Fly Box Porn  ─  Part 2

John Ridderbos' Warm Water Popper  Box

Here is a peep at my popper box. I got bored this winter and wanted to make some nice poppers with some fancy paint jobs. I was about to drop a couple of hundred dollars on an airbrush setup when I realized I could do them by hand.

All of my poppers use preformed hard foam bodies. I buy them from Wapsi and Hareline. Often you'll find a kit even comes with hooks, but when they don't I use Mustad 33903 kink-shank hooks.

I glue the body on to the hook, then apply the lightest color as the first coat of paint. I then apply accent colors to finish it off. I use Testors model paint and Tamiya acrylic model paint. Some of these color schemes require four or five painting steps.

I make my poppers and sliders in different shape and sizes. The large ones are big enough for largemouth and pike. The size 4 popper/sliders are for bass. The small pencil poppers are my favorites. I like to throw those into an area where I see bass herding the minnows against the surface. When I see the boiling of the baitfish as they try to get away, I throw the pencil right into the mix and wait for the bass to discover my offering.

Click Below for Larger Images