Let me add my vote for popping bugs. Over the years, probably the most productive lure in my kit. For those not used to them, timing is everything. They work best near sunset or after, IMHO, on still water. Without a fly rod to make them do their best magic, just use your pole to 'dap' them along surface, as if they were dragon flies or something similar flying close to the water, touching down now and then near a stob or log, lily pad or other cover. Be prepared for explosions. When I was a kid, after ruining a 'thumb-buster' reel and being denied access to Dad's expensive gear, I learned to wade the creeks with a few poppers, some 12 lb mono tied to a long, whippy willow or cane pole and bring home tons of bass and bream. Dapping is like fly fishing, but without a reel. Not a lot of huge fish, mind you...but rural kid popper fishing and survival fishing have this in common, quantity counts! And the occasional large fish still came my way. Wait until dark, use that same short stout string and long limber pole, remove the popper and attach a stout snelled hook baited with a limber strip of pork rind cut with a split tail that immitates a 'frog'...or use a similar strip cut from the belly of another fish. Walk along deep water (dam faces or 'fishing holes with good watercover) and 'slap' the frog along the surface in the dark. Splash it around like something wounded, you'll bring out all the benevolent members of piscatorial society. You might be surprised at the charitable monsters that you can yank out of small streams and ponds this way. Give me some poppers, a few hooks some mono and a frog gig head, I'm good to go. I'd probably miss my 6 weight and/or my ultra light spinning gear...but I doubt if I'll get hungry. Let me add that a few of your popping bugs really should be red...you can always catch frogs on a red feathered lure 'skittered' near enough for your bufanoid to get annoyed.
