To any angler—salt, fresh, surf, or fly—the thrill of catching a particular species is enough to consume your thoughts, your entire life, around that catch. What any of these anglers would agree on is that the thrill and urge to repeat a successful fishing trip is multiplied when catching a desired species using topwater baits. Topwater has always been the most sought-after tactic in the fishing world due to the adrenaline-pumping visuals.
Now, mix topwaters with the ultimate pelagic gamefish—bluefin, yellowfin, and bigeye tuna—and you are opening an entirely new world of life-consuming adrenaline that is hard to recreate in any other circumstance. We are talking about throwing poppers for tuna. Once you do it, there will be a picture burned into your memory that you will continually try to replicate.
My first time throwing poppers for tuna was in the Northeast canyons. The go-to method for fishing there is traditionally trolling but, occasionally, a troll bite can turn into a topwater bite when the fish begin showing themselves on the surface. During this trip, there were schools of skipjack, the bait of choice for big yellowfin and bigeye tuna, on the surface. As I was trolling around the schools, I periodically saw explosions of tuna amid them. This meant it was time to pull the throttles back, reel in the trolling spread, and start throwing poppers.
Slowly pulling up to the schools of bait where the yellowfin had been coming through, it only took one cast to connect. The yellowfin viciously attacked the poppers, which mimicked injured skipjack or other baitfish. It was yellowfin after yellowfin until a crater-sized boil appeared below a popper, followed by the thrashing, white-water strike of a 150-pound bigeye tuna. After a 30-minute fight, the fish hit the deck. At the time, the rarity of catching a bigeye on a popper didn’t settle in with me yet, but the strike, fight, and landing a fish of that size on a popper was mind-blowing and made me want to replicate it every chance I had.
As each year goes by, the opportunity to catch tuna on poppers keeps growing. Southern New England and the northern Mid-Atlantic region have experienced a blossoming “midshore” (20- to 60-mile range) to inshore (less than 20 miles) topwater tuna fishery. It begins with the influx of recreational-sized bluefin, ranging anywhere from 50 to 200-plus pounds. These fish come into their summer holding areas around June and start gorging on sand eels. They have the sand eels all to themselves and present unbelievable topwater opportunities for anglers. When the water temperatures increase to the low- to mid-70-degree range (usually in July or August), the floodgates open with yellowfin pouring over the continental shelf, swimming into shallower waters to these midshore grounds. At that point, it’s a competition between the bluefin and yellowfin for the sand eels and your popper.
To successfully catch the ultimate gamefish on spinning rods and poppers, everything has to be in perfect order because tuna will find any flaw in the system and exploit it. When chasing topwater tuna, the time spent off the water is just as important as the time on the water. When off the water, you can eliminate your chances of losing fish by what I call the “controllables.”
Losing a fish to “controllables” is losing a fish to gear failure, line failure, terminal-tackle failure, etc., variables you can take preventive action to avoid. This means having the proper gear and not cutting corners when preparing for a trip. Making sure the controllables are all in order leaves only the “uncontrollables,” as to why you lost a fish or a trip was unsuccessful. Uncontrollables are picky fish, hooks pulling, and leaders chafing—variables outside of your control.
A popping rod is typically 7’0” to 8’3” in length for long casting distance, with a soft tip to give a popper action, strong backbone to fight the fish, and a parabolic bend for angler comfort. Looking for the right popping rod comes down to two basic attributes: casting ability and fighting ability. Being able to make long casts to reach fish far out and to cover water when fish are scattered is crucial to success. Fighting ability means a rod that is able to break a tuna’s will while still being comfortable for the angler and not “breaking your back.”
My lighter rod for yellowfin and recreational-sized bluefin tuna (fish less than 200 pounds) is the 7’7” MH Shimano Grappler Type C Popping rod. The 7’7” length gives me a comfortable fighting ability as well as the casting distance needed to cover water.
My heavier rod for recreational bluefin and bigger fish from 100 to 300 pounds is the 7’10” XH Shimano Ocea Plugger Big Game. This rod has the casting distance needed when targeting larger recreational bluefin in the 60- to 70-inch range, as well as large medium bluefin (73 to 81 inches), but also has the lifting ability to land these larger bluefin in a relatively short amount of time.
Just as important is a reel with a drag system and gearing that has the durability and power to withstand the strength and speed of a hooked tuna. I use a high-speed reel for throwing poppers that allows me to quickly pick up the slack in the line after each pop and bring my lure in as fast as possible to re-cast if the fish suddenly appear in a different area. A reel’s suitability for tuna fishing increases along with its price, with more expensive reels featuring technology and components capable of handling multiple seasons of tuna fishing.
