Below the Wilson dam superstructure, Webster would get right up on any current break and catch massive quantities of fish.
“ some days, we’ d get 100 in a day, just having a good time,” says Webster.“ i remembered that old trick when i couldn’ t get them to come up during the cup, and that thing was pretty awesome the last two days.”
The Setup for both anglers, the setup looks like this: a large cork – 4 or 5 inches long – tied to the main line, a 3-foot leader tied to the opposite end of the cork and a light jig tied to the leader. the jig is usually 1 / 16 or 1 / 32 ounce.
“ the cork is really the only weight you have to cast with,” perkins says.“ When the fish are kind of randomly placed, the cork seems to get them going. they might come up out of 35 feet of water, or you might find them up shallow.”
Standard Popping Cork
Betts Pop N’ Stripe
GeaR Guide
Joseph Webster Customized Popping Cork
Custom Jig By Kelly Readhimer
Brandon Perkins: – 7-foot, 6-inch, medium-heavy hammer rod – 7.1:1 abu Garcia Revo reel – 17-pound-test seaguar invizX fluorocarbon line – custom-made 1 / 16- or 1 / 32-ounce fly( by Kelly Readhimer) with no. 1 or no. 2 owner hook
– standard foam popping cork photo by rob nEwELL
Joseph Webster often paints his popping corks gray to give them a less gaudy appearance.
The Action in any depth, the goal is to create a racket. cast as far as possible. cut and slash on the retrieve, like you would a walking bait.
“ You work that cork like you would a strike King sexy dawg [ stick bait ],” says perkins.“ When the fish go down and won’ t do anything, you can bring them back up with that cork. they are predators, and they think their buddies are up top schooling again so it brings them up top.”
When the bite is slow, perkins reduces his retrieve to a slow bloop-bloop, similar to a popper, though both anglers agree that when the bite is on, you can’ t work the cork fast enough.
“ it’ s not my preferred technique,” adds perkins, the pickwick-area native.“ i’ d obviously much rather be throwing a strike King 6Xd or 10Xd offshore, but a lot of times in late summer and early fall the schools are so busted up that they’ re hard to catch. instead of throwing a 6- or 7-inch swimbait, the fly lets me target fish with something similar to what they are feeding on, and it doesn’ t really matter if they get a good look at it because that fly looks really legit.”
Webster says monster bass occasionally hit on the cork rather than the fly, which can be frustrating. for a time, he attempted to solve the problem by fishing the fly behind a Zara spook, but the light weight of the fly meant the leader frequently got tangled in the hooks of the spook, rendering the cast useless.
“ now, i just stick with the cork,” he says.“ if you get them fired up, look out.”
Joseph Webster: – 7-foot, 3-inch, heavy hammer Rod – 7.2:1 shimano curado reel – 15-pound-test Berkley Big Game monofilament line – 1 / 0 Betts pop n’ stripe jig – standard foam popping cork( sometimes painted gray to be less intrusive)
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