New Poppers for Largemouth & Smallmouth Bass

We are excited to introduce our new poppers for 2025 and discuss some proven tactics for targeting largemouth and smallmouth bass. With the abundance of bass fisheries in the U.S.A., don’t miss out on the opportunity to test your skills on these epic freshwater gamefish. The conventional tackle world has largely defined bass fishing, but you can be just as effective with both subsurface patterns and topwater flies like poppers.

Fly fishing for bass has generated a lot of buzz in recent years, and we want to get you involved in the fun. Whether you’re stripping streamers along weed lines and transitions or popping a topwater bug off the bank, flies can mimic life in a way a conventional bait just can’t. When bass start looking to the surface to feed, you can’t go wrong with poppers.

When & Where We Fish Poppers

Pre-spawn bass are primarily feeding on subsurface food items like crayfish and baitfish. Early-season bass fishing often requires a sink tip or full intermediate fly line to get swim flies into the strike zone. Cold water bass will lay low in deep water and stage with other bass before pushing into shallower springtime water, so we recommend sticking to subsurface tactics. While this time of year often produces some of the larger fish of the season, it can be a tricky bite to capitalize on.

Come late spring as the water warms, the game shifts, and bass begin to look up for food. Post-spawn bass will ferociously feed on almost anything they can get their jaws around. Frogs are a key piece of a bass’ diet and will remain important through summer. At this point in the season, lots of food is available in and around the water. Tadpoles have hatched into young frogs, and the adults are abundant and offer high choleric value for bass. These fish will generally remain surface-oriented from late spring through early fall. Tie on a popper and get after it!

Water Types for Poppers

My favorite popper water is relatively shallow, 1 to 4 feet deep, and has plenty of structure. That could be a riverbank with wood, boulders, submerged grasses, or lily pads and weed beds in stillwater. Sure, you can convince a bass to eat a popper in deeper water, but generally, throwing to the bank and targeting the shallows is standard popper practice. During the heat of summer, sometimes a little shade is valuable cover for bass, but it’s not uncommon to see smallmouth slid-up on shallow, sunny flats too. These are guidelines, not rules, and each fishery has its nuances.

Selecting Poppers

When choosing a popper to fish, there are a few considerations. What time of year is it? Early in the season, I’ll often lean towards smaller poppers that imitate the juvenile life and spring peepers in and around the river. By mid-summer, I’ll select larger popper flies to match the growth over the course of the season. If bass seem weary of larger poppers, then its time to downsize.

Is it sunny or overcast? What is the water clarity? I often abide by the “dark day, dark fly” mantra. When fishing stained water, we recommend tying on dark-colored poppers like our purple or black. These conditions also give reason to fish your popper more aggressively as to make noise and call attention to your fly from a distance. The clearer the water, the more important it can be to match the food in that fishery. If frogs are the primary forage, you can’t go wrong with poppers in frog or bone white colors. The bright underbelly of these poppers coupled with the movement from rubber legs and tail materials makes for a convincing frog imitation.

Additionally, bass will key in on insect life such as dragonflies, damselflies, cicadas, grasshoppers, and Hexagenia mayflies in some fisheries. Selecting a popper in these situations will often produce quality fish, even if you don’t have the proper imitation of these bugs.

We welcome readers to check out our other warmwater flies for additional patterns and existing bass poppers. Additionally, don’t overlook topwater baitfish patterns like crease flies, bangers, and mylar poppers. If the fish aren’t eating on top, check out this article about streamer fishing for bass.

New Popper Colors

We offer a range of poppers designed to fool the pickiest bass and remain functional all season. We offer our new poppers in sizes 4 – 10 in five new colors: frog, purple, damsel, black, and bone white. Built using our stout new popper hooks and a range of durable new popper heads, these flies are designed to last.

Popper Heads

Each new color is represented in three different popper head shapes: freshwater popper, bullet bug and boss bug. These head shapes generate unique swim styles and push different amounts of water. Despite the head shape, all of these poppers have bright red popper mouths/faces for increased visibility at a distance for the angler.

Fly Rods, Fly Lines, & Leader Build

When casting poppers all day long in the summer heat, the proper rod and fly line pairing matters. While you can undoubtedly catch bass on a 9-foot, 5 or 6-weight fly rod, we strongly encourage using a heavier rod paired with a weight-forward, oversized line. We recommend 9-foot, 7 and 8-weight rods with a purpose-built fly line such as the Scientific Anglers Amplitude Textured Bass Bug. This fly line excels at delivering air-resistant flies to the target.

Lastly, your leader system will affect the cast-ability and delivery of your popper. In most cases, you can get away with reasonably short leader builds for bass fishing, but there are times to lengthen your leader for more delicate delivery when water conditions are low and clear. We recommend an 8-foot tapered leader with a stout butt section to help turn over the fly. Check out the Scientific Anglers Absolute Bass Leader, or cut back one of our 9-foot Masterclass leaders. When building a longer leader, we recommend adding 10lb-16lb tippet for fishing poppers. It’s your choice whether you select nylon or fluorocarbon tippet, but we recommend fluorocarbon for it’s abrasion resistance.

How to Fish Poppers

There are a few ways to fish poppers. The water type, season, and mood of the fish will dictate what techniques work best. Generally, poppers are best fished when casting to structure and retrieving with short, hard strips. Each strip will create a surface disturbance and vibration that draws a bass’ attention from many feet away. Don’t be afraid to work the fly with your rod tip as well, lifting and pulsing your rod tip throughout the retrieve. Consider changing the tempo of retrieval and employing a pause now and then.

Sometimes bass prefer a very slow, lazy presentation rather than an aggressive, fast-paced retrieve. In a river setting, I’ve done quite well dead-drifting poppers and occasionally twitching and skittering the popper. This type of presentation is most effective when bass are keyed in on insect life on the surface. Poppers not only imitate frogs, but they also can pass as a buggy meal such as a dragonfly or damselfly. These insects are a critical food for bass in rivers and stillwater fisheries throughout the summer. These takes will often be the most subtle. Pay attention to your fly because the take can catch you by surprise. Bass notoriously spit the fly if you’re not quick to the hook set.

Looking to Tie Topwater Flies?

The new line of popper heads and purpose built popper hooks highlight our efforts to expand our offerings of high quality tying materials. If you want to tie some topwater flies, check out some of our tying materials and recommendations below. We offer five different popper heads: salty popper, freshwater popper, bullet bug, boss bug and panfish bug.

We invite fly tyers to use our new popper heads and hooks, and incorporate materials such as our premium selected marabou, foam products, flex floss, deer belly, bucktail, and baitfish eyes.

Get Out There

Many anglers have a bass fishery nearby, whether in a river, stream, lake, or pond. The enjoyment of fishing topwater flies is unmatched. When the topwater bite is hot, why throw anything else? Popper fishing is incredibly fun, for it is a visual game that will keep even the wondering mind focused. We encourage you to get out on your local bass fishery this season and try your luck with our new popper flies.

Want to learn more about fly fishing for smallmouth bass? Check out this article by Matt Redmond.

If you’re interested in a destination smallmouth bass fishing trip, check out this article by Fulling Mill Ambassador Jessica Suvak.

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