Hi all - I was up a Deer Creek on Friday & Sunday and have never seen so many people pulling pop-gear. We talked to several people each day that had caught several standard trout (14"ers) and I was wondering why these are the lures of choice? I know they work but..
Popgear is my lure of last resort because they are like reeling in a 10 pound weight. Most of the time you can't tell you even have a fish on...
So at the fish cleaning station I talked to two gentlemen that were cleaning their slimers and I told them that I had caught several nice slimers (17" to 20" - couldn't find the walleyes) on a certain colored lure. I told them the name & color and they ask the standard question - do you put that on behind the popgear? do you put it on lead line? They also said they never heard of that lure - a very popular spoon made by Luhr Jensen.
So I guess my observation is we do things out of habit and fishing is no exception. If we have a lure that has been successful it's hard to change to something different. So fisherman - expand your methods - try different tactics - troll, cast, etc. - you will have options to go to when the fish aren't biting the ole dependable.
Good luck and see you on the water.....
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Well said! I agree that it is hard to change once you have a solid standby but...... I have seen firsthand what a little experimentation can do for you catch rates. On a trip to Lost Creek last fall, we were killing the bows and cuts on pop gear but it was "like reeling in a tree branch every time so i decided to try other things. I knew they liked silver flashy things and they were shallow so i opened my box and began looking for something different. What i found was a Beetlespin mini spinnerbait that you can put a small jig or the like on a snap. I put on a 4" piece of leader and a bait hook with a worm and proceded to slay them. We even got some larger than normal bows.
So the bottom line is try new things and you might be pleasantly surprised.
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Great advise, I personally have not used pop gear although I do own some. That would take the fight right out of the fish. You mentioned changing your ways and it is interesting to hear so many people mention that they are catching trout on crankbaits targeted for bass fishing. I try to have an open mind to different fishing tactics, but it would take a lot to get me to haul around pop gear from behind my boat. Flashers yes, planer boards yes, downriggers yes, pop gear well let me think about that one....
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I too use to troll nothing but popgear until I finally got tired of asking " Do I have one on?" Now it's downriggers and brokenback rapala's, crocodiles or whatever strikes my fancy.Can't beat that one on one feel with light tackle.Matter of fact I'm gonna win the Echo tournament this weekend using just those tactics!
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Craig I couldn't agree more with you. It is a rare fishing trip that I don't try something different than I have used before. I am taking a couple of I-rarely-fish guys to Strawberry on Saturday on Free Fishing Day, and I already plan on attacking it differently than I ever have from my boat up there. Everything new I try doesn't work, but it keeps it fun and interesting. I own some Pop Gear and if all else fails I will occasionally drag it out, but even then I try to use small Pop Gear, or I will connect larger Pop Gear directly to my downrigger ball and connect my line to a release off of the Pop Gear. I have met several anglers who won't fish with anything else other than Pop Gear. I have found that a small dodger or a flasher is often as effective and a lot more fun to reel in with a fish on. I think that more Pop Gear is used at Deer Creek than any other local Reservoir. Perhaps this is so because it is often reported as the lure of choice on the UDWR fishing reports.
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...it works on Wipers! We (Kent and I) caught one on pre-fish day of the Wiper tournament, and I was out on Willard last Saturday and caught one using pop-gear also!
I guess it depends. I always have it with me and if the fish won't take anything else, out goes the pop gear...9 times out of 10 it produces a fish! And I'd rather catch a fish WITH pop gear, than no fish WITHOUT pop gear!
If I were fishing for food rather than sport, it would be my goto lure!
Randy
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Well I too fished Deer Creek Saturday and Sunday this week. Just because it is 10 minutes from the house, a gallon of gas for the truck, and a couple gallons for the trolling motor. I believe the reason why people troll pop gear is because they are just like the next guy they want to EAT fish. Now I'm not talking about pulling man trains. Which does cath BIG Mackinaw. But some pop gear and lure combinations can attract some of the biggest fish in the pond. I troll everything from spoons to cranks to wooly buggers. I have no better joy than in catching trout and smoking it in the smoker and sharing it with friends and even strangers better known as friends I haven't met yet. As of todays date my report on Deer Creek is: The numbers of trout are depleeting. If you catch a 21/2 pound 17-19 inch fish you are doing well. Cause most are running between 13-15 inches. Pikeman GO FISH
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I have been using sling blades and cripplures all year this year with great success at DC. It sure is fun to fight the fish w/o the pop-gear pulling too.
