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How To Tie Perfect Popper
Frog
Recipe: Hook: Pencil Popper Set (style # PPR, size 1,2,4) Thread: Danville 210 (color to match body) Tail: Chartreuse marabou; pearl and chartreuse krystal flashabou; chartreuse bass/saltwater rooster necks Legs: Round rubber (medium) Collar: Chartreuse grizzly hackle Body: Hard foam colored with prismacolor markers then coated with epoxy Eyes: Flat stick-ons
This is the best thing that come out since sliced bread. Your local fly shop can order these for you. They're real easy to work with and the skies the limit on how creative you can get.
Step 1.
When prepping these you’ll need a razor blade to cut in the groove that’s on the underside of the foam. What you have to accomplish in this step is to be able to get the hook to push up all the way in the groove without showing any of the shank. It needs to sit flush.
Step 2.
With prismacolor markers paint the foam to the desire look you want. Make even strokes and only go one direction. You can go over it again to make the color stand out more. I first do the color that is going to be the most and then the second and so on. Then on the belly I make a little red at the front. This will trigger more fish. All fish identify red and will key in on it.
Step 3.
Now make little circles on the sides. You can do whatever you want. The skies the limit and these are actually pretty fun. It reminds me of being in kindergarten all over again. LOL
Step 4.
Depending on what type of marabou you use will really determine how long and good it will look for the tail. There’s three types of marabou on the market and the one that is the best for tying popper type patterns is the select marabou. The second would be strung marabou and thats typically what most people have. The third is the newest to come out on the market which is called wooly bugger marabou and that’s to short. The other two I mentioned will work, but the select looks the best and really fans out nicely. It comes with a long stem and you peel the marabou from it.
You only need one piece to do the trick. Tie it in right behind the foam head. Wind back a little and create a base for the rest of the material to be tied in. The hardest part is to get the hackle right to create the legs.
Step 5.
Next you’ll tie in two set of rubber legs and two will be on each side of the marabou. Wrap them around the thread and then tie them in.
Step 6.
Now tie in about 8-10 strands of flashabou. I also wrap these around the thread and then tie them in. Now you should have double the individual strands to 16-20. After you’ve tied them in fan them out to be all over (on the sides and the top).
I think these are the best necks to use when it comes to hackle for the legs on all bass poppers. They come in a lot of colors as well.
Step 7.
This is the most difficult step out of all of them. You’ll need to select a total of four hackles. Two on each side. Prep them before you tie them in. Match them up so the hackles are kicking out and even at the tips. Tie all of them together on top of the hook shank and make about six turns. Once you’ve tied them in you can maneuver them on each side of the hook. Then make a few more turns securing them down so the won’t shift.
This is what the legs should look like.
Step 8.
Now select two strands of chartreuse grizzly hackle. You’ll want the hackle that is webby and you can find that at the back of the neck on the very top of if it. You don’t want stiff barbs or it will look like dry fly hackle. You want hackle that will lay back a little.
Step 9.
Wrap one at a time and you’ll use the whole feather. Tie off and cut the excess and do the same thing to the other one and cut the excess off. Make a few more turns securing everything down and whip finish the fly. Glue the thread also.
Step 10.
Stick the eyes on and put a light coat of epoxy all the way around the foam. Once you do this the colors will come to life. Epoxy really brings out the color.
