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Brookside Flies
800-258-6336

Dance's Sporting Goods
804-526-8399

Great Outdoor Provision Company

It will come as no surprise to those who know Walt or who have met him tying at a fly fishing show or event that he charmed Maggie right away. Entranced, she watched his fingers twist and turn the cork in his vice into another Walt's masterpiece.

Standing next to Maggie watching Walt tie one beautiful popper after another, I reflected on my own introduction to the venerable popping bug: My father had taken me to a local farm pond, and I was absolutely amazed as I watched him pull in one fish after another. Pond fishing remains my favorite way to spend a summer afternoon, and those memories of time with my father are some of the most cherished of my childhood.

The Humble Popping Bug
Though purists often deride them, fly anglers around the country regularly turn to popping bugs to land their prey. Poppers are a topwater (floating) pattern; the name derives from the sound a well-made bug makes when it is pulled across the surface of the water. Anglers use poppers to catch everything from smallmouth bass to bluegill, trout, stripers, and occasionally even catfish. These bugs generally mimic insects such as ants, beetles, grasshoppers, bees, dragonflies, or cicadas. But insects are just the beginning-talented fly-tiers turn poppers into frogs, injured or stunned baitfish, and even mice.

Walt's poppers range in size from #2 through #12 and come in a variety of colors. Some of Walt's poppers resemble bees with black and yellow stripes; others are a placid Carolina blue. All come with wiggly legs, except the smallest, which often mimic ants or tiny frogs. Walt explained to me that he selects each body by hand, carefully inspecting it for cracks or deformities. He then fills in any cracks with putty and sands each body to a smooth finish. In the final analysis, each Walt's popper goes through a ten-step production process, which includes at least seven coats of paint. Each and every popper really is a little piece of art.

Trash to Treasure
"I worked part-time at the Chief Petty Officer's Club as a bartender," Walt says. "I was uncorking a bottle of champagne and tossing the cork top into the trash when I thought that it was a terrible waste of good material. At the time I was so broke that I made all my own flies-not because I wanted to, but because I had to. I couldn't afford to buy what I wanted. So I took some old cork bottle tops and whittled them down with an Exacto knife and then painted them battleship gray with some leftover ship's paint. Those poppers didn't look too good, but they sure worked."

He kept tinkering with his new creation, and eventually Harold Grimstead, the owner of the local tackle shop, offered to buy Walt's supplies in exchange for some poppers for his store. Walt agreed, and the rest, as they say, is history. He eventually retired from the Navy as a Master Chief with 28 years of faithful service to the country; it was after retirement that his popper business went wild.

"I started making poppers in the winter of 1959," Walt says with a smile. "The funny thing is, most people don't even know my last name, much less how I got started making poppers. I've never had a business card, and I've never advertised. But at times it was still all I could do just to keep up with orders." On more than one occasion Walt has had to turn stores away because "I won't rush, I won't make something just to sell it." He is proud that many of his dealers call him and say simply, "Send me what you think I should have, and try to get it here by the beginning of spring"-and then hang up the phone, not knowing how much Walt might send them or what their order might cost.

Charlie Fenderson of Dance's Sporting Goods in Colonial Heights has been buying poppers from Walt for over 25 years. "I know what I'm getting when I order his poppers," Fenderson says with confidence. "His stuff beats anything else I've ever seen. We have a lot of pond fishing here in our part of the state, and Walt has never let us down. I'd put his poppers up against anything else on the market."

Walt's fame stretches well beyond the borders of the Old Dominion. Scott Wood, buyer for The Great Outdoor Provision Company of North Carolina, is also a big Walt's fan. "I'm not sure what it is, but our customers love his poppers. I think it's because of their quality and the way they look. His poppers remind folks of the days when they would go to the local hardware store and get a handful of poppers and head off for a day's fishing. Whatever it is, they're a 'must-have' product in our store."

Walt's for a New Generation
After making poppers for nearly 50 years, Walt Cary has decided to put in a little less time at the vice and try his hand at semi-retirement. "I still very much enjoy tying my poppers-but making 1,000 dozen poppers in a single season is tough for just one guy. I needed to find a way to keep my customers happy and not work myself to death at the same time." In January 2006, Walt signed a contract with Brookside Flies of Denver, Colorado, to continue to make Walt's Poppers to his exacting standards while simultaneously keeping up with growing demand. In return, Walt gets paid a royalty on every bug that Brookside sells.

Though Walt has turned day-to-day production over to Brookside Flies, he's still very much in touch with how his patterns are made: "I speak to someone at Brookside at least 2-3 times a week, and I am still very involved with quality assurance work. I made it clear that if they were going to make a popper with my name on it, it darn well better look like it."

Brookside put two company fly-tiers directly under Walt's tutelage to learn from the master before beginning large-scale production of Walt's Poppers. And the results? Even Walt is impressed: "The truth is that if someone handed me a bunch of bugs I made and then asked me to separate out the ones that Brookside made, I couldn't do it. They're that good."

As the afternoon drew to a close, Maggie became a bit fidgety, so I took a few quick photos and scribbled some notes. I thanked Walt for his time, and he graciously gave me a few of his poppers to try out as soon as time allowed. I loaded up my gear and deposited my girl in her car seat, where she promptly fell asleep (evidently popping bugs are not the riveting topic among the preschool set that they are among anglers). As we made our way home, I thought about what a blast she and I had had chatting with Walt and watching him weave his magic. I glanced in my rearview mirror at Maggie asleep in her car seat and smiled. I know that one day soon I'll be taking her fishing with me just as my father took me. And when I do, I know exactly what I'll put on the end of our lines.