LIVE TARGET YEARLING (bait ball) POPPER
The Live Target Popper caught my eye it’s a gorgeous looking lure that can be found in the 2 /12 inches or 3 inches. I chose the 3-inch version as my popper of choice. they come with a glass finish that showcases bait fish inside the glass finish. The popper is complete with sticky sharp hooks and the rear hook has a feather attached for extra action and attraction. The concave popping mouth has the hook tie in the lower part of the popper as opposed to the center I believe this gives the lure and different action than most poppers.
I slightly modified this popper by adding a split ring on the line tie. The split ring allows me to walk the dog while popping the lure giving it more action.
I use two different retrieve’s when working this bait the first is a slow deliberate pop without walking the bait I pause anywhere from 3 seconds to 10 seconds between pops, the second retrieve is a consistent walking popping the bait on the retrieve, I do this at different speeds to find out what the fish want this has been my most successful retrieve at a slow to medium rate.
The majority of bass on this bait were caught outside the mouth or only had one hook of the treble hook in its mouth. This gives good testament to how sharp the hooks are and the importance of high quality hooks.
I fish the 3 inch popper on a medium light bait caster spooled with 20-30 pound braid. I also like mono line on Top Water because of its buoyancy in 10-20 pounds. Fluorocarbon line sinks and is not a good line for top water baits.
Although these baits look great I’m sure it’s the action and size of the lure that attracts bass to strike more than the visual.
I would recommend the Live Target Yearling Popper in either size and I don’t think the color makes that much difference. Pick one up and hit the water every bass fisherman needs at least one quality popper in their arsenal.