The Sprinker vs the Plopper by Chase Tanner June 29,2017
[print_link]
I set out on the James today to put the Teckle Sprinker Frog up against the River 2 Sea Whopper plopper 90 to see which would come out on top for targeting smallmouth bass in the river. It was a simple premise. I would alternate baits all day and keep track of,
Blow ups, fish size, misses, and fish lost on each lure. Here are the numbers.
Sprinker
Blowups – 8
Misses – 15
Fish lost – 0
The fish actually getting hooked and staying on the sprinker averaged out larger than the whopper plopper ranging from 15″ being the smallest and topping out at 18″. In guessing all the misses where fish too small to get the hooks all the way in their mouth. So in a sense the sprinker is nice because it keeps the smaller fish off. I enjoyed the fact that I could put the sprinker in some gnarly situations without worry of snags. Hooksets were solid throwing on a medium heavy action rod with 50lb braid. It’s also casts a lot nicer than the whopper plopper.
Whopper Plopper
Blowups – 35
Misses – 10
Fish lost – 6
The whopper plopper represented greater opportunity with higher blowup numbers but also suffered in terms of actually keeping the fish hooked. I lost 2 smallmouth well over 20″ on the whopper plopper today. Largest on the plopper went 18″ with the smallest being 9″. Dinks love whopper ploppers and have no issue getting hooked by the trebles.
I was really hoping the sprinker would allow me to put the whopper plopper away but it appears the plopper is still firmly rooted as my least favorite lure that I love to throw. The whopper plopper outfished the sprinker by a wide margin in terms of calling fish up to the surface. Losing fish on it is just a “is what it is” type of thing. It’s a numbers game for me in the end. The Opportunity margin is vastly larger with the whopper plopper. Will I put the sprinker away? No. I think it can be used to augment the whopper plopper in situations like thick grass, weed beds, and thick laydowns where throwing the plopper isn’t conducive.
I also learned how to hook longnose gar on the whopper plopper but that’s a story for a different day. 
????
#wildyfishing #kayakfishva #paddleva #yakattack #whopperplopper #tecklesprinker