I use 14000-size reels to match my 7’7” rod, like the Shimano Saragosa SW A 14000XG, Shimano Twin Power SW C 14000XGC, or Shimano Stella SW C 14000XGC. To match my 7’10” rod, a larger reel like the Shimano Stella SW C 18000HGC is required.
All my reels are filled with braided line in bright colors like Hi-Vis Yellow, white, or PowerPro DepthHunter. Brighter colors help you see where your line is on the water when casting, and also helps the captain see where the line is in the water when fighting a fish so he can maneuver the boat more easily. On the 14000-size reels, I use 65-pound test, while the 18000 reels are spooled with 80-pound test.
After matching the right rod with the right reel and the right main line, the last few controllables are the small connections that hold everything together. This is the area that can be easily overlooked and under-prioritized but is typically where fish are lost.
I connect my braid to the leader with an FG knot and the leader to the swivel with a Palomar knot. My leader is 10 feet of 80-pound-test Seaguar Blue Label fluorocarbon. The swivel split- ring combo I use to connect my lures is a 330-pound-test Spro Power Swivel with an Owner Hyper Wire stainless split ring size 8/0.
Looking at options for which popper to choose for casting at tuna can be overwhelming due to the countless number of options. Everyone has their own “go-to,” but depending on conditions and fish behavior, the most productive popper can change. No matter what one you throw, it must be a heavy-duty, through-wired popper that can withstand the pressure from these fish.
The two most important characteristics of what I look for in a popper are casting distance and action. A popper needs to cast far to cover water. There are scenarios when you will have to cast into the wind to reach fish barely within casting range, so a popper that travels well through the air can make all the difference.
What I look for in the action of a popper is the pop or splash it makes and how well it holds to the water. Both will change in different conditions, depending on how calm or choppy it is. “How well the popper holds to the water” means that the popper doesn’t fly out of the water, looking unnatural, when splashing it over waves.
5¼”, 2-3/16 oz
The Magnum Xplode has a thick-walled body, through-wire construction, and heavy-duty hooks. A custom, low-position line tie pulls the lure downward when retrieved while the deep-cupped face creates a large surface explosion with each sweep. The plug is rear-weighted to add casting distance and provide the ideal resting position.
6½”, 3¾ oz
The Madd Mantis poppers have become go-to lures for many tuna anglers. They hold the water nicely, create a good splash, and cast very well.
6½”, 2½ oz
The Shimano Bomb Dip features an internal weighting system that significantly increases casting distance. This popper also features FLASHBOOST and SCALEBOOST, two technologies that add realism and provoke bites from finicky, keen-eyed tuna.
7”, 2¾ oz
This popper features a “bubble chamber” to increase commotion and an internal
weighting system for maximum casting distance. When combined with its unique diving and erratic swimming action, the Pop Orca Slim calls up tuna from the depths.
Every day spent looking for a topwater bite starts with looking for the “life.” Life is most commonly seen as pods of feeding whales, porpoises, and birds all hanging in one area. However, many of the best topwater days happen when the fish are not actually showing themselves. They are feeding subsurface, below the life, but are willing to come up if something catches their eye. This is why a popper’s commotion is so effective.
Popping among the life has been the most common way to get bites the past few years. Sometimes, it takes only one of those three elements to find a topwater bite. Some days, it is throwing poppers around a pair of feeding whales; or, it can be a pod of feeding porpoise that tuna are feeding just below; other days, it can be scattered birds—most commonly shearwaters and petrels—showing you the area the fish are staying that that will have a topwater bite.
The most obvious scenario is fish breaking. This is the most adrenaline-pumping scenario you can have as a fisherman—tuna airing out up to six feet above the water, crashing on bait, or a white-water blitz of fish tearing up the surface.
Fishing a popper seems self-explanatory, but there are a few things to pay attention to that will result in more bites.
The general action that has been the most effective at fooling tuna is a long sweep of the rod for the popper to make a long “pop” and leave a bubble trail in the water, followed by a short pause of two to four seconds.
The water conditions dictate how aggressively you should work the popper. If it is skipping across waves and flying out of the water, it does not look natural. If this is happening, sweep the lure less aggressively to make it move more naturally.
When fish are not consistently showing themselves on the surface, continue making good casts into and around the life. The bite will not always happen right away and it is easy to get discouraged.
One thing that keeps me motivated during a slow topwater bite is to think about how much time can pass between bites while trolling. It is easy to go hours without a troll bite and still keep doing it while expecting a bite any minute. Keep the same confidence you have in your popping, stick to it, and the bites will come.
