surface lures/poppers

im desperate to catch a fish with a surface lure but i have had no luck as yet,
the mark i usually fish(saleens) always has plenty of mullet and sea-trout around splashing and jumping. i was wondering would all of this activity on the surface makes surface lures less effective(as bass would not associate these noises with food) or am i just making excuses for myself. any opinions (or new marks to try :wink: ) would be appreciated.

Despite a lot of effort I haven't had much luck with surface lures...until recently. Started using Lucky Craft Sammy's. Boy they're dynamite :D !!!

I've had a bit of luck with the Sammy and the 28g Yo-Zuri Hydro-popper.

i was wondering would all of this activity on the surface makes surface lures less effective

No, definietly not a problem with other fish activity on the surface. I've had some good bass fishing in recent weeks when the water was alive with surface activity.

Have you tried varying the action, speed, etc of the lure? Slow fishing with a lot of stops can entice bass out of hiding.

You need to watch your lure like a hawk when surface fishing, more so than sub-surface. Sounds obvious but you'll see more attempted takes on a surface lure. When this happens and you don't hook up, stop immediately. If the fish doesn't come back immediately, just twitch the lure a bit with almost no retrieve. Bass might have three or four goes at the lure and you need to spot this.

Also try varying the surface lure. There are so many options for colour and action and sound. If you're using a noisy lure, try a quiet one, and vice versa. If you're using a pencil try a popper, etc.

Of course, sometimes the fish just aren't there, no matter what you throw at them!!

Hope this helps. Be careful though. Once you start catching on the surface you'll be addicted ;)

think ill have to get a sammy or two, ive mainly been using poppers so perhaps a change of technique is in order. thanks for your replys ill keep you posted on my(fingers crossed) progress.

Have had success with poppers and great fun in the process. It is my experience that poppers work best when there is some movement on the water. By that, I mean when the surface is calm I have not had any catch. I also find that dusk / gathering gloom is conducive to catching. These conditions, it would seem, fool the fish into helping make the lure appear real! Have caught both bass and pollack this way.
Popping I find is like fishing a dry fly. Exciting to see the surface movement as the fish rises to take.
Final point - have experimented with larger poppers when trying to cast something heavier into wind. Result - amazed how a 'smaller' fish will take a comparatively large popper.

In my opinion nothing beats getting them on the surface really heart in the mouth stuff when you see them chasing it!!! :P
Iv had all bass caught on surface with the blue storm chug bug, I often tried the surface lure in the saleens but like urself not much sucess in the current but I was thinking maybe down were the water slows up mite be worth a go?
Im sure you would get them in the mark you told me you got the nice one on the wedge a while ago, have tried there too but no good.... only had bass on the surface up dungarvan way!!

In my opinion nothing beats getting them on the surface really heart in the mouth stuff when you see them chasing it!!!

Spot on there. I'm fishing with almost nothing else at the moment. You get a much better sence of being close to the fish that I don't think you get with any other method.

I have to try the fly though ...

Saleens at low water and Dawn is the time for the Surface lures! A calm still morning and you'll get as many as you want!

Send Coaster a PM he's the man who'll set you right down there!

Use a bubble, tie on a dropper to the main line a put a very small trout fly on this dropper (Use light line).

Try to keep main line of water, but keep small fly on surface making sure it is making a v as you reel in slowly.

If they are about, you won't get very far until a sea-trout explodes out of the water.