Metallic Fishscale Balsa Popper Other Freshwater Hook : Eagle Claw 66nr or Mustad 9261 size 2. Thread : Match body color. Body : Balsa wood covered by textured aluminum foil and epoxy. Eyes : Paint. Tail : 6-10 strands Krystal Flash and 4 saddle hackles.
Tying Instructions 1) Cut a 5/8" (16mm) long by 1/2"(13mm) diameter balsa wood plug so that the long dimension follows the wood grain. 2) Using a rotary tool make a cup in the face of the balsa and rough shape as desired. 3) Either split the body in half with a sharp knife and use a needle file to make a groove to hold the shank, or use a hacksaw blade and notch the bottom. 4) Lay a solid base of thread down the shank of the hook the length of the popper body and epoxy the halves around the hook, or fill gap and set shank into the epoxy in groove. 5) Finish shaping and sand the body. Paint the cupped face, then apply contact cement to the rest of the body. 6) Apply contact cement to one side of aluminum foil and let dry, once dry wrap around body starting and ending under the body. 7) Push foil down all the way around body and trim any excess material. 8) Paint the back with a quality spray paint 9) add the eyes using two finishing nails dipped in paint, larger first then smaller when dry. 10) Finally coat popper with thin coat of epoxy and cure on wheel. 11) Tie in tailing material Krystal flash first then saddle hackles splaying out.
Fly Notes Freshwater Popper. Just tied a few with a bead head to use in ponds here. The worse it looks the better it works.
Fishing Notes Popper retrieves must be tailored to the mood of the fish, sometimes they prefer the popper to just sit there after being cast, other times they want a steady retrieve. So when fishing poppers vary your retrieve speed and style till the fish tell you what they want. This is also true with the noise the popper makes. Target species includes larger warm and salt water species. Will work for species with wide toothy grins but wont last that long.
Location Notes Using a steady popping retrieve cover large areas of water while searching with the popper. Or work near heavy cover trying different retrieves until the fish tell you what they want.
Prey Notes In general poppers are attractors and don't try to imitate specific prey species. In this case though the popper imitates a injured or struggling baitfish.
Tier Mark Delaney

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