Popper Fun

                                                                            Popper Fun

7/01/26 

 Recently, in the week or so past, I fished for smallmouth in the Clarion River. I was hoping to get them to rise for my popper selection but they haven’t been cooperative. Wednesday I decided to give them another chance.

 I had my float tube in the water ready to go by 9:30am. It was already in the 70’s and the sun was out and about emitting it’s laser sharp rays in between the light cloud cover. The humidity was high and the only relief from the warm temps was I’d be in the cooler river water in my float tube. I had about a mile stretch of water to tease the river smallmouth into rising for one of my poppers. 

 The section of water I’d be floating was slow moving with boulders along the banks. Being that most of this stretch isn’t easy access from the road I figured the smallies weren’t fished over much. 

 Dancing with the first smallie on a popper within the first hour of floating gave me confidence that the smallies will rise. Watching the popper float upon the water and making short strips for bubbling action, was too much a temptation for some. 

 Most of the smallmouth I caught weren’t the biggest but some were a bundle to hold on to while we were partners. Watching them all of a sudden rise and gulp my popper was as much fun as catching a trout on a dry fly. 

 

 I was dancing with them off now and then but I never knew when or where they would participate. Likely spots I thought one would rise weren’t so. Other times I was just casting out towards the middle of the river and a smallmouth would gulp up the popper with a sudden splash. I’d wait a second or two after it took it under and rear back the rod up with a determined hook set. Most of the time the line would tighten and the 9 foot rod would bow towards the strike and the fight was on. 

I puffed away on a stogie as I slowly drifted.  

  Occasionally I would get a foothold on a big boulder beneath that was reachable and steady myself. I would cover the area, within casting distance, stationary on my foot hold. Many times I would get a smallie to commit into grabbing one of my poppers. It was easier getting them to the apron when I was stationary than drifting without a foothold. 

 I din’t hook all the takers but I was about 90% on my game. Some smaller ones I didn’t take pictures of but the bigger brutes I did. It was obvious that the smallmouth were well fed. They were fat and energetic. The river has lots of crayfish besides bait fish. Many times when I catch a smallmouth it will spit out a small fish or parts of a crayfish. They are like pigs and don’t seem to ever get their bellies filled at times.

 I was getting into shallower water and I was feeling my way with my flippers on the bedrock. Along the rocky bank looked a bit deeper so I concentrated my casts along the bank. The sun was above and lit up the water like a dance hall. A lot of times I find that smallmouth like to sit along shady spots along a rocky bank even in shallow water. 

 I made a cast just out from the rocky bank and watched my popper plop into the water. I stripped the popper across the water in slow intervals making the popper bubble and splash the surface water like a helpless dying bait fish. A smallmouth rose, like the chance to dance to the last song at the ballroom dance! She rose half out of the water where my popper was. She went under and I yanked back the rod with a hefty pull. The slack line zipped off the water and tightened like a banjo string. She went under and swam towards the center of the river as a wake followed her. The river water was shallow all around so it wasn’t hard to see her as she swam from my point of view. She maneuvered here and there as if dancing on the ballroom floor and I was keeping my eye on her. I wasn’t sure what music was playing in her head but she rose to the surface, splashing water now and then, as if wanting the attention! She danced a bit more and I was able to get her to the apron safely. 

 I was within sight of my exit point still feeling my way with my flippers. Every once in a while I would cast out towards the middle of the river when I saw a current flow of riffles from a boulder just under the surface. Usually the water is a little deeper behind. My cast was just beyond the narrow riffles and I gave a sharp pop’ and let the popper drift with the riffling current. Another pop and I started to strip it across the surface, in intervals, as if swimming towards the bank downstream out of danger. I watched as in an instant an oblong figure flashed behind it and gulped at it. I yanked back as quickly as I could. I had a lot of slack line arced on the surface and the way the figure appeared I didn’t have time to think about waiting to set the hook a second or two. I just yanked the rod up towards the bank trying to straighten the arcing line. The line straightened and tightened. The rod bowed towards the surface splash where my popper once had been. The smallmouth disappeared beneath tugging and pulled away towards the middle of the river. I followed him with the rod tip and let him have a little tensioned line I had pinched between my fingers. He gave me a good show as if he was the feature dancer of the ballroom gala. He splashed the surface, jumped out of the water and swung around in his performance. I kind of chuckled as I was bringing line in and after all that performance I was pretty sure my hook set was tight and not going to come loose. Near the float tube I reached down and pinched his bottom lip and brought him to the apron. 

 He wasn’t as fat as the smallmouth I caught upriver in deeper water but he was a nice size smallie with a lot of spunk for dancing!

Just before I made my way to the bank of my exit point I caught one more smallmouth near the bank. I was surprised because the water I was casting in didn’t look any more than shin deep. There must have been a deeper pocket of water he was resting in? 

 Well the dancing was over and it was time to go home.

~doubletaper