It is no surprise that the popularity of the innovative products from Flymen Fishing Co has reached all the way to Australia with flyfishers chasing trout, natives and all number of saltwater species. Their range covers just about any sort of fly fishing you might want to undertake here in Australia, and now with the addition of the new Surface Seducer Howitzer Baitfish Poppers, we can get even more serious in targeting those surface feeding monsters that can’t say no to some frantic movement on the top. The launch of the Surface Seducer Double Barrel poppers last year have kept us busy here trying to meet demand, so it is with great expectations that we await the first shipment of Surface Seducer Howitzer Baitfish poppers to land in the next week.

From the modern day master of synthetic fly tying design, Martin Bawden (I may have over embellished the title there, but Martin certainly knows what he is doing), this new range of poppers takes into consideration the critical angle in which your fly should sit in the water to achieve the right action and get the fish’s attention. Here’s (more than) a few words from Martin himself about the design:

“Our newest addition to the Surface Seducer line is the Howitzer™ baitfish popper head. I’d like to share my thought process and design objectives behind this new material.
Fish actively feeding on the surface are typically targeting a food source that is available to them in that geographic area at that specific time of year. This food source can often widely vary, and in order to increase your chances of success your foam fly should “match the hatch” as closely as possible in terms of appearance, size, color, and swimming action.
Big fish love to eat small fish! Therefore, the concept behind the Howitzer design was to create a popper head that enables you to tie an articulated popper that better imitates a small minnow or a schooling baitfish that is sipping or “busting” (splashing) at the surface of the water as they often do (right before they get eaten).
To achieve the realistic profile and swimming action of a baitfish, the Howitzer is designed with a recess at the back of the head so an articulated Game Changer-style minnow body and tail (tied using a combination of one or more Articulated Shanks or Fish-Spines daisy chained together) can be embedded seamlessly into the back of the head.
As a result, in the “resting” position (during the pause between pops), the Howitzer head remains on the surface, but the articulated body of the minnow hangs downward in the water (roughly at a 45-degree angle) and continues wiggling enticingly in a lifelike way. This can be seen by predatory fish from a much longer distance than if it were just on the surface.
The combination of sound (popping), realistic body movement, and an irresistible profile offers predatory fish a hard-to-pass-up opportunity for a meal! In the right conditions, “it’s ridiculous!” (to use a favorite phrase of my teenage son).”

For those of you who have been using the Surface Seducer Double Barrel Poppers already, or for those yet to delve into the world of Fymen Fishing Co products, the Surface Seducer Howitzer Baitfish poppers promise to be an exciting new concept in surface fishing for both fresh and saltwater species. Our first shipment is on it’s way at the time of writing this, so keep an eye out, they’ll be here within the week. Another shipment is already being planned too, so if you miss out in the initial rush, don’t worry, we’ll have more landing very soon after.

Watch this space!