Pencil Pup

#2 pencil popper hook (specialty item, 10XL, kinked. If you find any for sale, scarf them up. You won't find these just anywhere.)
3/8 inch diameter balsa
kip tail
3/0 monocord
assorted colors acryllic paint
five minute epoxy
lead wire

Special Tools
fine grit emory paper
razor knife
(Moto Tool optional)
paper mixing pallet,
fine tipped paint brush

     Note: Don't expect the first one to perform flawlessly. This takes a certain amount of personal experimentation to balance properly. Save the fancy paint jobs for once you have the balance figured out.

     The beginning of this pencil popper begins with body shape. Use the illustration above as a model for the optimum shape for the balsa body. It should measure the length of the shaft and be slotted lengthwise to the width of the hook shaft to the depth of the long axis before shaping begins. Make sure that the hook rests firmly, kink and all, in the very center of the balsa block. Once slotted properly, carefully carve and sand the body into shape as shown above.

     Mounting the hook into the body is done with a very small amount of five minute epoxy set down into the slot before setting the hook, followed by a bit more after it is set. One strip of lead wire is added lengthwise to the rear section (thorax) slot, from the shaft kink to the rear of the body, and glued into place. Experimentation will quickly reveal the proper amount of lead for a particular body size. If a monofilament weed guard is to be added, place it in the slot so that it covers the hook point. Top off the slot with freshly mixed epoxy to smooth it over. When set, sand down the excess expoxy to a smooth finish.
     Paint the body to the color scheme desired and allow to dry overnight under dry conditions. (A warmly heated spot or an enclosed container with desicate work nicely. You want this paint very dry.)

     Tie the kip tail at the tail position (not too thickly, or it will defeat the walking motion. Use just enough to impart a little motion at the tail) and wrap and glue.
     Give the entire body and base of the tail a thin and consistant coat of epoxy, being sure to work out ALL the bubbles first. Work quickly if you want to get it all done in the first mix. Otherwise, you'll need to mix a second batch, and you'll have a glue line showing. It doesn't matter to the fish, but it might matter to other anglers who examine the fly. It can be done with proper preparation and focus. Just don't get distracted and five minutes will be enough. Allow the epoxy to set, then check for soft spots where the resin and catlyst didn't mix properly. These can generally be covered with a coat of tying cement if they're not too soft.

Fishing the Pencil Pup:
     The fly is a heavy fly, needing a bass bug taper of 8 to 10 weight to be thrown properly. The strip of lead that allows it the wobble needed to walk the dog also makes it difficult to cast smoothly. A little practice helps find the proper casting rhythm. Casting is not for distance, but for accuracy and stealth. You don't want too much line on the water when you walk the dog, or it turns sluggish. Remember, this is a small fly, not some five inch, 3/4 ounce cigar plug. Light twitches are all that are need to get the walking rhythm going, inch by inch. It's very easy to overwork the fly with an eight or nine foot rod, so easy does it on the retrieve. Walk the dog in baby steps, and don't be afraid to let it sit awhile over a crevice or hole in the weeds, letting the wind work the fly.

     Work this fly over weed patches where you suspect bass to be hiding out in ambush. Like with its adult sized counterpart, the strikes on this pencil popper can be awesome surface explosions with huge fish coming clean from the water and reentering with a splash. And like its counterpart, don't set the hook until you see the line being taken out, or you'll likely spook the fish before a positive strike occurs after the initial blast. The five to ten second wait for the line to start receeding can be nerve wracking after such an intense, adrenaline-stirring explosion, but it is essential to making solid contact with the hook. Premature setting can spook the fish into not biting the second and necessary time. The explosion the fish first makes on the fly is designed to stun the target, and there should be no motion by the fly to the contrary. Let it sit there until it is struck the second time, this time quietly and underwater.

     This fly can lure ten pounders (what few still exist with today's fishing pressure) up from ten to twenty feet deep, under the right conditions, and it is deadly in post spawning conditions, where the females are getting their wind back from laying eggs. This usually starts in April along the Guld Coast and progresses later on the calendar as you move northward. Ask if you don't know the local progress. The fly is best fished from the shore or from a belly boat facing the shore, working the outer edge of the weedbeds that meet the surface. Pay attention to the cracks and crevices in the weeds where the bass like to lay in wait for unsuspecting prey. Be ready at all times for the water to errupt in the heart-stopping manner that only walking the dog can produce.

     Dry flies and poppers make a fly rod an ideal surface fishing tool, but none of these flies brings a big old splashy response quite like this one does. There is something to a rear weighted floater that wants to turn rear forward as it coasts that just drives the larger fish nuts. Use a heavy leader with a loop knot or tiny lock snap (no swivel) to allow the eye the freedom it needs for the walking action. Working in tiny twitches in a fairly rapid motion, accented liberally with pauses at ideal locations like stumps, rifts, and holes. Be ready to have your heart in your throat when the water flies and goes BOOM. Sort of like what these two wiper hybrids (12+ and 10+ respectively) did to me.