6 lb bass. I now use big fly if I want to fly
fish for bass. Very the presentation try slow then fast. The fish will let
you know
"Joseph Ritz" wrote in message
news
I'm just curious. When fishing top water on small lakes and ponds just
before night fall on lazy summer evenings for bass I usually present a
popper with a relatively fast jerking retrieve. This almost certainly
produces a catch of Bluegill and Bream with an occasional Bass. Would
anyone here suggest a different approach, perhaps a slower retrieve of the
popper with as much if not more time idle on the water between line jerks.
I've always feared that an idle popper gives the bass more time to
appraise the presentation as being fake. In short, how do y'all present
your poppers for bass at twilight?

After fishing with live bluegills I came to relize If you want big fish fish
with big bait. I average 3-6 lb bass. I now use big fly if I want to fly
fish for bass. Very the presentation try slow then fast. The fish will let
you know
"Joseph Ritz" wrote in message
news
I'm just curious. When fishing top water on small lakes and ponds just
before night fall on lazy summer evenings for bass I usually present a
popper with a relatively fast jerking retrieve. This almost certainly
produces a catch of Bluegill and Bream with an occasional Bass. Would
anyone here suggest a different approach, perhaps a slower retrieve of the
popper with as much if not more time idle on the water between line jerks.
I've always feared that an idle popper gives the bass more time to
appraise the presentation as being fake. In short, how do y'all present
your poppers for bass at twilight?

Are you saying that the "Bigger" Bass will mostly hit only "bigger" poppers?
hmmm maybe that is why I only catch the 10 to 14 inch ones.

I usually only fish for bluegill, but undoubtly I get several bass of the
smaller size. I think a big bluegill is much more fun to bring in than a
bass

Robert
"Larry Schmitt" wrote in message
...
After fishing with live bluegills I came to relize If you want big fish
fish
with big bait. I average 3-6 lb bass. I now use big fly if I want to fly
fish for bass. Very the presentation try slow then fast. The fish will let
you know
"Joseph Ritz" wrote in message
news
I'm just curious. When fishing top water on small lakes and ponds just
before night fall on lazy summer evenings for bass I usually present a
popper with a relatively fast jerking retrieve. This almost certainly
produces a catch of Bluegill and Bream with an occasional Bass. Would
anyone here suggest a different approach, perhaps a slower retrieve of
the
popper with as much if not more time idle on the water between line
jerks.
I've always feared that an idle popper gives the bass more time to
appraise the presentation as being fake. In short, how do y'all present
your poppers for bass at twilight?

Are you saying that the "Bigger" Bass will mostly hit only "bigger" poppers?
hmmm maybe that is why I only catch the 10 to 14 inch ones.

I usually only fish for bluegill, but undoubtly I get several bass of the
smaller size. I think a big bluegill is much more fun to bring in than a
bass

Robert
"Larry Schmitt" wrote in message
...
After fishing with live bluegills I came to relize If you want big fish
fish
with big bait. I average 3-6 lb bass. I now use big fly if I want to fly
fish for bass. Very the presentation try slow then fast. The fish will let
you know
"Joseph Ritz" wrote in message
news
I'm just curious. When fishing top water on small lakes and ponds just
before night fall on lazy summer evenings for bass I usually present a
popper with a relatively fast jerking retrieve. This almost certainly
produces a catch of Bluegill and Bream with an occasional Bass. Would
anyone here suggest a different approach, perhaps a slower retrieve of
the
popper with as much if not more time idle on the water between line
jerks.
I've always feared that an idle popper gives the bass more time to
appraise the presentation as being fake. In short, how do y'all present
your poppers for bass at twilight?

"ROBERT BECKLEY" wrote in message
news:UbGWc.2158$9P.1723@trnddc04...
Are you saying that the "Bigger" Bass will mostly hit only "bigger"
poppers?
hmmm maybe that is why I only catch the 10 to 14 inch ones.

I usually only fish for bluegill, but undoubtly I get several bass of the
smaller size. I think a big bluegill is much more fun to bring in than a
bass

Robert


A big bluegill is more fun than a bass? Apparently, you have never hooked
into a BIG bass.

