Poppers Along the Banks

JM-D
Fishing poppers close to the banks will help you catch many bass

At this time of the year many large bass select feeding stations along the shaded riverbanks well back under the over hanging limbs of large oak trees.  I catch many of these bass by drifting poppers well back below the over hanging limbs.  Here are several tactics I use, depending on the amount of clearance I have between the limbs and the water.

If the limbs come down within 3 to 4 feet of the stream I can usually shoot my popper well back under the limbs with a tight side arm cast.

If the limbs hang down to within a foot or two of the river I use a grasshopper cast with a low side arm cast which caused the popper to bounce along the surface to reach the feeding stations.  This is much like skipping a flat stone across the surface of a pond.

When the oak limbs hang all the way down to touch the surface of the river we often find many large bass feeding in these practically fenced in areas.  Here I find the closest upstream opening in the tree limbs possible and use a tight regular cast to punch my popper through this gap straight into the river.  I then feed extra slack and the current will carry my popper to the basses’ feeding station and I have him.