August Freshwater Lure of the Month: Hula Popper

August Freshwater Lure of the Month: The Hula Popper

Fred Arbogast was born in Akron, Ohio in 1893.  As a competitive caster, Arbogast had earned has name by winning several world casting titles.  However, it was by inventing fish-catching lures like the Jitterbug that Arbogast secured his legacy.  The Hula Popper and the Hawaiian Wiggler were two other highly successful (and quite recognizable) lures Arbogast designed over his career as a luremaker.  Today, Arbogast, Inc is one of the oldest lure manufacturers in the industry, and, in our opinion, one of the best at giving lures attention-grabbing names.

In the late 1930’s, Fred Arbogast initially intended upon creating a diving plug when he began work on this month’s Freshwater Lure of the Month selection.  Anyone that has fished the classic Jitterbug knows that it’s the farthest one can get from a diving plug.  The Jitterbug’s unusually wide lip, the lures most prominent characteristic, was actually what kept Arbogast’s prototype from diving.  The lip created such a distinct surface action that Arbogast realized that he had something with potential on his hands after all.  Be it irony, fate or otherwise, the Jitterbug’s failure as a diver was quickly transformed into blinding success for the lure named after the dance craze.

Featured lure: Jitterbug

Designer: Fred Arbogast

Created: c. 1930s

Manufacturer: Arbogast, Inc

Technique: 

Cast the Jitterbug into thick lily pads, stumps, or similar cover, retrieving with short jerks and pauses.  A slow, consistent retrieve will also produce spectacular results.

Selected Reading: (Read more about this month’s selection online: http://www.fishingenthusiast.com)

My Secret Fishing Life : by Nick Lyons

From the Back Cover:

Beyond his life as an English professor, book publisher, and writer, Nick Lyons has always had a "secret fishing life," a deep and abiding passion for fishing, especially with a fly. In this, his eighteenth book, he fishes in "riskier waters" than he has ever fished in before-and has caught his greatest prize.

Book Description:

Nick Lyons has long been acclaimed as one of our preeminent fishing writers, praised for his great stories, philosophical and literary insights, self-deprecating humor, and ability to capture the passion that drives people to stand for hours at a time in a river, often in vain.  My Secret Fishing Life is his most personal collection, an intimate look back at his own life and career as an angler, publisher, husband, father, and English professor.