Popper Questions ? Makes, Types and Action

[Greg Burt]

 I cruised into a small Noosa Tackle shop [new to me] yesterday who stocks a lot of good quality lures in the light to medium range, but on top of the rack were two large GT poppers by themselves. The brand was 'OK Poppers' and were solid wood with good strong looking terminals, were big, black with green stripes and had a reflective insert under the neck. The shop assistant thought they were made in Hawaii but in a Sports Fish [US mag] article the called one as Aussie made.
 Any body got any info please?
  Greg

PS: 'NO', they weren't cheap.

[Greg Burt]

Looks very much like the previos post 'Vanuatu' topic, with the lead weight at the back but not as exagerated curves along the body.

[Duncan O'Connell]

Greg,

The OK Poppers haven't been available for a little while, we only have a couple left ourselves. I think they originated in China but can't say for sure. They will be available again soon though under the name 'Kronik' in a wider range of sizes. The popper in your pic is a PR Labs Backbone by the looks of it.

Regards

Duncan

[Greg Burt]

Thanks Duncan, Brandon called the one in the pic as a PR Labs as well. The 'OK' looked pretty solid, whats your assesment of them.

[Brandon Khoo]

Greg - I have used the OKs quite a bit in the past. They are a reasonable lure and do catch good fish but they are, however, very heavy and are hard work to pop . The other problem with the OKs is while they look fantatic, the paint disappears quickly even without a strike as the trebles will gouge the paint. When this happens, the OKs start to get waterlogged and become very heavy indeed.

I would also like to se them use a heavier guage of wire for the lure.

[Greg Burt]

Thanks Brandon, that reinforces my decision, looks nice 'but'. 

[Neil Griffiths]

Mostly a direct rip off of Fisherman products, I even spoke to the OK guy about this and he had the hide to say that they where "improved" over the original lures.
I have nothing against cheaper lures except when they copy the shapes and colour schemes of the real ones and as Brandon says they don't have the qualities of the originals.

[Brandon Khoo]

The big OKs do look like they were duplicated off the Fisherman Big Mouth. I'm doubt they have been improved over the original though as the Fisherman poppers have a stronger guage of wire through the lure. Also, the Fisherman lures (as Neil says) definitely have a better longer lasting finish to them although the finish of the Fisherman lures is not in the same class as what you find with Carpenter, Craftbait or Hammerhead.