Kingfish Poppers ?

[kingbonito]

Hey fellas I’m chasing some decent wooden poppers for this years kingfish season for off the rocks, what’s some good poppers that have worked well for use in the past ? And doing well on now 

[DerekD]

Any budget restrictions?

[kingbonito]

I’m not bothered on price @DerekD

[kingie chaser]

Nomad Chug Norris 🙂

[DerekD]

Hi KingBonito,

I've got some suggestions for lures to look at but I come a bit unstuck on the working part of your question. I'm in a position where I used to be able to fish off a rockshelf after work (pre-covid). One of my co-workers chases nothing but big fish most of the time and what most people would consider a good catch he would consider bait. He is the only person I know who has landed several marlin off the rocks live baiting so that is not really an understatement.

One of his goals was to catch a metre plus king off the rocks and I was there when he did so. He was using a white wooden stickbait in the wash and I saw the kingfish come up take it and then turn back down. The fight was in one word - "brutal". Winner take all. The kingfish ended up being 1.20m long and 15.6kg. Since then I've picked up several stickbaits and poppers from the same source. These are beautifully made and around the $70 mark. The problem is that I haven't been able to use these very often. I think the stickbait he was using was the Heru Ulua and this was matched with size #8 heavy duty split rings and BKK hooks.

Look for the Heru skipjack as a starting point. Cast well and behaves really nicely when punched back across the surface.

I'll grab a photo of my collection and edit this post later. It includes the Chug Norris and the cheaper river2sea poppers as well as the more expensive ones I mentioned above.

Another beautiful lure I've picked up which has a lot of potential is the Jackfin Stylo 210 - it is a really good garfish imitation. Skips over the surface when worked back.

Regards,

Derek

Edited September 15, 2021 by DerekD

[PaddyT]

Richter stickbaits are excellent,cheap and very tough , cast brilliantly , while i was rockfishing i used these very successfully and the good old Cotton Cordell pencil popper-cheap and effective.

[Pickles]

I’ve had success with good old Rooster Popper in QANTAS colour (red head / white body). Also “ice cream” surface popper - I think PaddyT used the correct name Richter - these are a nylon substance same as cutting boards and simple but effective, especially in the wash and suds. 
Although no Kingies yet, I also really like the River 2 Sea whopper plopper in opaque white with pink tinge. I’ve got several of these and caught salmon and tailor so no reason why they shouldn’t work on Kingies and they cast really well.

Edited September 15, 2021 by Pickles

[DerekD]

My collection from top to bottom:

Cross fire lure 230 (bent minnow on steroids on steroids)

Ocea Pencil 150S 150mm 60g

Rapido F190

Chug Norris 150 and 180

River2Sea Dumbbell pop 200

Ebb tide Heru skipjack 90 (wood)

Ebb tide Heru skipjack 120 (wood)

Blue fish 100 (Handcrafted replicas) in white and what my friend caught the 1.20m king on.

Blue fish 100

 

 

[PaddyT]

16 hours ago, Pickles said:

I’ve had success with good old Rooster Popper in QANTAS colour (red head / white body). Also “ice cream” surface popper - I think PaddyT used the correct name Richter - these are a nylon substance same as cutting boards and simple but effective, especially in the wash and suds. 
Although no Kingies yet, I also really like the River 2 Sea whopper plopper in opaque white with pink tinge. I’ve got several of these and caught salmon and tailor so no reason why they shouldn’t work on Kingies and they cast really well.

Correct Bob-there are a couple of brands but the Richters were easy to get when i was still rockfishing . Agree with the QANTAS colour scheme-but straight white seems fine too-which is interesting becuase if you look at white coloured things sitting on top of the water from underneath they are very difficult to see. Trick with the Richters was to hold the rod tip up high and use a medium paced retrieve and the lure would snake across the top very nicely-similar to retrieving a whole gar and almost as effective.