Poppers

[Leighton]

Like a lot of people I am trying my hand at poppers for different situations.

Whould just like to know peoples thought on if they keep or remove the feathers on the back treb that a lot of poppers come with?

Some of the small poppers used to target Whiting dont have feathers.

Do the feathers hinder a potential strike, do some fish hit the feathers and miss the hooks?

[Feral]

Leave them on, they will likely come off after a few trips, but they certainly dont hinder the fish catching. Caught fish both with and without them.

[Dinodadog]

In a video clip I saw Steeve Starling trim his down a bit when going for whiting

[Suds]

All the bass that beefa caught at maroon (on my popper):laugh: :woohoo: had the feathers still attached, it didn't seem to bother the fish at all. I used a lake police pencil type popper that just skirted across the top didn't break the surface so to speak never saw any action till the sunday morning when probably 3or4 had a crack at it but no hook ups.

GreigB)

[Leighton]

thanks for the replies

[STU]

I've left the feathers on while fishing around st helena and got tailor still and most of my bass and toga I have caught with them as well

[Dazzamcgee]

Never really paid any attention until now but I tend to think that the feathers represent either an extension of the poppers overall length. or under retrieve a form of movement/something for the fish to aim for when striking.

Caught fish on both.

[maxi]

i prefer to not have them on and i normally trim them as short as.

or use a lure that doesnt have them... i just caught 5 bass 25 mins ago with a popper that has none... will put up some pics later..

cheers Maxi

[Dan23]

I've got a R2S bubble Pop 45 and caught a 41cm jack and 27cm bream on it first time I used it while it still had the feather treble. The jack destroyed the hooks so I had to change them and since I haven't had the feathers on it, I haven't caught another fish with that lure. I think coromon make some retrofittable feather trebles.

That said, I don't think they're essential, just could be beneficial when the bit is tough.

[Feral]

Dunno what hooks rapala use, but its fairly easy to get replacement trebles for them with the feathers on. (IE branded as replacement Rapala hooks).

[kiara_poltegerist]

Captain Stabin wrote:

Like a lot of people I am trying my hand at poppers for different situations.

Whould just like to know peoples thought on if they keep or remove the feathers on the back treb that a lot of poppers come with?

Some of the small poppers used to target Whiting dont have feathers.

Do the feathers hinder a potential strike, do some fish hit the feathers and miss the hooks?

er, for those copycat poppers such as the R2S BubblePop, the feathers probably only function as eye candy for prospective buyers,

However, for lures such as the megabass Pop-X, Pop-Max, Yo-Zuri Arms popper and the Yo-Zuri Pop n Splash, the feather on the rear treble does also perform an important function.

has anyone tried to study the suble difference in retrieve action when using a dressed rear treble and a plain treble? there is quite a difference. The purpose of dressing the rear hook is to create drag. i.e slow the rate of drift and the distance moved by the lure when jerked. The purpose of this - to enable the lure to stay in the target area longer. for walking poppers such as the MB poppers and the Yo-Zuri Pop n Splash, the feather acts as a brake, so the popper slides much less when walked,and thus can stay in the target area longer.

as for whether or not the feather's attract fish, i guess they do sometimes, but personally i havent found much of a difference when using either for normal topwater duty.

to dress a treble isnt too hard, get a bobbin, a reel of fly-tying thread, some flashabou, some white and red hackle, and a vise, and you could be dressing as many trebles as you like.

IMHO, a properly dressed treble shouldnt have hackle that extends more than 2cm from the hook bend (depending on hook size, but current measurement based on a size 4 owner FW treble). i dont see how the feathers would hinder a strike, but if you're talking about short strikes, i guess the fish are being timid or need a different retrieve to turn em on abit more .

[ellicat]

Kiara, Why doesn't the feather work on "copycat" poppers ?

[kevinchen19870316]

probably because pros don't use copycat poppers and newbies, as the mainstream of copycat poppers buyers, cannot really tell how the feather works as a drag. lol

for poppers with a smaller mouth area, it's hard to fish without a tail on cuz u can easily pull the popper out of track or even make it jump out of the water.

