THE POP POP WALK TECHNIQUE

I never fish with a predefined technique. I always observe, think and adapt to the situation. On this trip, I learned how to trick seabass with the Pop Pop Walk.

Seabass! One of the most desirable targets, if not number 1, of shore anglers. The Seabass is not a no brainer. It is observative, both when preying, but also very much, when it comes to protecting itself. This attitude makes often makes it hard to catch, but that is also why anglers love this fish so much. Seabass is commonly called “The Wolf” in Mediterranean, due to its habit to hunt alone once it has grown. It loves to ambush its preys with very delicacy and power, exactly how a wolf does.  If 4-legged wolf is smart enough to avoid the traps of the hunters, refusing even when hungry to eat the fresh meat on the trap, the wolf of the sea acts very similar. Realistic lures, like the 3D Minnow Pop Walker, are good lures, but sometimes you need to observe what is happing, rethink the situation and adapt. You have to be smarter than the wolf of the sea.

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Adapting. Sometimes, the seabass gets triggered by loud splashes, but other times you have to be more delicate

Bring it to the top

One of my favorite ways for fishing seabass is by doing top water fishing. Seabass are very aggressive, attacking baitfish furiously on the surface. That is why they love poppers and skipping lures so much, but as a rule, they prefer to ambush fish that are close to the surface and unaware of what is hiding underneath them. This opportunity of attacking a small fish from bellow is an effective hunting technique. We can take advantage of this by using splashing lures like walkers and poppers. By making a splashing motion, the bubbles will disguide the hooks. In the return, the sea bass suspension will be lower and motivation to strike, will be fierce. When you combine the “walk the dog” action with a “touch” of popping, there you have it! The perfect top water sea bass action.

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Disguise. The bubbles, created from the popping motion, help disguise the trebles. Effective, right

The 3D Minnow Pop Walker!

It is not a popper, it is not a walker, it is both. When I got this amazing lure in my hands, I knew exactly where to use it. What I did not know, was the variety of ways to use. On the first look, the 3D Minnow Pop Walker, has the classic “fat banana” shape of walking lures, but instead of the classic round face, it has a small popping head. Now, the magic is in the balance of this lure. When you let it sit in the water, it is horizontal, which makes it ready to pop. This makes it a well-tuned popper and the angler can use it as a normal popper with gentle popping. Once you start walking, the lure submerges, putting the popping face down and it then walks perfectly. Depending on the angler’s “hand”, you can adjust the 3D Minnow Pop Walker to can adjust to create a zig zag maneuver. That means that it can be a completely silent walker with very gentle commands, or a very loud walker with sharper commands, making a pop every time it turns its head. So, an angler can use it as a popper, as a silent walker or as a “splasher”. Cool ha?

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The “Pop Pop Walk” technique!

During a sea bass fishing trip, I noticed that sea bass where getting crazy with this lure, when I used it the following way. What I was doing, was to make two or three pops, just like a popper in order to get the attention, and then start to “walk” it gently. Boom! That was it! I got lots of strikes easily, and all occurred exactly when I changed from popping to walking action. I experimented a lot, trying only with walking for many casts, or only with popping, just to verify that the combination of both is effective and not a placebo effect. And experimentation proved me right. So, the “birth” of “Pop pop walk” technique, became a reality!

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Sea Bass and Pop Walker.

As said before, the seabass is a very smart fish, with high perception and very strong behavioral changes. If you have been targeting this fish before, you will be quickly be able to identify that it can completely change behavior within minutes. For example, you can start and the day of by getting strikes on big loud top water lures very far from the shore, just to find everything changing very fast, so the fish suddenly start to show interest in small silent top water lures just below your feet. Adaption is the keyword if you want to obtain success. If you do not have strong nerves, this fish can lead you to the psychiatrist in no time. Having a top water lure like the 3D Minnow Pop Walker, is allowing you to perform more than three actions on the same cast.

Walk the walk

Thought it is a very user-friendly lure and you can go fishing directly with it straight out of the box, I strongly suggest you to spend some “quality” time with it first, exactly like you do with a new girlfriend. You do not have to buy flowers, just take it for a romantic walk down the port or the beach. The fishing excitement can be overruling when instead it is better to practice. So, it is better to spend a couple of hours in calm waters, exercising and experimenting with combinations of actions and observe how the lure reacts to every command. Then light that flame and go fishing! 

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