Here’s how to have it all!
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UNI Products Fly Tiers Corner
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WARM WATER
September 2025
Article and photos by Craig Riendeau
There’s a saying about service work. You can get it fast, cheap and good, but can only pick two. Well in fly tying I’ve found something where you can get all three at once. What makes it even better is it has to do with just about every fly fisherman’s favorite way to fish – topwater.
Hair bugs are totally awesome. They work great but they’re a pain to tie and take enormous amounts of time, patience and not to mention, talent to make. There’s also the fact that they eventually get waterlogged and need to periodically be switched out.
Cork poppers float great and catch tons of fish. Again, lots of time is involved with painting the cork, which eventually chips off anyway. Plus, hit a few stumps and rocks with your casting and the cork itself comes apart. I’ve even had large fish crush the cork itself.
Nothing against either of these types of flies. I enjoy just making them, much less fishing them myself. But when I need a few topwaters quickly or want a few that are indestructible, I go with foam.
There are many types of foam out there to make poppers from. Some have pre-cut shapes to be sliders and divers, or laminated to make them have multiple colors. I’m just talking about the plain old singular colored foam cylinders. You can get these in 3/8-, 1/2- or 5/8- inch diameters and in white, yellow, black and olive colors, which is about all you need. If you want something else, just take a marker to it and bam, you have a different color. There are no multiple coats of paint or lacquer to wait to dry.
There’s a saying about service work. You can get it fast, cheap and good, but can only pick two. Well in fly tying I’ve found something where you can get all three at once. What makes it even better is it has to do with just about every fly fisherman’s favorite way to fish – topwater.
Hair bugs are totally awesome. They work great but they’re a pain to tie and take enormous amounts of time, patience and not to mention, talent to make. There’s also the fact that they eventually get waterlogged and need to periodically be switched out.
Cork poppers float great and catch tons of fish. Again, lots of time is involved with painting the cork, which eventually chips off anyway. Plus, hit a few stumps and rocks with your casting and the cork itself comes apart. I’ve even had large fish crush the cork itself.
Nothing against either of these types of flies. I enjoy just making them, much less fishing them myself. But when I need a few topwaters quickly or want a few that are indestructible, I go with foam.
There are many types of foam out there to make poppers from. Some have pre-cut shapes to be sliders and divers, or laminated to make them have multiple colors. I’m just talking about the plain old singular colored foam cylinders. You can get these in 3/8-, 1/2- or 5/8- inch diameters and in white, yellow, black and olive colors, which is about all you need. If you want something else, just take a marker to it and bam, you have a different color. There are no multiple coats of paint or lacquer to wait to dry.
It also doesn’t take a lot of skill to make a good looking and effective fly. About the hardest thing to do is to either cut a straight slit down the popper body length to insert the hook into, or to heat a bodkin and melt a hole through the foam to insert the hook through.
You can use the foam cylinders “as is” for body shape or you can cut the foam’s face to Improve spitting, popping or diving action. Or you may want to trim the backside to improve aerodynamics or to get the back end of the fly to sit lower in the water to improve hookups. For either purpose a double-edge safety razor does the job nicely. To make the popper look even better, you can purchase a foam popper jig set from your local fly shop, which will give your cuts a much cleaner look than freehand.
As for hooks, any long- shanked type hook can be made to work. Of course, the kinked shanked hooks made for poppers tend to stay put best. Just figure out how much of the hook will extend past the foam and tie the tail onto the hook just past this point. The tail is traditionally composed of saddle hackles or schloppen, but you can use whatever you want. Alternatives are a rabbit strip, bucktail or even sili-legs. Add a little build up to the rest of the shank to help hold the hook in place. Put a little Super Glue on the shank and slide the foam body onto the hook.
You could stop there and have a fishable fly. You could get fancy and pull a few rubber legs through the foam for some extra wiggle, especially if you intend on fishing the popper slower, giving the fish something to look at rather than stripping or popping aggressively. Adding eyes to the popper makes it look really professional, but the fish never see these. You’re only impressing your fishing partners. You can get really fancy and poke some heavy monofilament into the foam at a forty-five-degree angle making a weed guard.
None of these add-ons take much time or material. To top it off these poppers are almost indestructible. If the tail gets messed up, cut it off and tie on a new tail. Rubber legs get shortened, pull a few new ones through. You can add or replace eyes, add or remove weed guards and all this can even be done at the lake. You just need some Super Glue.
I guess foam cylinder poppers could be considered a guides fly. They’re easy to tie, float well, catch fish like crazy and are repairable. That’s making them three for three – they tie fast, are cheap to make and catch fish good!
It also doesn’t take a lot of skill to make a good looking and effective fly. About the hardest thing to do is to either cut a straight slit down the popper body length to insert the hook into, or to heat a bodkin and melt a hole through the foam to insert the hook through.
You can use the foam cylinders “as is” for body shape or you can cut the foam’s face to Improve spitting, popping or diving action. Or you may want to trim the backside to improve aerodynamics or to get the back end of the fly to sit lower in the water to improve hookups. For either purpose a double-edge safety razor does the job nicely. To make the popper look even better, you can purchase a foam popper jig set from your local fly shop, which will give your cuts a much cleaner look than freehand.
As for hooks, any long- shanked type hook can be made to work. Of course, the kinked shanked hooks made for poppers tend to stay put best. Just figure out how much of the hook will extend past the foam and tie the tail onto the hook just past this point. The tail is traditionally composed of saddle hackles or schloppen, but you can use whatever you want. Alternatives are a rabbit strip, bucktail or even sili-legs. Add a little build up to the rest of the shank to help hold the hook in place. Put a little Super Glue on the shank and slide the foam body onto the hook.
You could stop there and have a fishable fly. You could get fancy and pull a few rubber legs through the foam for some extra wiggle, especially if you intend on fishing the popper slower, giving the fish something to look at rather than stripping or popping aggressively. Adding eyes to the popper makes it look really professional, but the fish never see these. You’re only impressing your fishing partners. You can get really fancy and poke some heavy monofilament into the foam at a forty-five-degree angle making a weed guard.
None of these add-ons take much time or material. To top it off these poppers are almost indestructible. If the tail gets messed up, cut it off and tie on a new tail. Rubber legs get shortened, pull a few new ones through. You can add or replace eyes, add or remove weed guards and all this can even be done at the lake. You just need some Super Glue.
I guess foam cylinder poppers could be considered a guides fly. They’re easy to tie, float well, catch fish like crazy and are repairable. That’s making them three for three – they tie fast, are cheap to make and catch fish good!
