9 Great Popper Flies for Bass, Panfish, Trout, and more

Popper flies are one of the most fun ways of catching fish. Panfish, bass, trout and an amazing variety of saltwater species will all take a popper fly in the right conditions. Poppers can range from very tiny bluegill poppers, to very large poppers for targeting striped bass, tarpon, and even sharks.

I’ve gathered a collection of some of my favourite poppers from other fly tyers and lure makers around the web. I’m not receiving any sort of incentive to share these with you, and am just showcasing some really unique, creative, and fish-able patterns.

 

Bunny Strip Popper

This popper was tied by John Welch over at onthevise.com. It’s a nicely proportioned popper and the rabbit strip adds some nice motion and density to the tail that you don’t often see in poppers, and offers and alternative to the usual popper tail of saddle feathers. John provides a material list and steps to tie this popper on his site.

 

Square Head Foam Popper

This is a fun looking popper from flyfishjeff.blogspot.com. The collar of marabou around a tail of saddle hackle and flash along with the square foam head combine to make a very colourful fly that you just know has great action in the water. This is one of those poppers that would work well in larger sizes targeting species like striped bass, pike, and muskie. There’s some great stuff over at Jeff’s blog, it’s a shame there hasn’t been an update in a few years.

 

The Bluegill Bug

This little creation comes from The Jersey Angler. It’s a pretty easy to tie popper, and the rubber legs give it that movement that is so irresistible to bluegill and other panfish. I’ve tied a few of these myself and am excited to try them out. Tying instructions can be found here.

 

Square Body Balsa Wood Popper from J & M flies

This is a pattern from the extremely talented tyers over at J & M flies. Every one of the flies shown on their site is a work of art; I would (almost) feel bad chucking one at the end of a line! It’s my understanding that their flies are painted by hand, and are available for sale.

If you buy anything below, I get some beer money (commission)!

Foam Popping Hopper

This is one of the nicer hopper poppers I’ve found. It’s a simple to tie, clean looking fly. In smaller sizes this fly would be perfect for panfish and even trout when grasshoppers are around. In larger sizes, I’d imagine it’s would work well for largemouth bass and smallmouth bass as well! Dronlee over at Fly Tying Nation has a very good instructional post on how to tie up one of these hopper poppers.

 

Ear Plug Popper

This little popper is unique as it uses an ear plug for the body. The foam is soft, easy to work with, durable, and best of all it’s very cheap! I love finding cheap sources of fly tying materials, and using an ear plug for a popper fly is something I hadn’t thought of before. Brian have a good instructional post on how to make these poppers over at examiner.com.

 

Packing Peanut Popper

This is a fun little popper not only to fish, but to tie as well. The name comes from the fact that it looks like one of those white foam packing peanuts you find in storage and shipping boxes. There’s a great step by step tutorial over at allthingsflyfishing.blogspot.ca for those interested in learning to tie one of these poppers. In the previous link, there’s proof that this fly works, and it’s shown catching a few nice smallmouth bass.

 

Tradd’s Deer Hair Popper

This is a awesome looking deer hair popper from traddsflies.blogspot.com. The dense hair means this thing must float like a dream, and the generous amount of rubber legs give it fantastic movement in the water. Tradd has a material list over at his blog, and many other well tied flies. His site is great to browse patterns looking for ideas.

 

Chummy Popper

The chummy popper is another pattern from onthevise.com. It’s tied on a 8/0 to 10/0 hook with the intention of targeting sharks. It’s broad, dense profile ensure it attracts attention, and I imagine the pattern could be downsized for the majority of us that don’t have resources to go fly fishing for sharks.

Poppers are one of those baits that straddle the line between being a lure and being a fly. While there are poppers that are definitely lures, the ones in this list are flies. I myself prefer tying deer hair poppers, but that’s just because I love spinning deer hair. Aside from deer hair, balsa wood, cork, foam, and even sandals can make excellent popper heads.