I like trying to bass fish by fly rod and I recently got into bass poppers, but I cant seem to be able to cast it very far at all. I have a 5 WT rod and 5 WT line on it with a 5X 9ft 10lb tapered leader. Im VERY new to fly fishing so its highly likely Im just doing something wrong. If any of you know whats wrong or have suggestions please let me know!

How long now have you been fly fishing ? Weather conditions are a big factor in your casting long distances . Do you know what action is your rod , medium, fast ? I myself am not a pro but there are several here that can give good pointers . YouTube has alot of good training videos as well as Sage and Orvis do on their websites . Without visually seeing your technique it's not easy to say what you might be doing wrong . Like I say check out YouTube and the websites for Sage and Orvis . Very good videos are available , other than that a personal trainer is your best bet .

Iv been fly fishing for maybe 3 months now, and it was a little windy when I was fishing but nothing too bad. But thank you and I will definitely check out all of those sites you listed!

Bass poppers are big, bulky, wind resistant things. Depending upon the size of the popper, it might be that smaller poppers or a heavier rod are in order. That long tippet is also not helping. Quite probably, there simply not enough mass and energy to turn the popper over, make a decent loop.

As I am not there to review the full set up, let me suggest first trying to use a short, heavy tippet/leader combo. Like two feet of twenty or thirty pound test mono and then two feet of ten or twelve pound mono. See how that changes things.

It might also help to go for more open loops; not so much pushing the rod as pulling the popper. I hope that makes sense.

In the end, the bigger and bushier the fly, the heavier the rod and line need to be in order to cast effectively.

I throw big deer hair top water flies. i go with straight 10- 12 lb mono prob at the most 4' long leader. make sure you are giving the line enough time to load the rod before going forward

How far can you cast? Casting distances are way shorter on fly rod vs. conventional. A 40 to 50 foot cast is pretty decent on a a fly rod. It takes a lot more work to make really long casts with the fly.

I cast about 40ft with a small bluegill fly but only 20-25 with a Bass popper

and so basically I probably need a shorter leader?

Way too light on the setup.

I start at 6wt medium-fast action rod for poppers. It sounds awfully similar to my first go round with a fly rod. I'll wager someone put you on a trout rod and convinced you that you can fling bassbugs with it. Small ones, sure, but anything resembling the half hair sock puppets we cast down here in the south, a finesse 5wt trout rod just can't fling, regardless of your casting ability.

Size of the popper, size of the leader, and weight of the rod are all factors that affect your cast. If I am using my 4 or 5, I will only throw smaller foam poppers on a <7' tapered leader. If I'm throwing big hair bugs or balsa poppers, I'm using 6-8 rod 6' 12-20 lb straight leader. You can throw big bugs on a 5 wt but it takes time and experience.

For a new caster with a 5 wt rod, I would not go any bigger than a size 8 fly. Deer hair poppers will be very difficult for a new caster to cast with a 5 wt. However, the smaller poppers will catch bass and you can usually find the balsa versions at Walmart or Academy.

The quickest way to shorten the learning curve is to get some in person help with your casting. This is show season and there are multiple opportunities for help available over the next few weeks, especially in the DFW area. What part of the state are you located?