I'm still pretty new to the sport of fly fishing and I haven't been to the boundary waters to do it yet so this question may apply to anywhere in Minnesota or Wisconsin, I'm sorry. Anyway I have read a little on using poppers while fly fishing but a lot of the material that I have is for trout which aren't readily available where I'm at. I've been fly fishing wooly buggers and some other small streamers and caught a good amount of sonny's and a rock bass but the small/large mouth bass that I would normally go for aren't hitting them. I use a hula popper when I'm out casting to limited success. How would you fly fish surface frog poppers? I have some larger green poppers and a black one. I also have a couple size 4 yellow and green poppers.

I’m also new to fly fishing, but I’ve had some success going after smallmouth bass so far. I’ve had some really good luck casting streamers to shore. I’ve been using bright colors so I can see the fly and the strike. It’s a ton of fun. I have tried some poppers, but I haven’t had any luck on them. I’m pretty sure I was popping them too aggressively. There’s a great book about fly fishing smallmouth bass that is absolutely fantastic. Here is a link: Smallmouth Book...buy it! I don’t know enough about the flies your talking about, but I’m sure the book will provide some insight.

Good luck!

Here's what I have been using lately for bass and pike.

Cast out your popper, let it sit until the rings dissipate, give it a twitch, let it rest, give it a pop, let it rest, another pop let it rest, and repeat. If that isn't working try a more aggressive chugging back toward you. Pause once in awhile, that is usually when they hit. Very fun!

Driftless: "Cast out your popper, let it sit until the rings dissipate, give it a twitch, let it rest, give it a pop, let it rest, another pop let it rest, and repeat. If that isn't working try a more aggressive chugging back toward you. Pause once in awhile, that is usually when they hit. Very fun!"

I'll try that. I think my problem is that as soon as it hit the water I would just rip the popper right away intsead of waiting.

WHendrix: "Here's what I have been using lately for bass and pike.


"

I have a couple that look pretty similar to these. I'll concentrate on using those for a bit.

I've never had much topwater luck in the Bdub, but I think that has more to do with the time of year I go up there as to my ability........I really enjoy spinning/stacking dear hair and rarely used poppers. With that said, years ago, I ran across some "Booglebug" poppers while on a backpacking trip in the Smokey Mountains. On the way out I stopped at the "Little River" Fly shop in Townsend, Tn. and they had a nice supply of them. I have since kicked myself many times for not buying any. Very high quality and looked extremely durable. This past September on my way home from the Bdub, We stopped in at the "Great Lakes" fly shop in Duluth and he had a nice selection of them......I bought a handful this time.

Mike


Booglebug poppers

If you want to catch topwater sallies on the poppers in BWCA/Quetico then go in June. Any popper will work. The important thing is that there is enough gape between the bulk of the popper head and the tip of the hook. Otherwise, the head of the popper gets in the way of the hookset. I have seen many poppers that have too little gape for bass.

Most standard hard headed poppers will work. My favorite are deer hair poppers. You don't need a weed guard in June so if the popper comes with one, cut it off and de-barb the hook. As stated, cast it out, strip in the slack while you let it settle. Then start a subtle retrieve with pauses. If that does not work, get more wild.

If you can cast well, consider a pop-and-drop setup in which you dies a small sinking dropper fly off the gape of the popper hook. If you cannot cast well you will get tangled constantly. If you can cast, then you have a great setup and many fist will be attracted to the popper but take the dropper.

My favorite popper is a size 2 fly on a stainless steel bass hook that looks anything like a Dahlberg Diver. Avoid wire hooks in the event that you hook a pike which will bend out the wire hook.