[Dave Irving]

I was wondering if anyone knows if anyone in the Uk is stocking soft foam popper bodies (ideally something like a 2/0 pencil popper)
Oh and large mylar tubing would be good to.
Thanks to anyone that can point me in the right direction.

 

[DavidEdwards]

Either Austen at UK saltwater or Nigel at Lakeland flytying...

 

[Dave Irving]

Thanks DavidEdwards Uk Saltwater has what I am looking for.

 

[Ian Buckingham]

Dave- I just make my own out of ethafoam. Simply roughly cut into shape, heat with a lighter to seal and 'roll' into the desired shape before adding some Pantone colouring.

 

[Dave Irving]

Looks good Bucko, bet they work.
I am after some thing a little more repeatable, basically will be making a weighted fly popper that can be cast on light spin gear for Mackerel and Gars. Might have to fiddle about with the weighting so identical bodies will speed things up.
Cheers

 

[Alex Jordan]

Wondered what you had planned Dave

 

[Dave Irving]

Alex,
Project name "Secret Squirrel"
Surface lures for mackerel, scad and Gars. Finding small surface lures isn't that easy. They exist, but to be fair it wouldn't really be a big enough seller to make it worth a tackle shop stocking them.
Just a few of us loons that love UL for these great little species.

 

[Ian Buckingham]

Alex,
Project name "Secret Squirrel"
Surface lures for mackerel, scad and Gars. Finding small surface lures isn't that easy. They exist, but to be fair it wouldn't really be a big enough seller to make it worth a tackle shop stocking them.
Just a few of us loons that love UL for these great little species.

Let me have a bit of a hunt round for some info Dave as some time ago I recall reading about someone that made surface lures for sea trout on rivers that could be cast with a light spinning setup.

 

[Ben Field]

I think that surface lures will probably be the only method I really fish for Mackerel with this year. These could be worth a look: http://www.monstertackle.co.uk/b/fishinglures/yozuri-ZZ-Pop-CS.html

 

[Mike Kennard]

I think that surface lures will probably be the only method I really fish for Mackerel with this year. These could be worth a look: http://www.monstertackle.co.uk/b/fishinglures/yozuri-ZZ-Pop-CS.html

Ben, they are!!!! we used them last year but we are after something even smaller for UL rods.

 

[Ian Buckingham]

Right then- I found the e-mail off my mate when we were discussing it.
I'll cut out all the duff ideas and plans that didn't work so:

What worked in the end was brass tubing as used for salmon tube flies pushed through the body of the popper body. Obviously the size of the tube dictated the weight and brass was heavier than copper. It did make the popper sit in the surface rather than on top but the end result was a wake lure of 3" in length that could easily be cast far enough to cover small rivers. If using the brass tube don't forget to use the plastic lining to avoid damage to the line.

Hope this helps.

 

[Dave Irving]

Ben if you like them, have a peek at these:
http://www.smith-pro.com/chinupen.html

 

[Dave Irving]

Bucko,
Thats a good idea, using that method I could just thread the popper head on and then tye a treble on afterwards. Cheers for that.

 

[Ian Buckingham]

No problem.
It might be an idea to use a bit of silicon tubing to keep the body neat to the treble and add a coloured strike point.
The possibilities are endless really with things like bottle and Shumakov tubes if you wanted to add even more weight and maybe go just sub surface.

 

[Alex Jordan]

When I was out in Vegas we used tiny 80mm poppers - for the life of me can't remember who made them ... fairly well known brand too

 

[DavidEdwards]

No problem.
It might be an idea to use a bit of silicon tubing to keep the body neat to the treble and add a coloured strike point.
The possibilities are endless really with things like bottle and Shumakov tubes if you wanted to add even more weight and maybe go just sub surface.

Tube version that I use...

 

[Dave Irving]

Nice Pic,
I think by changing the tube to a nylon lined brass tube, then adding a wrap of fine lead wire at the back of the popper, I could get the weight required to make it castable, as you say a piece of silicon tubing to seat the treble. Would make it a little more stable. Thanks for the information, will get some popper heads on order asap.

 

[Ian Buckingham]

Tube version that I use...

They are nice David- do you fish them with the fly rod?

 

[Mike Kennard]

Dave, we could always use the stems from cotton buds as the liner. No weight to them though so it would require lead wire or similar to provide casting weight. Ideal for swapping around of required.

 

[Tim Griffin]

Ben, they are!!!! we used them last year but we are after something even smaller for UL rods.

Mike- really? Smaller than 7g? I have one of these little poppers and it casts like a dream and the action is cracking. Will be using it a lot more this year, and on the new Firefly Silhouette (3-12g) rod. Would it handle a good mackerel? One way to find out!

They do the Micro Arms Popper as well that is 50mm and 4g - surely that's not too big!

Do show us the finished results of your experiments as a number of marks I fish for bass have gars and mackerel in close. Good fun catching them on a plug as a by-catch when bassing, but a patchinko and 40g rated rod is overkill. On properly light gear they must be awesome!