Technical notes on Poppers

[Angus Hulme]

Can someone tell me why a lot of the medium to large GT poppers have a weight in the tail? Is it to aid in casting distance and trajectory, or is it to make the lure sit tail down in the water at rest? Or does it improve the lures action?

The reason I ask this question is because I am starting to make a few poppers for a Whitsunday trip later in the year, and I don't know whether to incorporate the tail weights or not. We will be running braid no heavier than 60 pound so I assume casting distance won't be a problem whatever weight the poppers will be.

[Angus Hulme]

nobody got any ideas? 

The small poppers I've made in the past have had no weight in the tail and they sit flatter on the water as a result. Would a lure that sits flatter on the water be more realistic or would it not really matter?

Thanks in advance guys

Cheers
Angus

[Andrew Poulos]

In my opinion it helps for casting distance and when ripping the popper through the water to stop it cartwheeling . WHen sitting still in the water, the heavier rear means that the popper sits more vertically so when you pull, the cup digs in rather than skittering giving you a bigger bloop....my thoughts only though....

[Brandon Khoo]

Andrew is right - it is for balancing. The weight at the tail helps when casting as it prevents spinning in the air and when retrieving, it perovides that weight to assist you in getting a bloop than cartwheeling or pulling the lures completely out of the water.

The right weight in the rear is very important in ensuring the lure works effectively.

[Angus Hulme]

thanks fellas, your responses are much appreciated. I will now set to work creating poppers with the tail weights incorporated.

I tried to scan the 1st lure I've made with this method, but it didn't work too well. The timber body of this lure is about 5-6 inches long, and then a couple of inches of tail dressing will make it look bigger than it really is. Hope that will work.

Cheers
Angus

[Andrew Poulos]

How many grams is your popper?

[Angus Hulme]

wouldn't have a clue Andrew....I don't have any scales to weigh the lures. What would you suggest would be about right if I want to fish 50 pound braid? Or is it the rod that defines what the lure weight should be? In that case, I'll probably be using a 15-24kg T-curve.

Thanks
Angus

[Andrew Poulos]

The rod defines which lure I use. On the heavier outfits you cant cast the light lures or work them correctly, and on the light outfits the same occurs if it is overloaded.

Halcos (the medium size) weigh in at about 60grams or so, the haymaker at 110g I think.

The T curve 15-24kg has a casting weight range of 40-100grams. Im not sure what the best weight is for that rod, but would guess somewhere in the midrange of 60-70g wold let you load the rod up and cast effectively.

[Angus Hulme]

G'day fellas,

further to the above discussion.......below are some lures I have constructed with the use of my wood lathe. Feel free to comment on whether these should catch GTs. I have done extensive pool testing and a little bit of open water casting just to see what actions will suit each lure. They look pretty good at low and high speed, and the fizz and bloop is there in large doses, which I assume is what the GTs want?

Also, I have thrown some VMC 3x extra strong trebles on them and wonder if they will be up to the task. I plan to use about 50 pound braid so figured that the more expensive Owner trebles were a bit over the top at this stage, but honestly, I'm open to suggestions. Would single hooks be worth thinking about, and if so, what would be your recommendations?

Thanks
Angus

[Andrew Poulos]

Wow, they look really good ! Nice job there..I'm definitely not posting up a pic of my home made skipping popper....

Im not a GT expert , but most of the guys upgrade their terminals to some of the Owner ST66 type trebles which are alot stronger, or use singles like jobu's and sj41's etc. Im not sure if the VMCs are up to the task.

What strength wire is put through the popper? Do you know the rough weight of them ?

[Angus Hulme]

Hi Andrew, thanks for the comments. I have found a welding supplier who sells 1 metre lengths of 316 stainless wire in either 1.2 or 1.6 mm gauge. With this batch of lures, I have used the 1.2 mm stuff, but I wonder whether I should upgrade next time to the 1.6 mm wire? Don't know whether big fish could rip open the eyelets or bend the wire to a fatigue situation with the lighter wire, but the problem is that the heavier wire will be harder to bend and work into loops and stuff.