Although a big lure/fly is more likely to turn away a small fish, a big bass
will still take a small lure/fly. Wait until you catch that BIG bass on the
6x leader/tippet you've been using for those bluegills. :-)



-------------------------------------------------------------------------
From the 8-19-04 White House Press Briefing

Q Let me ask it this way: The President has said
and believes that John Kerry served honorably in
Vietnam, right?

MR. McCLELLAN: Yes, he's made that very clear.

(Does this mean the Swift Boat Vets are calling Bush a liar?)

"ROBERT BECKLEY" wrote in message
news:UbGWc.2158$9P.1723@trnddc04...
Are you saying that the "Bigger" Bass will mostly hit only "bigger"
poppers?
hmmm maybe that is why I only catch the 10 to 14 inch ones.

I usually only fish for bluegill, but undoubtly I get several bass of the
smaller size. I think a big bluegill is much more fun to bring in than a
bass

Robert


A big bluegill is more fun than a bass? Apparently, you have never hooked
into a BIG bass.

Although a big lure/fly is more likely to turn away a small fish, a big bass
will still take a small lure/fly. Wait until you catch that BIG bass on the
6x leader/tippet you've been using for those bluegills. :-)



-------------------------------------------------------------------------
From the 8-19-04 White House Press Briefing

Q Let me ask it this way: The President has said
and believes that John Kerry served honorably in
Vietnam, right?

MR. McCLELLAN: Yes, he's made that very clear.

(Does this mean the Swift Boat Vets are calling Bush a liar?)

If BIG bass = LM 5 to 6 pound and up.
BIG bass will hit big popping bugs - hook sizes 1/0, 1 and 2.
Smaller bass will hit big popping bugs.
Big bass will hit small popping bugs - hook sizes 4, 6 and 8.
Bluegill, bream and dink bass will not usually hit big popping bugs although
they sometimes try to eat the legs
BIG bass hit ALL popping bugs less often than smaller bass.
BIG bass tend to hit big popping bugs far more frequently than they hit
smaller popping bugs.

IMHO the size of the popping bug is just one of many variables to consider
when pursuing only BIG bass with fly rod.
Color, style, design, presentation, location, cover, structure, placement,
action, hook set, tackle, wind, cast direction, etc. are a few others which
quickly come to mind.

FWIW from previously posted information, the following may be helpful.
As nearly all BIG bass are females, there will be far fewer BIG bass
available to hit popping bugs in a water body compared to numbers of smaller
bass.
Ponds and small lakes do not normally produce large quantities of BIG bass.
If someone is fishing especially for bream, bluegill and very small bass,
their habitat is not normally the same habitat where BIG bass are holding.
Just because bass fly fishermen cannot see what is going on underwater, they
should never assume that only what they see on the surface is ALL that is
happening.
Bass tend to school as fingerlings. This tendency declines as they grow
until they reach BIG size where SHE is all alone down there.
Small bass swim about 2 miles per hour while a 20 inch bass swims about 12
miles per hour.
Small bass seem much more gullible than BIG bass.
On the average a 6 year old 6 pound bass has seen 6 times as many popping
bugs as a one year old one pound bass.

Hope this helps if you choose to pursue BIG bass. Use an 8 pound tippet and
good luck!
John

--
Remove FLY to reply
"ROBERT BECKLEY" wrote in message
news:UbGWc.2158$9P.1723@trnddc04...
Are you saying that the "Bigger" Bass will mostly hit only "bigger"
poppers?
hmmm maybe that is why I only catch the 10 to 14 inch ones.

I usually only fish for bluegill, but undoubtly I get several bass of the
smaller size. I think a big bluegill is much more fun to bring in than a
bass

Robert
"Larry Schmitt" wrote in message
...
After fishing with live bluegills I came to relize If you want big fish
fish
with big bait. I average 3-6 lb bass. I now use big fly if I want to fly
fish for bass. Very the presentation try slow then fast. The fish will
let
you know
"Joseph Ritz" wrote in message
news
I'm just curious. When fishing top water on small lakes and ponds just
before night fall on lazy summer evenings for bass I usually present a
popper with a relatively fast jerking retrieve. This almost certainly
produces a catch of Bluegill and Bream with an occasional Bass. Would
anyone here suggest a different approach, perhaps a slower retrieve of
the
popper with as much if not more time idle on the water between line
jerks.
I've always feared that an idle popper gives the bass more time to
appraise the presentation as being fake. In short, how do y'all
present
your poppers for bass at twilight?