4 replies to this topic

[Peterjay]

I was poking around in Michael's yesterday and in the kiddie craft section I happened to notice some big block letters made of the same type of closed cell foam that is used to make popper heads. They go for $1 apiece and come in blue, light green/chartreuse and pink. It occurred to me that all you'd have to do is take some copper tubing and sharpen the ends a bit and you could punch out a bunch of panfish/bass poppers at very little cost. This stuff takes acrylic craft paint very well and with an epoxy topcoat, you'd be all set.

[GDille]

At a craft store, if you find the sheets of the foam (8x11) you can laminate several colors together, or one color and make the body as long as you want. I even took a small electric motor and made a small lathe to smooth out the rough edges left after punching the bait out. Also you can shape the head and put a really nice cup on the head. You can do this with the balsa that the sell too. I usually do not coat my foam bodies, just shove the bodkin throught the middle then shove the body on the hook that has some super glue on it. this makes a popper in 3 min, tying in the tail included.

George

[Peterjay]

Great idea - that's one way to get nice even stripes. I tie mostly for salt water, so I've gotten into the habit of using epoxy on just about everything except for woolly buggers. The hackles get ripped up after a few fish anyway, so it's not worth the effort to epoxy the heads. Another source I've found for popper material is the buoys they use on lobster pots. I like to prowl the beaches after big storms and occasionally, a buoy will break loose and wash up. Of course, it helps to live near the ocean.

[nova]

Try the Dollar Store. If they have it, it will be a lot cheaper than anywhere.

www.novalures.com

[HellRAISER]

Take a look at your mouse pad the black foam ...the under side