blue gill popper

Comment

Comment by Tony Livingston on December 19, 2013 at 7:01pm

"Thanks guys I like the art aspect but every popper I make is destined for the water!  I have had a few surprises when some poppers couldn't get a bite! I have about five or six that are favorites that consistently produce good strikes. But I keep my head in the clouds trying to drean up that magical color combination that will slay the big uns!"

Love this! Nice work Mark. Please let me know if you start reproducing the old Accardo, "Miss Prissys" in chartreuse and black. I want to get on your customer list!

Comment by Tony Livingston on December 19, 2013 at 6:58pm

I think that Jim has touched on something that I absolutely believe to be true: if the angler is pleased, and happy with his gear, it will manifest itself in his/her catches. Being comfortable with, and taking pride in what you are using to fish with, whether it be a special rod, or a custom lure that you created yourself, seems to bolster confidence. I know it does for me.

Jim, I work in a mechanical background....I fully understand when you comment on form following function, and I agree with what you're saying. If it makes us happy, by one way or another it's going to improve our catch rate.

Comment by Mark Stine on December 19, 2013 at 6:52pm

Thanks guys I like the art aspect but every popper I make is destined for the water!  I have had a few surprises when some poppers couldn't get a bite! I have about five or six that are favorites that consistently produce good strikes. But I keep my head in the clouds trying to drean up that magical color combination that will slay the big uns!

Comment by DAVID L EITUTIS on December 19, 2013 at 6:50pm

Ggggggggggeez Jim I got rid of my last airex about 3 years ago. Yup the train people built em and weren't nearly as sophisticated as the Mitchells by a long shot.

Comment by DAVID L EITUTIS on December 19, 2013 at 6:47pm

YUP Jim know exactly what you are talking about with the bail springs on the Mitchells for sure...I manually close the bails my self now and seems to prevent the springs from wearing out so soon....

Comment by jim cosgrove on December 19, 2013 at 6:47pm

wish you still had those DAMs. they would be a good trade item .people were all over them at the shows i was at.been looking for airex gear as they were made by lionel trains i heard the reels were junk but i like the history of them

Comment by jim cosgrove on December 19, 2013 at 6:42pm

yeah tooty,i had a couple old penns they were broke when i got em.seems a lot of the older reels had that roll back or self centering bail i think they called it.the mitchells always had the bail spring problem.i try to always manually flip the bail as i use tiny braid mostly and if you let it close automatically it causes a loop on the spool and that is trouble.

Comment by DAVID L EITUTIS on December 19, 2013 at 6:31pm

YUP JIM I OWNED and used many QUICK DAM'S and they were made in Germany as you said. They were very heavy if memory serves and that was the only reason I moved on to Penn's back in the day. Penns were great reels and would still be using em but they had one short coming. They always rolled back a 1/8 of a turn or so when you shut the bail. THey would seem to be begging for line snafu's if you weren't careful. THen they switched to graphite bodies , from all metal, and that was the last straw for me.
   Been using Shimano's ever since I got rid of the last Penn.........That's been years ago ........

Comment by jim cosgrove on December 19, 2013 at 5:56pm

being a person who works with his hands everyday i agree with tony.i know which tools are the best and best value as everything breaks eventually.when i used to hunt alot my buddy would lend me his belgian made browning superposed.a light accurate beautiful gun.full of engraving and of the finest quality.most people never use these as they are an investment quality gun.my buddy is right tho we work hard and life is short.i could just as easily kill doves with my old 100 dollar gun and have but sometimes having something really nice to use makes it all worth while.if we all had 4 dollar cane poles and a can of worms this site would have never gotten off the ground as there would be little to discuss here

Comment by Walt Foreman on December 19, 2013 at 5:43pm

Thanks for the shout out, Tony!  It was an honor to build the rod for you, and I doubt that any rod I ever build will land more buster 'gills than that one, considering who's using it. 

By the way, that's a great-looking popping bug, Mark!  I think it's really neat how many guys on here are making really exquisite bluegill bugs and jigs - some really amazing critters being crafted.  You guys should start a bigbluegill.com fly store.

• ‹ Previous
• 1
• 2
• 3
• 4
• 5
• 6
• Next ›
• Page