The 'pop'

[Andrew Walker]

It may be a daft question as I suspect that there is no right or wrong answer as fish the world over often refuse to follow rules but....  I see videos on Youtube where anglers simply wind the popper as fast as possible and I see others where the angler whips the rod back to make the popper 'pop and then wind down and repeat etc.  Is there an accepted right way of popping?  I have my 'virgin' GT trip planned for the end of the month and have 'all the gear but no idea'!

[Brandon Khoo]

Andrew - assuming you are talking about a popper and not a pencil popper, I challenge anyone using a "real" popper to use a technique  where they wind as quickly as possible! By real, I mean proper sized - say 150g onwards. They won't last ten minutes using a  popper that way. Without being unkind, the guys you see doing that don't know how to fish for GTs

[Andrew Susani]

Yep, it's gotta pop properly, which for any large cup faced popper, requires a measured pull stroke which accelerates the lure through the surface of the water, creating a large splash and loud "bloop" sound. 

It is definitely a skill which requires practice to not only repeat it consistently all day, but to make the lure POP properly when it is being swept through the strike zone or when the sea surface is a bit rough.

[Mark Harris]

Andrew (W) - Andrew Susani has explained it well there.  I will be seeing you guys the night before you fish I guess, so more than happy to try to demonstrate that technique and some others for you on dry land.