Any thoughts on pop-ups?

Just reading some of the posts in answer to the issue of fishing over weed and it seemed to me that most seem to fish poped up baits only when there's a weed problem.

I've got into the habbit of using popped up half herrings on the water I'm fishing at the moment but have always felt confident with a popped up smelt, as a first choice, wherever I've fished.

Am I in a bit of minority here? I have to say, a bait popped up beneath a 25mm bright red poly-ball, looks ridiculous and, the first few times I tried it, I couldn't believe that any sel-respecting pike would look at such a clumsy rig. But, over the past couple of years, I've become more and more confident with it, to the point where I don't feel quite right unless my bottom bait's sitting 18 inches or so off the bottom.

Any thoughts then or advice at all?

Unless its a water i know the pike will pick up off the deck i always pop up baits, although i do prefer baitsticks to pop ups..,
On the weed subject i would rather use a float fished above the weed

i prefer to inject air into them unless im casting them a long way then its bait sticks for me too - or use a pollan.
Mind you ive found that alot of blast frozen pollan dont float but loosly packed frozen ones do float

I usually pop up at least one bait, regardless of the terrain.

nothing better than a poppped up trout a foot off the bottom caught my biggest this way

just seen this is my 1 thousand post do i win anything andy

Loads of different views on the subject!

I've got to say, I'd much prefer to use sticks rather than poly balls as the rig just looks better somehow but either struggle to get the sticks in without breaking a small bait such as a smelt or, to get a big enough stick to actually float, say a half mackerel or herring off the bottom.
I'm fairly sure that, at times, the poly ball can put pike off and, conversely, at others, be such an attraction that the fish attack the ball rather than the bait. The thought of a pike actually swallowing a poly ball that he's bitten off the rig is a bit worrying also. Ok, not a common occurence but a distinct possibility.

Any thoughts or advice?

Attach the ball to a treble with a bit of old trace wire.

Andy Macfarlane wrote:Attach the ball to a treble with a bit of old trace wire.

Works well for me

I pop up baits on rivers and drains mainly as i believe the undercurrent helps to impart movement into a popped up bait. usually find that a heavier lead is needed though.