DIY wooden poppers. Popla popper, a new type of bait for active fishing

A true fisherman spends his whole life looking for the perfect bait, and at this time the fish pretends to be a fastidious gourmet. That is why this search process risks stretching out to infinity.

Making popper with your own hands from A to Z

To optimist fishermen, I suggest that you prove yourself as a craftsman and make your own popper.

• Firstly- it saves money
• Secondly– self-realization and the embodiment of your fantasies.

In this article I will not give sweet bait that will catch any fish anywhere! In this article I'll just talk about how I made a couple of poppers that I think work just fine.

Welcome to the workshop

For the main material I took balsa(the lightest tree). If this is not available, then use willow or linden.

First step

Take a block, for example 60Х30Х30 mm. Sizes can be selected at your discretion. Using a marker, draw the desired shape, and then remove the excess. This is all grunt work. Then we proceed to grinding, as a result of which you should get the shape of a popper.

I sanded it with sandpaper glued to a block, but you can use other improvised means.

For "choosing" on the inside I used a scalpel and fine sandpaper (this is easier to do in balsa than in other woods).

Second step

The second step will be to make an iron frame and a cut (groove) for it. First of all, we cut through a groove with a hacksaw, from the tail to the head in abdominal cavity. We deepen the groove to the middle of the workpiece.

Since the blade width of the hacksaw is small, it will have to be bored out; in this case, a flat needle file will come in handy.
To make a metal frame, we need wire? 0.8-1.5 mm.(preferably stainless steel).
First we bend the ring for the abdominal hook, and then the ring for the tail and for the swivel.

In poper "unhooked" everything is simpler, if you do not have enough length of the double, screw a wire to it and make a loop.

Third step

The third step is shipment. After you have inserted the metal frame into our groove, we insert the lead plates, while simultaneously clamping the frame inside. The main thing is not to overdo it.

Make sure the popper doesn't sink.

Now our workpiece needs to be coated with epoxy resin, since balsa is soft and light, and resin will give it hardness and weight. We also need to seal the groove with epoxy.

After the resin has dried, we grind the workpiece.
After the workpiece has become smooth, cover it with foil. (such foil is used in construction)

Before painting, be sure to wipe the foil with alcohol. I used light green paint, but you can use another (there is no friend in taste and color).

Paint in 2-3 layers. Well, after the paint has dried, everything depends solely on the height of your imagination.

At my drawing school I had a troyban with a minus, and my flight was not very high.

Having decorated the workpiece with all the colors of the rainbow (just kidding), it needs to be coated with waterproof varnish, in 2-3 layers.

After complete drying, you can coat your finished popper with epoxy resin one more time for strength.

The last step before the big fishing trip

All that remains is to attach the hooks and wait for the right moment to go fishing.

Popper with double this is a small upgrade"Croatian egg", which does not catch on surface vegetation. At the same time, I think that the double should improve the performance of bites.

I have already tested my products on the water to see their performance, and the catchability will be discussed in my fishing reports.

P.S.

For coloring, use permanent markers; they are not washed off with varnish.
There is no limit to perfection, but we are obliged to strive for it.

Is it difficult to make a popper with your own hands and what material would be most suitable - this is a question that every fishing enthusiast periodically asks. Despite the fact that today in fishing stores it is presented a wide range of all kinds of baits and lures, poppers still occupy one of the leading positions. The undeniable advantage of this tackle is that if used correctly, it will definitely attract the attention of the fish and provoke even a large predator to attack. But since the price of baits of this type is quite high, recently it has become increasingly popular homemade popper, since its production will be several times cheaper.

Before you start making a popper, you need to figure out what kind of bait it is and what it is intended for. Popper is a bait made of hard plastic, externally having the shape and color of a live fish. This type of bait has proven itself best in fishing for large predators such as pike or asp. When casting, poppers make specific sounds, reminiscent of gurgling. Toothed river inhabitants often mistake this noise for fry and begin to attack.

