Who doesn’t like catching fish on top? With poppers, no less.
Several years back, while fishing with a great group of guys on Alaska’s Tongass National Forest, I was introduced to the fact that pink salmon—yes, pink salmon—will hit poppers just as they’re reporting for spawning duty from the saltwater. We spent one glorious afternoon giggling like schoolgirls while casting gawdy pink poppers over schools of migrating humpies. It was wonderful.
Trout and salmon, however, aren’t truly known as popper fish—they’ll certainly hit flies on top, but skated and retrieved poppers have yet to really find their niche among the salmonid crowd, with silver salmon being the notable exception.
Until now.
The video above, filmed out of Talaheim Lodge in south-central Alaska, shows some truly big Dolly Varden and rainbows chasing poppers and gobbling them down in crystal-clear water. It’s sight-fishing nirvana. Enjoy… and try and think of a good excuse not to get to Alaska again this year.
— Chris Hunt