VIP Poppers

[karstopo]

I had the good fortune to be out on West Matagorda bay at the old airport on the peninsula and had some time to wade a little lake off the bay. The second I step in the lake, I see a slot red and toss a VIP popper its way. Nada. No interest. See another red, do the same get a half hearted swirl/blow up. One more red. I see this one come up and nudge the popper and move on. While I'm grateful for the experience of seeing these reds in action, I'd like some insight on getting reds to commit to the VIP. This was about 2 pm. About a foot of water. Wind strong out of the ENE. Never got another shot, light got bad.

I'd pop the popper. Nothing extreme. And let it sit. Repeat. Do y'all work it fast?

[jimithing]

generally you have to constantly work it to draw interest. sometimes reds are in a sporty mood and want to chase something, not a popper just sitting there, but one that is at least constantly moving if not very little pause in between each strip. that may be why you were getting looks but no takes. it would be unnatural for a baitfish to flee and then sit there, it would more likely try hauling butt. so the reds may have just noticed that something wasn't right and were half hearted or unsure what they were actually seeing. but another thing to think about is that right now reds, although will eat anything bait wise are really keying in on this shrimp, or at least very used to seeing tons of shrimp this time of year and so maybe throwing a shrimp at them may elicit more strike. on the plus side, when you do throw one at them, the act of letting the fly just drop to the bottom (which is their eye level) usually always gets a strike because thats sometimes how shrimp will flee, by either burrowing into the bottom, or fleeing along the surface. so what i would do is throw a lightly weighted shrimp fly at the reds and let it drop to the bottom, if they don't strike, start stripping. as long as the fly is light weight, it will work itself higher in the water column and if they don't chase or bite then, then they probably have lock-jaw.

[Kayak Kid]

VIP is still my favorite salt water popper. Caught my lifetime spec with one, so I do have confidence in it.
In clear water I use a black color. In murky water use a yellow or off white. A fast retrieve works best for me for cruising reds. For tailing reds, I drop in right near their tail and "pop in place'.

[Phishtech]

I've found that in cool weather months, a red or trout will rarely pass up a lure with gold in it. Hence, my favorite cool weather lure is a Johnson Sprite 1/2 oz. spoon. Since you're fly fishing, I suggest finding something to add a gold color to the hook. I use some gold braid looking stuff I found at Hobby Lobby that unravels easily and tie it on the bottom side of a clouser. They love it.

[karstopo]

Thanks for the replies. I tied on a pink and white VIP. I put a smartt shrimp on after the third strike out, but never got another shot. Water had about 1.5 feet of visibility, but the wind really got up and the waves made seeing anything tough.

We hit the POC jetties too and I got a couple of Smacks and a lady fish on a small olive and white clouser. I could spend a week down there fishing and figuring it out. We were there to hunt dove and got to fish for a few hours.

[Animal Chris]

For redfish, I like tie them with an orange head with doll eyes and an orange/natural body hair tail that extends no farther than an inch and a half from the back of the head.

Since the fly lands so lightly, I try to land it as close to the fish as I can and, like Buzz, I keep the fly moving but only with short, quick pops.

Tight lines, Chris