I don't really know how heavy the lures are but would guess around 100 grams. The timber I used was pencil cedar, which is light, but pretty tight grained. My next batch will be heavier as they will have several coats of 2 part epoxy resin.
 

[Andrew Poulos]

100 grams is a good weight for all round use, though the larger poppers come in at 150-200grams.

I have no idea how strong that wire is...best bet is to tie one end to rope that you hold onto, the other to a scale tied off to something solid and have someone see what the needle hits when you give it a yank and apply solid pressure. Drag settings I would guess would be up to 15kg for large GTs that I have read, but the spike from the hit will be more . So if the lures can survive that then you have a good chance.I cant comment to much on overall pressures with GTs, but hopefully the others have more knowledge on that.

[Andre van Wyk]

Angus - Great work mate, very cool to see some home made lures...

As a newbie and very keen wood turner, I just inherited a pretty serious lathe from my old man who passed away recently was a serious turner, I would love to see a step by step of your process as I too am very keen to get into making my own poppers and stickbaits on the lathe, especially considering the prices of commercial lures and the sate of the South African currency.....

Any chance you could shoot a step by step on your process of building?

Cheers and congrats on some fine looking poppers..

Andre

[Angus Hulme]

Hi Andre, glad you like them mate. The interesting thing is that I am a genuine newbie myself, and the modest level I have got to with lure turning has been through self-taught result of trial and error (lots of the error part!). So I don't know if I would be the man to guide anyone.....It would be a case of the blind leading the blind.  I am still very much in experimentation mode myself, particularly with the sealing and clear coating stages.

Also, i don't have a digital camera (pics above were taken on a borrowed camera), so couldn't really take pics as I went through the process, and regarding these lure-making techniques, a picture really is worth a thousand words. 

Anyway, I will say that it sounds like you have inherited a fine piece of wood working machinery from your old man (sorry to hear of your loss there Andre....that's never easy), so it would be remiss of you not to learn how to use the lathe, especially if it saves you a buck or 50! Plus, the pleasure of tempting fish into eating one's own creations is a pretty big motivator personally. I have had 2 homemade lures eaten by big GT's, and while neither fish was landed due to inadequate tackle combinations, the seed of excitement was planted when the bucket mouth inhaled that 1st hand carved offering. 

I could try an explain what I do in the manufacturing process, but it wouldn't be nearly as helpful without accompanying photos. But I'm happy to help if I can.

Thanks mate
Angus

PS. Andrew, good tip there on the scale tests.....have been trying to work out how to test the strength of the wire and connections. I could do a few 'surge' tests as well, to see if the sudden pressure makes any difference too.  Thanks mate.

[Andre van Wyk]

Hi Angus,

Thanks so much for your reply mate, and great to hear that you just took the bull by the horns so to speak, and just went ahead with trial and error to get some really great results...
As two fairly new turners, I'd like to stay in touch and perhaps together we can share results and insights and techniques... two heads are always better than one so they say...

But unfortunately, my lathe is not with me at the moment.... I still have to get back up to my folks house and go through and catalouge my Dad's work shop and then ship everything down here... Thankfully the old man was meticulous about everything, so it should make the job a little easier, despite the emotional side of things...
I've spent a fair amount of time on the lathe, especially over the last 6 months before my old man succumbed finally to cancer ( Sunscreen people, its more important than fishing hooks!!! ) so I have a fair knowledge of turning and I turned a few rough stickbait bodies which I need to finish....

But I will hopefully have the lathe set up here in a few months time and get cracking into the late hours of the night on some poppers and stick baits.... having grown up a fly fisherman, tying my own flies and have big fish eat the, I really love that feeling of catching on a self made creation... my biggest GT on fly was a 32 kilo Seychelles beast taken on the flats on a self tied fly... great feeling and would love to replicate that with a popper...

Will stay in touch and keep the developments and resluts coming...

Thanks for your time,
Andre