I’ve been bass fishing with DUO Realis baits for over a year now. Realis baits have fantastic finishes, great components and are specifically designed for each application. Mr. Adachi, the designer for Realis, has a tremendous knowledge of baits and how the water around them reacts. With this knowledge, Mr. Adachi masterfully crafts fantastic baits that utilize every possible curve, shape and sound to specifically imitate the forage that bass eat. Couple the baits vibrations and water movement, with superb color schemes and finishes, and now you have a bass catching lure that will fool even the most finicky of bass.
Through the warmer months, I’ve been relying on the Pencil 110 and the Popper 64 for my surface baits. These two topwater baits have been fantastic and have produce some great catches. The Realis Popper 64 is an excellent numbers bait for me that will also draws strikes from larger bass because of its realistic features. This popper is the best of both worlds; it will catch a quick limit of bass and still has the potential to catch your tournament kicker bass at the same time.
Thinking back to my first impressions of the Duo Realis Popper 64, I was blown away at the realistic and lifelike look. I love topwater action and a popper is my go to bait in the summer when fishing reservoirs. My only problem was trying to select a color to try; the Popper 64 comes in eighteen amazing colors. To make it simple, I chose the Prism Shad and HD Gill to start my collection. One shad color and the other a bluegill type color.
The Popper 64 comes with #6 hooks, which are a perfect fit. It’s as if the bait was designed around the hooks. A #6 hook is large enough to effectively hook and land a bass; however, on most popper type baits, two #6 hooks will occasionally tangle with each other causing a momentary nightmare for the angler. On the Popper 64, the hooks are spaced in such a way that they cover the entire belly of the bait, yet won’t tangle in each other. The rear hook is dressed in a color-scheme matching feather that also contains a few strands of tinsel for added flash.
This bait sits slightly tail heavy on the surface, which is a characteristic of all the Realis surface lures I’ve used so far. For topwater baits, this is a good thing. A tail heavy popper will give you the most action with the least amount of effort. What this means to the anglers is that you can create movement, yet not pull the bait towards the boat. Walking the dog with this popper is very easy. If you get on a faster pattern where spitting and chugging are the key, the flattened cup of the Popper 64 sends water flying, creating amazing disturbance on the surface. I’ve had very good luck combining all three into my retrieve. Starting with a couple spits of water, I’ll make the bait walk a couple times followed up with a hard pop to make it chug. Somewhere in that combination there will be an explosion.
I found that the sound this bait makes is noticeably different from any other popper I’ve fished. Its “blooping” sound in conjunction with the internal rattles gives this bait a water splashing sound like a school of bait fish that have spooked across the surface. Not only is it a different sound than all the other poppers on the water, it’s also a very nature sound.
The durability of the Popper 64 is nothing short of amazing. I fish popper style baits around a lot of cover and boat docks. It is nothing for me to try and side arm baits up under a dock just to have it careen into the lip of the dock. To say I’m cruel to a popper is an understatement. Through several months of abuse and uncountable bass, the Popper 64 is still in great shape with no hook marks, pealing or chipping. I’ve been very impressed with the way this bait is holding up.
Whether you like your poppers to walk, spit or chug, the Realis Popper 64 does it all. Beginners to novice anglers will be able to effectively use this very life like bait in a variety of bass catching presentations. Its compact design and the placement of the internal rattles allow anglers to cast these baits long distances with great accuracy.
I’d highly recommend the Realis Popper 64 for any angler wanting to improve their top water fishing abilities. With this bait, you get several applications wrapped up in one: A popper for drawing strikes from greater distances; a walking bait for those times that a bait has to stay in the strike zone longer; and a spitting bait for when bass are chasing schools of smaller post spawn bait fish. An angler could really slim down his surface bait collection by adding a couple of these to his arsenal.
Get the Net it’s a Hawg
Mike Cork
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