Popping Cork on the Fly Rod??

Fly fishing guide; Captain Gary Dubiel has developed the Pop-N-Fly. It is a lightweight foam cylinder with an embedded articulated shank that is connected between the butt section of your leader and the tippet that has your streamer fly attached. The foam suspends your fly below the surface very similar to a popping cork use in fishing for redfish using conventional fishing gear. So, when you strip the foam cylinder it pops and splashes that causes a commotion on the surface which sounds like other fish feeding on bait. This in turn entices other fish you’re targeting to strike at an easy meal.

The Pop-N-Fly has proved to be effective for numerous other saltwater and freshwater species, including speckled trout, false albacore, cobia, striped bass, smallmouth bass, lake trout, and more. My test for this innovated fly popper thing will be on freshwater fish in New Hampshire; I will be testing it on smallmouth bass, largemouth bass, rainbow trout, landlocked salmon, yellow perch, chain pickerel, and whatever else is in the lake that I will be test this device on.

While Captain Dubiel recommends using a streamer, such as the Fish-Skull Masked Minnow or Crafty Deceiver with the Pop-N-Fly. I will start with a Thunder Creek Minnow (size 6) and a Flash Monkey (size 2). My initial setup for the Pop-N-Fly will be 5 feet of butt second (20lb), attaching the Pop-N-Fly, attaching a (15lb) tippet to that lower end of the Pop-N-Fly, and roughly 20 inches below the Pop-N-Fly tie on a streamer of your choice, for me it was the Thunder Creek Minnow. The reason to start with a smaller fly is to encourage smaller fish to hit this setup.

The technique to use is simply cast out the setup towards rock bars; lay downs, weedy areas, points, any area where a predator is waiting for an easy snack. I used short, hard strips working the Pop-N-Fish creating attention-grapping commotion very similar to using a popping cork with convention fishing equipment. The fish hears this commotion and when they will see your fly falling from the surface helplessly for a meal that they cannot refuse.

So far in my testing I have managed largemouth bass, smallmouth bass, yellow perch, and a chain pickerel. All of the bass have been less than 10 inches with the pickerel being almost 20 inches. I have experienced three huge largemouth over 20 inches that traveled about 8 – 12 feet of deep water to take the Thunder Creek Minnow creating an explosive jump above the water and a huge tug on the fly line but lost all thee. Now that I know that this technique works, I have replaced the Thunder Creek Minnow with a bigger streamer called the Flash Monkey. I’m hoping that I will be able to entice another monster from the deep.

Watch for an upcoming test for redfish and speckled trout using this great technique.