Hey guys,

I did a quick search and couldn't find anything on the topic. I'm wanting to know what the modifications are to Rebel Pop-Rs and others that make them perform like the Zellpop and the Luna and Rica lures. Any help you guys can I offer I would greatly appreciate.

-Braden

im not familiar with those baits mentioned and i dont know what actions they have, but i do know the pop-r.

it makes a loud, deep, bloop noise, and you can shave the lower lip down so its not as "cupped" and that will cause it to spit more and make a more faint pop sound. is that the action you want?

Thats some of the info I wanted yes. I know a while back Zell Rowland used to modify Pop-rs and sell them to other tournament anglers. I was just wondering if anyone knew what all he did to them or anything else to make them perform differently.

Thanks-

Braden

I know we had a tread about this last year sometime. Let me see if I can find it.

The search engine still has some bugs. I won't be able to find it tonight.

Alright-I'm in no hurry really. Just looking for things to keep me busy through winter

Just for the heck of it, try retrieving one in rapidly so that it just wakes the surface of the water, submerged. Enough said!  

First you need to sand back the lower lip on the Pop-R to more of the shape like the lures you want it to imitate. All are a little different but my best modified Pop-R and the only one that has ever caught a ten pounder is the one in the photo so if you can get the lip looking like this one it will work. Its the one I try to copy everytime I start doing mods on POP-Rs. The lure in the photo is a Super Pop-R which is longer and slimmer than the Regular Pop-R. It needs nothing but the lip sanded down and face painted white. Then a little Devcon 2-ton epoxy brushed back over the face of the Pop-R to seal it back so it doesn't leak around the line tie or have the paint come off. The reason for painting the face white is so the fish sees a flash of white everytime you pull it and the face goes under. Red that comes on the lure face doesn't make a good flash. You should also replace the rear hook with one tied with chicken feathers, the smallest flashabou or both. These have better action in the water both when moving the bait and most important at rest You can get both feathers and the flashabou in a fly fishing store and learn to tie your own rear hooks pretty easily. On a regular Pop-R you also need to sand down the sides of the bait flat so the bait is slimmer and lighter. The slimmer lighter bait comes through the water with less resistance (slimmer and floats higher) and looks more like a bait fish shape. The idea bait is sanded down as thin as you can get it without the bait breaking. I also like to find the lightest hooks I can find that are still strong enough to hold the fish to make the bait lighter to float higher. Other things you can do is add glitter into the clear coat to make more flash and help break up the solid outline of the bait. (Works like camo on the surface) And find one that is clear under the paint and sand everything off in the process then clear coat it to make a clear bait for bright sunny days when the fish usually sees a painted bait to well.  

I use a Dremel tool with sanding attachments, devcon 2 ton with the long drying time and white nail polish. Sand paper might be better than the dremel tool since if you mess up with the dremel tool it can do some damage. I use a dremel alot making baits and doing bait mods and I still mess some baits up but it is so much faster than hand sanding. If you want to add glitter get the smallest finest glitter you can find for the best results and mix it into the epoxy as you mix it then paint it on.  

Thats what I was looking for. Thanks a lot Randall. One more question-when you paint the epoxy on do you thin the epoxy or anything or just mix it and then brush it on?

I just brush it on straight out of the package. If you get it on too thick it will run and bunch up in one spot but I never have had a problem as long as I spread it out thin as I can with a good brush with lots of small fibers in it.

Thats the kind of information I've been looking for. I really appreciate it and this should keep me busy until it's time to pull the boat back out  

-Braden

HAVE FUN!!!! ;D

After painting the epoxy on the bait, what do you use to clean the brush with?

I don't clean it. Straight to the garbage with it.

Denatured Alcohol thins devcon, never tried cleaning a brush either.