[Biggles]

Hi Guys, I can't tell the difference and I have caught fish on both, if I had a preference it would to be without feathers. Great thread, and I don't use a swivel like in the pic.

Regards Al

.[img size=350]http://www.australianfishing.com.au/media/kunena/attachments/legacy/images/phpwq5lMjAM-114c8eef1d0552e94bc7b16d11ebec3e.jpg

[Leighton]

Kiara, all valid inforamtion

Thanks everybody for there input

[Bommie]

the only true way to tell if a lure is good, is if it catches fish consistently

[maxi]

very true bommie... the proof is in the puddin so to speak..

this little green thing has caught me bream trevally and bass in the last week... dont ask what breed it is as i buy them on looks not brands... its a gem and i dont want to lose it...

bass from yesterday arvo [img size=488]http://www.australianfishing.com.au/media/kunena/attachments/legacy/images/bass_with_luke_amanda_020.jpg

[Bommie]

nice one Maxi, stock up on a couple just in case:)

[Dan23]

maxi wrote:

very true bommie... the proof is in the puddin so to speak..

this little green thing has caught me bream trevally and bass in the last week... dont ask what breed it is as i buy them on looks not brands... its a gem and i dont want to lose it...

bass from yesterday arvo [img size=488]http://www.australianfishing.com.au/media/kunena/attachments/legacy/images/bass_with_luke_amanda_020.jpg

Just to be annoying it looks like one of those 'Bushy' Poppers

[kiara_poltegerist]

ellicat wrote:

Kiara, Why doesn't the feather work on "copycat" poppers ?

well, assuming that we're referring to the examples that we've been discussing - e.g the R2S bubble pop, the BubblePop was a direct copy of the MB Pop-X. however, the density of the ABS plastic, the rolling weight systems etc were totally different. thus, you dont get the walking bubble churning action that the original gives. thus, IMHO, whether or not the Bubblepop has a dressed rear treble, it wouldnt provide anything close to the original.

as i mentioned earlier, i apart from the braking action of the feather (which would be marginal if the density of the ABS plastic is quite high and thus the momentum of the lure when jerked overcomes the braking action), i'm not too sure about the effectiveness of dressed rear trebles.

e.g - the storm CHugBUg. the FW models come with a flashabou dressed rear hook. i doubt the flashabou creates much drag (as it is a synthetic material that does not absorb water like a feather), but personally i've found the lure is just as effective with or without a rear dressed treble.

i guess it's up to personal preference tho. i've nothing against "copy-cat" poppers, and i have no agenda against those who use em (unlike someone else . hehe.. jk kevin)

but yea, about R2$, i think everyone is familar with the fact that they're one of the biggest un-original lure companies around. alot of their lures are copied directly from Yo-Zuri products. which is probably due to the fact that their head designer is a japanese dood who got kicked out of Yo-Zuri coz he copied everyone else's designs.

[Feral]

Most lures are copies of other designs, its pretty rare for a new type or style of lure to come on the market these days. They are only modifications or adaptions of existing lines.

A Bit like clothes, keep your fashion disasters in the wardrobe, coz in 10 years they will be back in fashion again!

[Dan23]

Feral wrote:

Most lures are copies of other designs, its pretty rare for a new type or style of lure to come on the market these days. They are only modifications or adaptions of existing lines.

A Bit like clothes, keep your fashion disasters in the wardrobe, coz in 10 years they will be back in fashion again!

Yeah true, the R2S bubblepops have really copied the megabass ones though by adding in the little holes around the gills that create the bubble trail. I reckon for the money they're the best cheap popper around but like Kiara said, you can't really walk the dog with them that well.

On a side note my Megabass X80 prop darter (kind of like a popper but more of a fizzer) got smashed by a Big eye last night off the breakwall. Some how the rod loaded up and there was a massive splash but no hookup:silly: Got the blood pumping alright though:P

[maxi]

bad luck on the trevor dan.. yes it WAS a stiffy.. haha it got taken away from me late yesterday arvo to a small shark believe it or not in a local creek.. blew me away big time...

[Feral]

I have heard "hit and misses" can happen more often with Fizzer types, the blades can get in the way of a clean hook up.

