Poppers: when&where?

The Yellow Magic thread got me wondering how you guys are fishing poppers of all brands?

Such as General location, water depth, cover, speed, cadence...

I started a different retrieve a few years ago and was wondering if anyone else is doing the same.

I parallel the heaviest cover I can find. I like to have 3 good top water bites somewhere on the lake. This takes a lot of fishing time to cover enough spot to get the 3 best. That number has turn out to be about 60 spots fished to get 3 good ones that will produce on a consistent basis.

Not much on poppers as I throw a Custom Spook most of the time along this cover. My technique is to let it sit and be patient. I make it do a 180 degree turn then let it sit again. One more turn, letting it sit then walk it to the boat. All my huge Bass have come while it is making the turns and or sitting. I throw the Spook on 25# Original Stren Mono..

You tube Zell Rowland fishing poppers. He is a master popper guy.

I use my Rebel POP R's quite a bit for top water bites and I pop it hard and fast. The bass love it. Even caught a few stripers on it.

i prefer to fish mine quite fast and walk them, but at times im forced to slow down and let them sit, such as today. tried fishing fast for about 30 minutes with no hit, started letting it sit and they started blowing up on it. i dont have one retrieve that i stick to, switch it up all the time trying to find how they like it best. overcast or lowlight conditions are ideal, but i have had my butt whooped by my old man before at high noon without a cloud in sight on a chug bug.

Really depends on the lake too. Some lakes they will crush a yellow magic year round, some lakes they don't like it at all. I usually like to start out with a fast walking retrieve until I find fish that are biting, and then slow it down some and see if that draws any more bites.

I don't know. Sunday in between rain storms, And some during, I was at worth and on the south end with the rocks. There were so many shad on top of the water, it looked liked it was slicked with matted grass in some places. Some scattered bass where hitting them, ( I know because I had some hit close to the boat and could see them, not sandbass. ) Could not make them bit on popper at all. Tried crank, and small swim fluke, nothing. I could get them to hit a green senko with dipped tail. Why wouldn't they hit a small popper? ( the shad are very small )

When this happens, try using a chrome- or shad-colored prop bait.

When this happens, try using a small, chrome- or shad-colored prop bait like a Devil's Horse.

My general rule of thumb when fishing poppers is spring = slow cadence, fall = faster cadence (but not always). I think the size of the popper is important, maybe even more so than color. Anytime you see fish hitting the surface these are a good option (regardless of depth). I tend to use the poppers more when I have already located fish, and can basically target them vs. searching. During the postspawn at Rayburn we had good luck getting those wolfpacks fired up with the smaller poppers then immediately went to lager baits with bigger hooks.