the Mopper Popper

[Rob G]

Kreb's popper body, Mustad popper hook 33903 size 4, Ice Wing Fiber- Mother of Pearl. 

Now if I can only find the time to get on the river and see if it hunts. 

 

[Ben K.]

Oh it will.  Nice fly! 

I tie a frog variation of this with two mops and a mono loop to keep them sorted. Hackle wraps and a blockhead body with some rubber legs. It does well. I think the mops absorb water and create some drag to give off the real nice deep pop instead of skittering on the surface.
Works well on the dead dead drift too. 

[Ben K.]

Lost my favorite one but here’s some others. 

[colindanenberger]

Rob that looks tasty.  Here's a feather wing black ghost I tied a few minutes ago 

[John Gillio]

Very nice ties gentlemen! I may have to give those mopper poppers a try. I’ve been having a hard time getting out too. Only had 2 smallie outings this yr , with very limited success.

[Rob G]

Ben, I like your double mop frog and may have to play around with that idea.

Colin, I really like your Ghost fly, just lovely.  Your fly tying skills have really improved over time. 

John, I've been out of town a lot the last couple months and all too often it was when the river conditions were ideal for wading.  Now I'm home for a short period and we're getting several inches of rain this weekend which will blow everything out again.  Poor timing.  I did get out a couple days ago on a nearby stream which was really low and clear and put up some decent numbers of smallies but no size.   I thought I would tear them up with a cicada imitation since I could still hear them along the river but was surprised how little interest I could raise.  I did get a few grassies to come up and "mouth" my cicada but none inhaled.....very frustrating.

[John Gillio]

Rob, with all the drought conditions around us the big Vermilion has remained unable to wade due to rains to the southeast of us. Everything else has been very low. Haven’t tried for grass carp at all  yet. 

[Mike G]

When the mop flies were the rage a few years ago I never thought of using the material on a popper. I would have to say that, even though I read a lot of articles, this is the first mop popper I have seen. Thanks for posting it.

[Bart Durham]

Like Ben says the fly resembles a frog pattern.  Does the mop interfere with the dead drift?

[Rob G]

4 hours ago, Bart Durham said:

Does the mop interfere with the dead drift?

Bart, as in how ?  Truth is, I've yet to fish it but my main concern will be how often the mop fouls with the hook.

[Bart Durham]

Seems like even a small piece of grass  can interfere with dead drift keep block head upright? 

[Rob G]

Ahh, ok, now I understand.  Generally with this particular type of popper, a wounded minnow imitation, (at least in my mind) I'm pretty active in retrieving it, pop once or twice and then wait only a moment or two and repeat.  Other top water flies like my big black bug, I tend to dead drift for longer periods between small twitches.    

[colindanenberger]

I never tryed the mop fly of any kind  yet. Still on a wet fly and streamer fly kick. Also I've been tying winged wet flies.  Also been tying salmon / steelhead  flies. Here is a couple shady lady's.   I tied one on a traditional up eye hook and a couple on a  wet fly hook. 

Shady lady

Hook- 2 to 12

Thread- black

Tag- silver ( oval used).

Butt- chartuce yarn

Tail- black hen

Rib- fine silver oval

Body- black floss.

Hackle- natural black hen

 

Can't load a picture but I'll try later.

[colindanenberger]

[Rob G]

Colin, that fly tied in a size 8 or 10 would be a panfish killer for sure.   

[John Gillio]

Nice!

[Ben K.]

I’ve worked on some variations of the mop frog over the past couple years and here’s what I’ve found. They absolutely benefit from a mono loop for keeping legs out of the hook. I crimp the mono at the back in middle like a heart to widen it. A shorter shank hook will also help with fouling as well as balance in the water. It will sit at a slight angle legs just under the surface. The drag from the legs really helps with poppers and divers. I tie them pretty big and use size 2 or 1 hooks fished on 7 or 8 weights. 

[Rob G]

The 17'er below and a couple of his smaller buddies were fooled by the Mopper Popper today, a shame that his bigger buddies didn't play along but I was pretty fortunate to get anything on top, as our water is still higher, faster, and more stained than I would like for pitching poppers.  Btw, that mop tail takes on water and forces the rear of the popper to sink causing the front face to pitch up which creates a pretty decent spray and pop on the twitch, more so than my normal lighter tailing materials.  The bad thing is that it often gets fouled with the hook since it is so pliable when soaked.  Maybe a small mono loop in the rear might help with that.  Any ideas ?

  

[John Gillio]

Nice, Rob. 

[Tom L]

Nice fly Rob.  Try dapping a small amount of UV glue at the base of the tail, close to the hook, to stiff up about a 1/4" of the material.  I have been using this technique on all of my rabbit strip tailed flies. 

[Bart Durham]

Nice looking smallie Rob,  looks like the Mopper Popper works well!

[Rob G]

Tom, I have used some super glue on the shaft of the hook, all the way to the bend, and pressed in the mop in order to keep it held in place so its point of freedom is further back and not just tied in at the posterior point of the popper body (hidden by the flash) but I will sure try doing as you mentioned.  Thanks for the tip.

[Mike G]

 

ENJOY