[Dan23]

Feral wrote:

I have heard "hit and misses" can happen more often with Fizzer types, the blades can get in the way of a clean hook up.

yeah that might have been it. Also it is a 80mm lure so lots of places to hit where the hooks aren't

[Dan23]

maxi wrote:

bad luck on the trevor dan.. yes it WAS a stiffy.. haha it got taken away from me late yesterday arvo to a small shark believe it or not in a local creek.. blew me away big time...

I knew it! That would have been insane to see a shark smashing a popper:woohoo:

[maxi]

yeah it was, then the bloody thing had the hide to come out of the water about 20 ft away with my lure hanging out of its gob.... this is a bit hard to believe i know but its true... hahahaaa....

[kevinchen19870316]

kiara_poltegerist wrote:

but yea, about R2$, i think everyone is familar with the fact that they're one of the biggest un-original lure companies around. alot of their lures are copied directly from Yo-Zuri products. which is probably due to the fact that their head designer is a japanese dood who got kicked out of Yo-Zuri coz he copied everyone else's designs.

now i see why when my mate's promoting R2S lures in China, all the ppl say they r only copies

[Dan23]

just soaking a bunch of my lures in fresh water and I noticed that all my cheaper poppers including the R2S one are sitting in the water with a neutral buoyancy. However my Rebel Pop-R is sitting with its tail down in the water like a Towadi.

None of them have the feathers attached atm. I'd honestly say the Pop-R has the best action of any of my poppers so it is interesting to note that it floats that way. Whilst most of my poppers seem to splash nicely the Pop-R really dives down deep when blooped. I'll experiment with putting treble feathers on all my poppers and see if it makes a difference to the action.

Also interesting is the Rebel Pop-R doesn't walk the dog very well but I can do it perfectly with one of my ultra cheap lures that has a neutral buoyancy. I even caught a Bass on it by walking the dog.

All food for thought.

Also Kiara if you're reading this the tail feathers on the rapala Xraps, do they serve any purpose other than visual??

[pinkey]

Surecatch poppers 4eva!

[Feral]

Dan from what I understand all poppers should sit bum down, or they wont "pop" as well when twitched, you can always put a heavier hook on the back to drop it in the water. (Or lighter on the front if it makes it sink!)

[Bommie]

having the holes where the gills are have been around for years on poppers to create bubbles also fishermen would soak bits of cotton wool in tuna oil and wedge in the holes to create a small burley slick on retrieving if the bubbles weren't attracting the fish

[kevinchen19870316]

having holes have been around for yrs but when R2S create a popper that has exactly the same shape and similar colors as MB pop-X, i won't be able to stand for R2S and more.

[kiara_poltegerist]

Dan23 wrote:

just soaking a bunch of my lures in fresh water and I noticed that all my cheaper poppers including the R2S one are sitting in the water with a neutral buoyancy. However my Rebel Pop-R is sitting with its tail down in the water like a Towadi.

None of them have the feathers attached atm. I'd honestly say the Pop-R has the best action of any of my poppers so it is interesting to note that it floats that way. Whilst most of my poppers seem to splash nicely the Pop-R really dives down deep when blooped. I'll experiment with putting treble feathers on all my poppers and see if it makes a difference to the action.

Also interesting is the Rebel Pop-R doesn't walk the dog very well but I can do it perfectly with one of my ultra cheap lures that has a neutral buoyancy. I even caught a Bass on it by walking the dog.

All food for thought.

Also Kiara if you're reading this the tail feathers on the rapala Xraps, do they serve any purpose other than visual??

to slow the lure down and thus minimise the distance moved when jerked?

The X-rap is a slashbait, and you have to note that it's a suspending lure, so the feather would help it to not only stay in the strike area longer by minimising the distance moved when slashed really aggressively, but also help it to balance the lure when in use. if the lure is not fished as aggressively as it was designed to be, there wont be much of a difference, but i think that if you ripped the X-rap without a dressed rear treble, the lure might roll or become unbalanced while being ripped. i've never tried the x-rap without a dressed rear treble, but that'd be my guess based on x-rap usage kevin.

[kevinchen19870316]

:laugh: dan, not kev:P