Gangly

Yesterday afternoon had a good bite going. Unfortunately, not a single fish over 2 lbs was caught, but countless dinks and small females were up for a tug-o-war match: some won, most lost.

I started out around 12:30 with a popper and on the first cast I had a taker and landed a small 1.5 ish bass. Nothing great but it was a pretty good fight on my lighter tackle. I didn't get a single bite for the next ten minutes and so I switched things up and started throwing a rattle trap paralleled to the bank but about 20 feet off. The bite turned back on and the bass were hitting it good. They were staging on the secondary drop offs in about 7-10 feet of water but were actively feeding when I burned it back with 1 second pauses every now and then. After the 6-7th fish I hung up the rattle trap and lost it in some submerged bushes. I grabbed my popper rod and started throwing it parallel to the bank, but maybe 5-7 feet out from the bank, and slayed them. The size of the bass dropped significantly, but I wasn't able to get anything out in the deeper water to come up and hit it so I chose to stay close the bank and enjoy the consistency of the bite. Only once did I have a fish on that was of decent size but I tried to rush/horse her in to quickly and the lure came flying back at me. I have to remember that with the lighter action rods and treble hooks that there is no need to horse them and rush things.

Also as a side note, if many of you don't know already, I LOVE poppers. I use quite a variety and appreciate all of them for their unique attributes but my favorite has to be a Yellow Magic in ***anese Shad. However, they are pricey and I can't justify purchasing them unless my birthday or Christmas rolls around so I started seeking alternative poppers that maintained a high level of quality and value at a lower price point. I searched the internet for reviews and comments on various models and found one that looked to be a good representative of what I wanted in terms of how it sits in the water and the retrieve types I prefer. Enter the Xcalibur Zel Pop: 2/3rds the price and hopefully similar characteristics. The next time I went to Academy I purchased one and decided to use it on my next outing to see how it performed.

Assesment scale : Poor, Fair, Good, Very Good, Great

Results:
Quality of Craftsmanship - Very Good. No seams along the body, eyelets are straight, and no bulges along the body that aren't design related.

Paint - Very Good. No over-spray and the lines of demarcation between colors are clean and in their proper location (example: the red pain in the cup of the lure doesn't overlap the paint on the body around the lip of the cup). The paint is evenly distributed along both sides of the body giving the top down view a mirrored appearance. The durability of the paint appears to be good as well considering after 6-7 fish the paint still looks almost new. However, most fish were dinks so I hate to emphasize the quality of the paint without putting that disclaimer in here.

Hooks - Very Good. Needle sharp and easily stuck the lips of bass that were caught even on light hook sets. One fault I found though is that one of the hooks on the rear treble bent outwards. I didn't fight any fish that I thought were capable of bending the TX3 hooks, but the hook is bent never-the-less. I don't mind replacing trebles since I keep a multitude of them in my tackle for just such instances, but I don't think that I should have to on a $10 lure after catching a few dinks. Maybe its just this one hook since the others on the same treble seemed very strong, I just don't know. The only reason I didnt rate the hooks as "Great" was because of the bent treble.

Still Action - Very Good. It sits perfectly in the water with the tail end dangling lower than the head at a good angle. If there is even the slightest chop, the rear feathered treble will flaunt nicely giving it action even while it sits (some of my hits were on the pause).

Ka-Bloop'ing - Great. It does well with multiple retrieval styles but does best at "ka-bloop'ing". To achieve this, a snap of the wrist creates a nice ka-bloop'ing sound that can be heard from a distance.

Walking the Dog- Fair. It walks the dog reasonably well but that retrieval style is not its strong suit and its not expected to be for most anglers since its a popper. I however put a lot of value in a popper being able to walk. To me, it's not exactly a detriment to the lure that it doesn't walk extremely well, it's just a minor drawback for me since it doesn't excel at it and I like a popper to walk well.

Diving - Good. It's diving ability is decent considering it has a rapid side to side motion when diving. However, it dives very shallow and wont go more then 3-4 inches sub surface when I try to pull it under. I prefer to have the popper dive deep on long pulls and rise moderately afterward. After the dive it has an enticing wobble on the float up that is very nice and triggered a few bites.

Overall I am very pleased with the Zel Pop. It will not replace my Yellow Magics, but I will be purchasing plenty more of these to sit next to them in the tackle box. The identifying characteristics for me that stand out for this lure are the quality craftsmanship, the sound, the action it has at rest, and its undulations during float-up. The ka-bloop is fantastic and the tight wobble on the float up after a dive are unique to this lure and have a place in my tackle box from now on. If you are a fan of poppers and are willing to spend a little extra but not a lot, try one of the Zel Pops, they're a quality lure that catches bass.

Chuck7

Thanks for sharing

Gangly

I didnt realize how long that post was, and how much it differed from the topic name until i already submitted it, sorry for the long post guys, got caught up.

m.t.hands

hey gangly, good assessment, i love a pop-r type bait, but i got to tell you the original pop-r by rebal, don't waste your money, the last few i have bought after catching 1 or 2 fish they wont float, the flashtail is falling apart, you may pay a little more for the excalibur, but your getting a much much better bait....hate to say that about pop-r's but their quality is the pits, not to mention you need to put a set of hooks on it right out of the package....OK rant over

Gangly

Oh, I agree. I bought 3 pop-r's when I first started and I quickly realized their worth, or rather rack there of. I think its an OK popper for somebody who doesn't use them often and doesnt have them as a go-to lure. However, if you plan on giving your popper lots of use and plan on using multiple techniques, the Rebel will limit your techniques quick. The only time I use them now is if I am throwing into some GNARLY stuff and I don't expect to get it back half the time.

I mainly prefer these in this order:
Yellow Magic (Great Walker and Diver)
Xcalibur Zel Pop (Great Action)
H20 express (a good all-around popper for the price)
Rapala Skitter Pop (Can make it skip across the water pretty quick like a fleeing baitfish)
Storm Chug Bug (not used a lot)
Rebel Pop-R (rarely used)

m.t.hands

skeered to throw the majic

Gangly

VERY "sceered" to throw the YM's around heavy brush. I just dont think my wallet could live through a few YM losses