After that last round of poppers, and before I move onto another round of different flies, I thought there's gotta be something I can do before I move on. While the poppers are nice to have I can't help but think of my spinning rod brothers and sisters out there who I stand next to as they bomb those gliders and metal lips out and usually catch fish. I'm not taking about those Redfin or SP Minnow left to right pulsating action, but the wide glide of a glider or the tighter metal lip action, depending on how you
you tune it. So I was thinking of trying to add a siliclone something or other to a Surface Seducer (SS) Head, or just trying one straight up. I remember a few years ago I bought a package of FlyLipps, HERE, right around the time I first saw Jim Matson's Pulse Disc. I never did anything with the FlyLipps so after some digging I found the package. I tied it into an extra large SS and then built out the back. My goal
say you don't need all that length with a popper as the front end is creating the havoc and what they focus on. But I think a popper/swimmer retrieved up, with those long hackles and material, just adds to the visual of a true larger baitfish swimming upstream. As with any other new fly getting it wet really
tells the story. The D&R Canal is just on the other side of the road so I thought that would be a good spot since the SW wind is honking today. So here's what I found. I really like it. Why? First it
can move ALOT of water depending on the retrieve. I kinda reminded me of the old Hula-Popper days from my youth when I used to fish irrigation ponds for largemouths. Second. On a slow retrieve the
wake opens up to about 14 feet. If something is looking to play or eat something that appears wounded or swimming merrily along this can be the ticket. Third, no changes in casting, it just doesn't affect it. Now for the downside. I really was looking for that swimming, left to right action, similair to the action Popovic's achieves with his Pop Lip fly, just this would be floating and have a wider slower movement.
Some examples of Bob's Pop Lip are above as tied by the Progressive Fishing Hunter in Malaysia. I just got around this year to applying some silicone to the head of a few flies. I haven't attempted a Pop Lip yet, but maybe I will soon. I can't imagine the mess of a fly I'll create attempting that. But I don't know if his Pop Lip is used with a popper, although it might be able to. Again, what I was shooting for was that snake-like action on the surface while using a steady two hand retrieve. I thought about reversing the FlyLipp, tying it up rather than down, but I don't think that would work. What I needed to do was to bring a regular popper down and cast it along with the FlyLipp popper to see the difference. Either way it was a good attempt. I got some positives from it although I fell short in making a fly look like a metal lip. There's something there, I just have to find out what it is and make it happen.
