December FOTM - The Backing Rod Popper

[Stephen Bradbury]

December’s fly of the month is the Backing Rod Popper originally shown to us (SWFRWA) by Peter Morse (not sure who actually developed it) as a cheap, easy to tie, popper that creates a good silhouette from below and pushes out heaps of surface commotion. This fly is a very effective popper fly that can be used to catch just about any surface feeding fish including all Trevally species, Queenfish, Cobia, all Mackerel species, Tailor, many Tuna species, Mahi Mahi, Australian Salmon (Kahawai), Yellow Tailed Kingfish, Sampson fish etc etc. As I’ve stated before (April 2021 FOTM) with popper flies colour and flash are largely irrelevant, but there are three basic rules that I believe should be followed when tying poppers. (1) the foam head should be big enough to float properly (take the weight of the hook etc) and of the correct shape to push water when retrieved, but not too big as this will make it hard to cast effectively and it must be perfectly square to the hook shank so as not to spin. (2) The tail should preferably be an opaque material, not transparent so the fish will see a moving silhouette shape from underneath. (3) The hook gape should never be compromised to increase hookups.
Recipe: in order of tying.
Hook – size 3/0# (large fly) or 1# (small fly) Gamakatsu Siwash this hook has a really good open gape, or you can use a Gamakatsu SL12S 1/0# - 8/0# if you want.
Thread – Flat waxed 210 denier, white.
Tail – Tie in one small bunch of tapered opaque white Supreme hair or similar about 1.5 - 2 x the hook length depending on the hook used (nothing to soft or fowling will be a problem). Followed by a few strands of pearl or silver flash (sparkle flash commonly) on top. Then add a second small bunch of tapered opaque white Supreme hair on top of that to complete the tail.
Under body – Tie in a length of pearl Estaz chenille at the base of the tail and leave hanging down while you prepare and then tie in the foam backing rod body/head. After you have tied in the foam rod body/head you advance the thread back up the hook shank to a point about 5mm from the hook eye, then wrap the chenille up the hook shank and tie off.
Head/body – Cut off a section (7cm or so) of the 20mm dia foam backing rod (for 3/0# size hook) with a stanley knife then trim the rear 25mm of the rod into a point (cut a wedge off both sides). Then trim a third wedge off the bottom of the rod, from nothing to about ½ way through the thickness of the rear point. Now tie in the foam body/head with the bottom wedge cut facing upwards and the foam rod laying backwards on top of the tail. After tying in the pointed end of the foam rod advance your thread up to the front 5mm from the hook eye, then after wrapping the chenille fold the foam rod over on top of the hook shank and tie it down securely (with some pressure) with multiple wraps of thread and whip finish. With the stanley cut down through the foam rod on a slight angle back to the base of the hook eye to form the popper face. Ensure the head/body is tied perfectly square (vertically) to the hook shank and the face is also cut square so the fly will not spin when being cast.
Apply super glue or hard UV resin finish over all the thread tie in points to make the fly a little hardier.
Tie the Backing Rod Popper onto a 40lb-60lb monofilament bite tippet with lefty’s loop knot to allow for maximum movement. Usually retrieved using large, long single strips or fast with a double overhanded strip.

[Stephen Bradbury]

Couple more pics