Unpopular Popping Cork Hack To Easily Trigger More Strikes
- By: Matthew Lanier
- on
We’re back with an UNPOPULAR popping cork hack!!!
Some anglers think this method is just for beginners, but lately, I’ve had some luck using this nifty little trick.
If you want to flat-out catch more fish on popping corks, then you’ve got to check this out!
Unpopular Popping Cork Hack [VIDEO]
Click here to get Four Horsemen Popping Corks
Check out our 2.0 Series Paddletails here
Click here to get Saltwater Assassin Pro Elite Jigheads
Most anglers will tell you the first thing that pops into their head after you say popping cork is: SHRIMP.
Live shrimp or artificial shrimp lures are some of the absolute best baits to have underneath a popping cork.
However, an unpopular and uncommon lure to use underneath popping corks is a small paddletail.
My go-to paddletail when fishing a popping cork is the F.R.E.D. Paddletail rigged on a 1/8 oz. Saltwater Assassin Pro Elite Jighead.
I prefer to use an 18-inch piece of 20-lb Ande Monofilament to connect the jighead and lure to the popping cork itself.
The length of your leader line will depend on the depths you want to cover.
Artificial shrimp lures are usually effective under popping corks but you may find yourself out on the water and on that particular day the fish could be feeding on smaller fry bait and not shrimp.
Especially right now, we’re finding that there is a ton of bait in the water.
This is both a great thing but it can also present some challenges.
You want your lure to stand out amongst all of the schools of baitfish.
A paddletail underneath a popping cork both resembles the profiles of baitfish in the water while also creating additional noise and attraction to your lure.
Furthermore, the lure color choice is dependent upon the water color in your area and personal preference.
If you fish in clear water most of the time, the F.R.E.D. or Slam Shady 2.0 Paddletail are your best bet.
If you fish in slightly dirtier or muddy water, then the Gold Digger Paddletail will work great in these situations.
Popping Corks
Popping corks not only put your bait exactly where you want in the water column, but they also create lots of noise and attraction.
The sound created as you retrieve the popping cork back to you is designed to mimic a feeding frenzy.
The objective is for fish to take notice of the commotion and noise to trigger an actual feeding frenzy.
Redfish, trout, snook, flounder, and a whole bunch of other predatory fish that we target are competitive hunters.
If they hear or see other fish striking bait, then they will feel the need to feed and will jump in on the action.
As the fish swims over to your popping cork, it will soon see that just your bait is left from what was a “feeding frenzy” and then the fish should take up your bait as its meal.
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Conclusion
As we enter the summertime, water temperatures are warming up and there is so much bait in the water!
The key is trying to set your lures apart from the schools of bait so the predatory fish will want to strike.
Even though this is an unpopular hack, give it a try and let us know how you do!
Click here to get Four Horsemen Popping Corks
Check out our 2.0 Series Paddletails here
Click here to get Saltwater Assassin Pro Elite Jigheads
Do you have any questions about this unpopular popping cork hack?
Let me know your thoughts and opinions on this nifty little trick!
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Good stuff !!!! Haven’t read all the comments, but what knots are you using ?
been doin’ that for 30+ years from Tx to Fl
Glad to hear it’s been working for you for so long! Great technique!
Great video Matt. You should try a versamax popping cork. It let’s you change the depth of your lure without having to tie a new leader. Keep the great videos coming
I will have to give those a try! Thanks for watching, Jeff!
“You’re not supposed to do that!” Hahaha! Great tips Matt!
Thanks Wyatt!
Great post Matt! I’m going to have to try this out.
Glad you found it helpful Mark!
Great post! I’ll try a paddle tail instead of a shrimp next time I’m fishing, and see if I have any luck. I don’t fish popping corks often, because I like to run multiple rods at once, but on occasion, it sure is fun.
On a separate note, sorry to change the main subject… but you mentioned bait. I have also been seeing a ton of bait. I mean… exponentially more bait than I’ve ever seen before. Even in fresh water… but especially saltwater, the amount of bait is just unreal. Do you think this has something to do with people catching all the predator fish? Maybe it’s just a lot of bait in my area only, not all coastal zones. I personally don’t know anyone that releases flounder, triple tail, or snapper… those are placed in the cooler. 50% of fish caught and released in waters deeper than 80 foot die after release… even with proper venting. During the Corona Pandemic, non-anglers started fishing to get out of the house. The US sold 14x more fishing licenses. Which means, the fish are under 14x more pressure, are harvested 14x more, and have 14x more of a chance to die upon release. To add one more, a semi-recent Texas freeze killed millions of fish, mainly speckled trout. So could it be… that the lack of predators is creating a massive influx of bait? And… is this good, or is too much bait a bad thing?
A lot of bait this time of year isn’t that far-fetched. I don’t know about your particular area, but A large amount of bait for my area is usually fairly common when the temps warm up around the summer.
I’m sure there may be some other factors to increase or decline from year to year, but I don’t know enough to speculate.
Thanks for watching John!
Just this week we were catching trout with the slam shady 2.0 and Dr juice under a popping cork even caught a 10 inch dink on the gold digger bomber under the cork.
Awesome! It definitely works! 💪
Any comments or thoughts on different retrieval methods using the popping corks with artificial trailer?
I’m going to do a video about that soon. But there are a few different ways that they can be used.
Thanks for watching Gregg! 💪
There is no sound on this video and a few others for me for some reason
Try checking the volume control on the imbeded video player.
Or click the Trouble Viewing This Video link above.
Let us know if you have more trouble.
Thanks Matt , nice tutorial .. did I miss where you were fishing ? I’ll be fishing mainly in the PSJ Bay area !
I’ve used this technique in many places, including PSJ so it will work their as well.
Good luck! 💪