Targeting kingfish with poppers is nothing new, but the success I had last summer has left me wondering whether or not I’ll be going back to more old school methods of patiently waiting with live baits or trolling squid strips. Last summer the kings served up their usual behaviour and proved predictably moody, boat shy and just generally elusive. Searching for something new to try I gave the new Williamson jet poppers a run. In the past I’ve done well on the larger 9” slapstix and sluggo stickbait soft plastics and although they are effective searching lures they lack the noise and action of a hard bodied lure. Even though others were finding it difficult to get a hookup on live bait, the strikes on surface poppers were coming consistently to the point where I didn’t bother collecting live baits anymore. Of course like any technique getting a strike wasn’t as simple as just throwing the lure in the water, but when confronted by a school of kings they never failed in bringing a strike even in the half light of dawn or dusk.

Design

The key to this lures success is the huge amount of disturbance they create for their size. They have a concave head typical of pusher cup style poppers that pushes plenty of water and makes a good blooping sound. There’s no doubt the kings respond well to this noise particularly when conditions are calm. There are 8 jet holes drilled in the head of the popper and these help add to the action of the lure when retrieved and create a significant bubble trail. The hooks are connected to the body of the lure by heavy rolling swivels which give some flexibility to the lure and help prevent the fish levering or twisting the hooks out. These poppers come in 2 different models and a huge range of colours. My favourite model is the 5 ¼ inch model, although a much larger 7 inch version is also available.

Working the popper

One of the best things about this model is that you don’t have to work them quickly for them to be effective. You can cast them out bloop them and just let them sit for a couple of seconds then repeat. If the fish come up and aren’t looking like eating them then you can speed it up or try imparting extra action by flicking the rod tip or winding quickly. Simply winding with the rod tip down will almost make the popper wobble from side to side. Usually you are greeted with a large expanse of water to fish and need to explore as much as possible to try and maximise you chances of finding the fish.

Hookup

The hook ups are pretty explosive and the fish hit them that hard. In typical kingfish style they eat the lure head first and most of the fish get hooked on the front set of trebles. I didn’t lose one to pulling or bending a hook last season, the only couple of fish I lost was predictably to the shallow reef. Friends of mine converted their poppers to single hooks and had good hookups, but I continued to use the trebles straight out of the packet. If you are planning to release your fish then its probably best to use single hooks to minimise the possibility of hook damage to the fish. I reckon about 75 percent of the hook-ups come within the first flick of the rod tip so you need to be ready, which basically is just making sure you are holding onto the rod tightly and you have your drag set correctly. I rarely fish more than 3kg of drag in the shallow reefy terrain and this has two benefits; it reduces the likelihood of pulling hooks from the fish’s mouth and also usually reduces the likelihood of fish running straight into the shallow reefy terrain and busting you off although this is no guarantee.

Leader and terminal connection

To set up your rig is quite easy. I use a slim beauty knot to connect my braid to the shock leader. For a shock leader I use about 1.5m of 60lb Black Magic tough trace and I haven’t had any problem landing kings to 15kg using this breaking strain. If the fish are going to bust you up it won’t matter whether you are using 30lb or 100lb breaking strain! I use a pair of split ring pliers to put a 15-20kg Black Magic rolling swivel on the leading split ring on the head of the lure and simply tie a 4 wrap uni knot to connect the popper to the leader. Apart from reducing line twist this swivel will protect the leader from the possibility of any sharp edges being created on the head of the popper during the course of the fight. Tackle The best part about using the 5 ¼ inch models is that they cast easily of light threadline tackle and its easy to cast 50-60 metres which means you can cover alot of water in front of you as you cruise along. I prefer a 3500 sized threadline such as a Daiwa HD Certate or Daiwa Saltiga spooled with 15kg Black Magic rainbow braid. What ever you choose it must be durable, have a smooth drag and the spool capacity needs to be at least 150m. I prefer a 6-7ft matching spin rod and it doesn’t hurt to have something that is reasonable stiff in the tip to maximise the action ofl the popper when ripping it back across the surface. I used a range of rods last summer with success including the Rapala X-Rap 7-12kg spinstick or the Daiwa 64 Combi Jerk (which although well suited to a 4500 Saltiga is well balanced with a 3500 Saltiga or Certate). All the fishing I have done with them so far has been out of a boat but I’m sure there are some good landbased applications because of their casting ability.

Other applications

Since last summer I have used the 5 1/4 inch model poppers in north western WA with good success on a range of pelagics from tuna to trevally, the Victorian school sized southern bluefin love them and I know Lee Rayner has had some good action on the larger models in Fiji recently on the GT’s as well. I’m already looking forward to this season when the water warms and the kingfish make there way back into the shallow waters of southwest Victoria. If you want to check out some of the action from last season log onto http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I70xraYtDjE or check out rapalafishingnews.com