It’s raining poppers!!
Testing the FTN foam popper
Brandon Ho FFI CCI
At 6.45am, we pulled up at a pay pond in Jugra. James and Than were already there gearing up for the assault on the Barramundi. It was a dark cold morning as the constant rain in the past weeks have lower the temperature significantly but it did not dampen our spirit. The night before, we were tying flies late into the night and with only a few hours of sleep, we were at the pond.
The objective for the day was to test out new flies: Poppers, Booby Streamer, Articulated Rattling Streamer. According to Than, the early morning would be the best time to test out the surface flies. At 7am sharp, we walked towards the pond at the back and started to cast. On the very first cast, Than got a hit on his newly tied Booby Streamer. The moment the fly landed on the water, a big splash erupted and his line went tight. Unfortunately, the fish managed to free itself.
Standing by the side of the pond, I cast out my Goldfish Popper about 40 feet out and started to pop it back. I was focusing more on how to create a larger trail bubble while maximizing the “popping” sound. Out of the blue, a wave came rushing up to the moving popper and a respectable silver gray torpedo smashed into the orange and fluorescent yellow popper. It pulled the 6 wt line out of my finger, bending the Vision XO rod. A few seconds later, I suffered the same fate as Than. The fish was gone. The commotion got everyone excited and the pond was pounded with poppers of all colours.
Otto was the next person to get a hit and he did a great job landing the fish on a Green Yellow popper on Ahrex SA 220 Streamer #2. A few minutes later, it was Nic who got another barramundi from another pond, on a Yellow Red popper. James, who was fishing at the back pond managed to have a solid hook but, unfortunately his 12lb tippet broke. By then the sun was already peeking out from the eastern sky and then surface action tapered down.
It was time for some streamer action. I tied a Dark Brown Articulated Rattling Streamer onto my tippet and cast out. I allowed the fly to sink to the bottom before slowly retrieving the line with erratic movement to enhance the action as well as to create the rattling sound. It worked like a charm and within the first 5 minutes, I got a tap. I continued the retrieve but it didn’t activate any bite response. I cast to another spot and this time, a savage bite and the fish took the fly and ran away with it. It gave a good account of itself and was landed after a brief fight. The fly worked. To prove that the fly really works, it must catch another fish. True enough, the very next cast got connected to another good fish. That’s the proof I was looking for. I needed photo evidence and Janice took a good photo of the fish. What a great end to a fun testing trip.