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I never use popgear unless I'm absolutely forced to it. I like fishing the Kokes at Anderson Ranch in Idaho (25 fish limit) and there have been a couple times where it out produced my other tecniques. I like to use 6 to 8 lb. line 30 to 50 ft. behind a down rigger. I usually take the grand kids after trout during the summer at Deer Creek or Strawberry. I've had great success using #2 Needle fish in the Rainbow colors, the bikini colors, and the grasshoppercolor. I prefer the ones that have the little flasher blade by the hook. Try running these about 25 to 35 ft. deep at about 1.8 to 2.5 MPH. Wallsburg Bay at Deer Creek was hot for us all summer last year and we also caught an ocassional walleyes on this Set up. I'm headed to Porcupine Sat. and I use similar tactics there for the Kokanee. Good fishing everyone and have a great summer.[cool]
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If one wanted to catch walleyes on a consistent basis, pop gear would not be the way to go... sure you get those occassional hook-ups by a stray walleye. Walleyes on the whole do get spooked by all that metal, so what I do catch on a consistent basis, use a bottom bouncer with a crawler harnesses that has a small lone spinner in various colors, with hammered gold, silver, brass leading in the flash department at DC.
Pop gear has always been deadly for trout as they tend to be in schools, and they will follow it for miles before latching on with the "school of metal", as is the troutski's typical behavioral pattern.
Can anyone here solemnly swear to the truth that they catch walleyes on pop gear on a daily basis? Just haven't heard this mentioned consistently anywhere, including walleye insider and infisherman's magazines.
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The only time i will use popgear is when the fishing is non existent or i am to tired to jig for the slime rockets.But i use the smallest blades on my pop gear so you can actually feel the fish .I used to troll pop gear at DC late in the afternons when it got slow and i always got nice rainbows up tp 21 inches.But that was 4 years ago .[
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Pop gear sucks !!There is nothing like reeling in a 12" rainbow you have been dragging on lead-core with pop gear. I have caught fish with it, but I would rather use ANYTHING else. Here's something you guys may not have thought of. I tie on a small spoon about 24" behind a big crankbait, like a large shad rap or taildancer deep. I troll that at least 100 back and you be surprised how many fish will hit that spoon. It is another way to get a small spoon deep without downriggers. Always try something different!!
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So how did you do at Echo ? I meet some others BFT'ers there . Don't know why I never have fish this derby before or this water . Nice day on the water today .
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We caught a bunch of fish...nothing really big though.My buddy won the very last hour with a brown.I think it was a little over 18".We camped out the night before the derby up there.It was ugly most of the night.Saturday turned out beautiful though.We trolled rapala's and rattle traps on downriggers about 25 to 40 feet down.Fun day!
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[red][size 3]At Sportsman's in Ogden they sell Hildebrant (spelling?[
]) spinners. There are several shapes, colors and sizes but they make a double spinner - two in line blades on one shaft - that makes for a deadly "micro cowbell." There is not a hook hardwired onto it but a clasp to fasten your hook of choice, or a few feet of leader, to your lure of choice, making micro popgear that is not a big pain in the butt to reel in and you can use your regular line. I've picked up trout, Kokanee and Wipers with it. I have also caught many fish with just the spinner alone. [/size][/red]
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Hellsangler69,
It was great to meet you and take your pic at the tourney. I had fun catching fish and watching Pikeman's boy win the first hour. (Boy as he Excited!) Hopefully I will catch bigger fish next year. Pikeman thanks for sharing your boat with me while mine is in the shop.
Macscabin
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When trolling DC my cousin and I start with a pounded brass spoon, if were don't get anything we hook up with our pounded brass pop gear with the same spoon on and usually it works. If that dosen't work we use the same set up but throw a worm on the spoon with the gear and that works as well......
My opinion just throw everything you got at them .... remember the conditions though.
Law
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