Using a popping cork in freshwater?

[preacherman]

I may be hallucinating, but I think I saw on a freshwater post recently a comment about using a popping cork for bass fishing. Does anybody do this, and how well does it work?

[FISH4EVER]

No different then just a bobber, of course it would work, Bluegills,crappie,bass,rockbass etc.....I prefer a hula popper though.....Steve

But it is not going to be the same explosion as Salt......nothing compares to that

[e]

l had excellent success this spring white bass fishing using a minnow under a regular bobber and popping it like a popping cork. Haven't heard of using one bass fishing though.

[Bigrock]

I haven't tried this, but WHY NOT? We use poppers, propellers, rattles and whatnot to entice the bass to have a look. Why not entice them with the popping cork and then have a nice little snack sitting there handy when they come to investigate. Lots of plastic offerings such as crawdads, worms, tubes, jerkbaits etc could be used under the popping cork and of course, then there is the live bait. As in saltwater, when bass are striking short on tops, it is common to throw a plastic back at the hole they left on the short strike. WHY NOT have it sitting there waiting on them in the first place.

[preacherman]

So........how would you rig it up for bass? I'm thinking hard on this one, since I like popping for specs. I'm just not much of a bass fisher.

[Bigrock]

With live bait...minnow, perch, shad... I'd select the depth I wanted and add a split shot a foot or so above the bait to hold it at depth. With the plastics...hmmm... that might take some experimenting. I think with something like a Zoom Fluke or Bass Assassin, I would rig it 18 in to 2 ft under the cork, and hopefully when they come to check out the commotion it will be sitting there in their face, jerking around looking tasty.

OK Preacherman...I'm gonna have to give this one a whirl myself.

[preacherman]

I'm now thinking an old fashioned Bett's Spec Rig tandem setup might work. They've got tons of colors to choose from and they're cheap. I'm thinkin' hard now.

[Bigrock]

I'm thinkin' hard now.

Careful now!!!

[beljason]

I havent done much (well any!) saltwater fishing, so didnt even know what a popping cork was, until my father in law came to visit early this year. We were fishing for whites on the Brazos, and he was fishing a popping cork with a white curly tail grub 6" below. He outfished me that day, and I had fished that area a lot, and was fishing the same part of the water column, and then deeper, but for some reason they liked the commotion, and grub. I guess its sounds like bait fish are busting the surface, and they instinctively join in and see the grub as an easy target.
I took that idea and turns out its a GREAT way to let kids fish wth artificials if you dont want to mess with worms all day. It solves the getting hooked on bottom, kids can easily pop that big popper, works for bluegill, whites, and the occassional largemouth, etc. Only problem is they sometimes get the lure wrapped around the bobber if they are casting themselves, but still better than replacing worms all day! Another trick for bluegill, I let the boys tie their own flies, and then they fish these #12 flies below popping corks for bluegill. Fish might be small, but its NONSTOP action for kids.

[preacherman]

That's a great idea! My older boy likes to "invent" flies as he ties them. My younger boy likes to try to jig around with them. The popping cork idea sound like it would definitely work.

[e]

I took that idea and turns out its a GREAT way to let kids fish wth artificials if you dont want to mess with worms all day. It solves the getting hooked on bottom, kids can easily pop that big popper, works for bluegill, whites, and the occassional largemouth, etc. Only problem is they sometimes get the lure wrapped around the bobber if they are casting themselves, but still better than replacing worms all day!

I LIKE IT!!! Now, what to do with those nightcrawlers in the fridge?!?!?

How big of a bobber do you use? l typically find that l have less success with the bigger ones for smaller fish.

[beljason]

Setup a catfish rod ~20 feet away and soak those nightcrawlers!


The popping cork I have now is too big, but it works, its about 1.5" diameter, 2.5" long. Its the smallest the Academy in Waco had. Im thinking of taking the smaller cigar shaped foam comal brand bobbers, and taking a hot knife across them to cut them in half and use that as a small popping cork.
Really I think any commotion on top will work, it doesnt "necessarily" have to be a true popping cork. We've good success using the clear plastic bobbers and "popping" them along top to make some noise.
2 weeks ago the boys had their friends over for a sleepover, and we ended up having a fly tying party. I had an 8, 6,5, and two 4 year olds all tying flies, mostly foam hoppers, but the 8 yo wanted to tie a #16 nymph, which he did fairly well. The next day we went to a pond to trie them out, and everyone that tied something #12 or smaller caught a ton of fish. The boy who tied the #16 nymph was using a plain old red and white plastic bobber, and "popping" it everyonce in while, and caught over 30 gills in 2 hours.

another advantage of this I have found too, Jack who is 6, always wants to cast on his own, he doesnt want help anymore. However he has a hard time judging the right distance, every cast is his strongest cast, which on a pond or lake is fine, but on a narrow creek he always gets hung up on the far side. On a pond or lake, or big body of water, I put some split shot on his line, or use a heavy bobber so he can get all the distance he wants. On the creeks, he gets a light styrofoam bobber, and a weightless fly, he has no weight to cast, so when he goes to heave the heck out of that rod, he still cant get more than 20 feet out of it, which is the perfect distance. I dont guess Im teaching him how to judge his cast much yet, but it saves me a lot of headaches, and retying!

[e]

Belj,

Thanks for the information, l have never tied flies before, but if the youngsters can do it, maybe l should look into it myself. Any recommendations on getting started?

Thanks,

Eric

[preacherman]

Look for a fly called a "Bream Killer" in black, w/white legs. I think it's made by Accardo.

[barditch]

Preacherman...I've got a plot evolving (or decomposing, depending on the state of my mind) What if you used a small popping cork, w/a Texas Rigged (w/a 1/16oz. torpedo sinker) Strike King Zulu 18"-24" below it?? The other concept is two 1/16oz Maribou jigs (on #1 or 1/0 hooks), one white, one chartreuse, double rigged under the same small popping cork?? That could be worth a trip to the water to test!

[junkyard chihuahua]

I've seen people using a regular ol popping cork on freshwater... I don't know what they had under it or how they did with it.

Those rattling bobbers are the bomb for freshwater tho... They can bring the panfish out of the shadows like nothing else. Just the right amount of noise...

[Strider]

If I was using a popping cork for bass fishing I would be sure to attach a hook to it

Kim

[RPB]

I saw a video somewhere and the guy used a popping cork for float-n-fly, and did a lot of rod tip jiggling/jerking when water was too calm to have the waves making he bobber move the flys/jigs.

I just use a regular float though.