Popper Bass

This weekend I was in upstate New York for a family reunion at a cabin on a small lake. I was able to borrow a kayak and get on the waterfall a few hours on Saturday night and Sunday morning, and fortunately both outings yielded nice fish. I only landed one on each trip, but they were well worth the effort.

Bass are willing to hit the surface by this time of year, and overcast skies meant I had an even better shot at convincing a bass to take a popper. I had seen a lot of frogs around the lake, so I decided to try a green popper. I paddled the edge of the lake, casting to gaps in the lily pads. For the first hour I had no strikes, and I began to worry that the bass wouldn't take my fly. I made one last cast to the edge of some lily pads and began to turn the kayak around to head back to the dock. Just as I turned I heard a huge splash. It sounded like someone threw a brick into the water. I looked back at the spot where my popper had been. It was gone.

As I pulled up on the rod I felt a significant weight. This bass fought long and hard, but ultimately I was able to get it into the boat.

The next morning was overcast once again, so I decided poppers would likely work again. They did. This time I had many more strikes, but all but one ended in a long-distance release. The one that did stay on was even bigger than the fish from the night before, and even towed the kayak around briefly.

All in all it was an unexpectedly great couple days of fishing.