Using poppers to catch river smallmouth is by far the most exciting way to fly fish. It’s visual. It’s versatile. It’s flat out hunting for big bass on the fly. There are different ways to fish a popper: Dead Drift Em, Pop Em, Twitch Em. Below we will go through what each of these methods mean.
Dead Drift Em: This method is very similar to drifting dry flies to trout. You want to look for moving water with white bubbles close to structure. Smallmouth will sit in these lines waiting for bugs to drift by. I prefer to fish sliders when the water is super low and clear because the slider doesn’t have as much of a pop when it lands. Below is a fish we caught dead drifting a popper right off the bank by a fallen down tree. It was an ideal location for a river smallmouth to be holding. Mends are vital to your success when drifting poppers. If it’s dragging it’s lagging.
Pop Em: Normally the best time to pop poppers is early morning and late evening when the sun is low. It’s good to pop poppers in deeper water close to ledges because we’ve caught some good smallmouth drumming them up in deep water. The bass will let you know if you can pop aggressively or every ten or so seconds. Right after that first pop will tell you a lot.
Twitch Em: In deep slow slack water I like to twitch the poppers because sometimes just a little movement on the legs can draw a strike. Lift the rod tip up or wiggle it.
The best time to throw topwater poppers is during the summertime and early fall during June-September. If you want to experience some exciting, visual fly fishing for river smallmouth contact us today.
