Something I’ve been missing in my fly boxes are decent poppers. Deer hair poppers look mint and fish well, but they are simply too time consuming for a dad with two toddlers in the house! So I took the easy route and bought some foam popper heads – besides, I also wanted to use them to tie some of Conrad’s famous kob sliders.
Here’s an easy popper recipe for fresh and saltwater fish (weed guard optional):
Hook: Testing aย Mouche Big Game #4/0 hook
Popper head: Surface Seducer Double Barrel (got these at StreamX) – glued onto a thread-wrapped hook shank with Loctite superglue gel
Eyes: EP plastic eyes
Collar: Palmered hackle or EP Foxy Brush
Tail: Variety of hackle feathers
(The white popper heads were coloured with Copic and Artline markers and covered with a thin layer of flexible UV cure)