Hula Popper Presentation

[jax]

Ok I feel like an idiot but I can't figure it out.

What presentation do you use with a Hula Popper? I just bought one and I am have 0% luck with it. Not one bite.

While I'm at it what presentation do you use with a jitter bug?

Thanks,

Reuben

[Raul]

Ok I feel like an idiot but I can't figure it out.

What presentation do you use with a Hula Popper? I just bought one and I am have 0% luck with it. Not one bite.

While I'm at it what presentation do you use with a jitter bug?

Thanks,

Reuben

Rueben, if you are going to fish by "luck" your "luck" will be that, luck, meaning that there will be days you are lucky and the conditions will be right and you 'll make a killing and there will be unlucky days ( which are the vast majoriy of the days ) that you will come empty handed.

It 's not a matter of "luck" it 's a matter of fishing the bait in the right location with the right presentation under the right conditions. Poppers have their right place and time just like every other bait in your tacklebox, there 's no science in working a popper, you just twitch or jerk the rod tip to make it plip or plop, how many times you do it ( cadence ) it 's a matter of personal preference, but where you do that and when it 's waht 's important and what determines your "luck".

[Grey Wolf]

Usually a slow steady retrieve with the jitter bug with your rod tip up.

[Muddy]

I never did like the Hula Popper,, but I love the Jitter Bug

Make sure you keep the rod high, and you reel with a steady cadence, and you should hear the lure kind of gurggeling on the top, leaving a v shapped wake.

[jax]

Luck was probably not the proper term to use. I'm new to fishing and trying to learn the new lures that I'm getting. Unfortunately they do not come with directions. I searched but there isn't much info here on the poppers (at least that I could find.). I used the term luck just as a general use term because I was in a hurry when I posted.

When do you use Hula Poppers? I was using mine on a small pond about 1 hour before dusk until it got dark. I assumed this would have been a good time for it. I tried varing cadences from quick twitches to steady twitches to plopping it along.

I wasn't sure if this needs to more of a steady retreive or more a of pop, sit and wait. I know this is situational but there is generally an underlying technique. That is what I am asking. Is there an underlying technique to these things or do you keep it random?

Edit: You guys posted before I finished this one. Thanks for the help. That is what I needed.

[kayl.]

When I fish poppers (not necessarily just the Hula Popper), I use them parallel to lily pads, in woody cover, and above submerged weedbeds.  The Hula Popper also seemed to be more of a "BLOOP" it and let it sit popper vs. one that should be worked fast.  I'll cast out a Hula Popper and then let it sit until the rings from it landing are gone.  Then I'll *BLOOP* it, pause for a couple of seconds and repeat, etc.  Vary the length of your pauses and the intensity of your bloops until you find what the bass are into that day. Enjoy!

[jb_adams]

Hula Poppers are an entertaining bait.  There is nothing like that distinctive *BLOoP* sound early in the morning or late in the summer afternoon.  I usually fish mine very slow.  If you fish it too hard and too fast, it will make the fish leary to bite unless they are biting anything you throw that day.  I have had luck letting it sit and "bloop" it once or twice and let the rings in the water settle before I pop it again.  I've caught both white bass and spotted bass when they're feeding on top.  it's a good bait.  there are other baits that work better though.  Experiment and if you are having no success, try a different one because confidance is the best bait in the world.

[daviscw]

One of the keys to a popper style bait is a very long pause between pops and twitches.

[jax]

Thanks for the help. I was fishing it much faster than that. I'll slow it way down next time.

[.ghoti.]

You picked up on the first key piece of info; slow down, then slow it down some more.

The other key piece kayl mentioned. The Hula Popper works best adjacent to, or over cover. Got a weed edge? get as close as you can without getting tangled. Brushpile? Ditto. Submerged weeds? Work it slowly over them.

One more thing. Put on some sharp hooks. I also replace the rear hook, and it's always gummed up trailer, with a fethered treble.

Cool, old, classic bait that still produces.

[Raul]

I visualize poppers as baits to be fished "next to or on top of", next to a weedbed, next to a grass patch, next to a stump, next to a cliff and so on, on top of a submerged weedbed, on top of a hump, on top of a submerged tree, places where the fish will hide to ambush whatever may pass by.

How fast or how slow really depends on the conditions, if it 's windy and the water surface has ripples on it I prefer faster retrieves, plop, plop, plop, wait a few seconds and plop plop plop againg, while on calm days or when fishing the glass I prefer very slow and with less emphasis on the way I snap my wrist, pleep pleep and wait 20, 30 seconds or more, pleep pleep and waiting again.

At what time of the day ? many people think of topwaters as dawn and dusk baits, nothing can be farher from the truth, I fish it in them middle of the day with bright sunlight with lots of success.