• high efficiency. The catchability of such baits has long been proven. Anglers from all over the world confirm that pike respond very well to such baits, since in appearance they are extremely similar to live bait;
• simplicity and comfort of use. If you know the features of throwing tackle, even a beginner will be able to cope with the task with ease;
• the fisherman will be able to see with his own eyes how the predator swallows the bait. The ability to visually assess the hunt is an undeniable advantage; and makes fishing unforgettable;
• casting distance;
• thanks to its specific work, the product can even attract fish located at a considerable distance from the fishing spot;
• the bait will not catch on roots and snags located near the bottom;
• Since a homemade popper will only float on the surface, it will be almost impossible to lose it.

As practice shows, this tackle attracts even the laziest fish, so the fisherman will definitely not leave the shore with nothing.

If you can’t visit the store, and you need bait in the next few hours, you can make a popper yourself. The work is elementary and can be completed in literally half an hour, and the fisherman does not need to make any drawings or make calculations.

1. Styrofoam float (if you don’t have one, you can use a wine bottle cork as a base).
2. Wire.
3. A pair of hooks (preferably doubles or tees).
4. Swivels.
5. Paint or stickers that imitate fish eyes.

How to make a popper with your own hands? The first thing the fisherman will need is to secure the drill in a vice and install the float in the drill. After this, the drill will need to be turned on to slow mode and drill the base of the future bait. To ensure that the surface of the product is even and smooth, you need to go over it with sandpaper. Next, a cut is made at an angle of 70 degrees (in the bow), and a hole is made on either side where the swivel is attached. A wire is threaded through the swivel, a plug and beads are installed on the spout (you can also simply draw eyes), and a mass is attached to the back for balance. All that remains to be done is to paint the popper and install winding rings on it.

A homemade cork popper made according to this algorithm of actions will do its job perfectly and will undoubtedly attract a predator.

Homemade poppers are also often made from wood. The first thing the fisherman needs is to find a knot of a suitable size (if you plan to fish for pike, its length should be about 80 mm). You also need to stock up on the necessary materials in advance: wire, glue, sandpaper, a knife, hooks and swivels.

• the wooden knot must be sanded and given the desired shape;
• a recess is made in the front part using a drill;
• Using a sharp knife, an axial hole is made along the length through which the wire will pass;
• The wire must be tied on one side with a loop, and then an “eye” must be formed on the other side. Also, such a loop will need to be made on the abdomen for an additional hook;
• You need to apply glue on top of the wire for additional fixation and completely treat the base of the popper with drying oil.

If the fisherman has done all these steps, all he has to do is paint the product and draw eyes on it. When the base dries, tees are attached to it and they go fishing.

Surface bait popper, very sharply and actively broke into the arsenals of many spinning players. Characteristic gurgling and fountain of splashes during jerking wiring, make a popper very interesting when fishing in perch pots and when hunting for pike standing in grassy shallow water. It’s not uncommon for catfish to rise to the “croaking” of a popper.

Many modern wobbler manufacturers offer a variety of poppers and others surface baits. I will not dispute the catchability of branded models. However, such a bait as a popper is relatively easy to make yourself, from scrap materials, literally on your knees. And in the catchability of such homemade poppers I have seen this personally more than once. Therefore, in my box there are only a few branded poppers, and the rest are homemade. In this post I will talk about just one of the many ways make a homemade popper. This is how I make them.

As a material, I use a dried willow stick of the required diameter. I cut out the blanks with an ordinary penknife. I flatten the sides slightly. I narrow the tail part. I saw off the front part of the popper at an angle with a hacksaw or jigsaw. I select the cup on the nose of the popper using a well-sharpened round chisel of the appropriate number. Then, I make a cut for loading, from below along the axis of symmetry. Popper blank ready (Photo).

Then, steel wire with a diameter of 0.5-0.8 mm is bent popper frame. Based on the dimensions of the bait, either only the back and front loops are made, or a third one is made under the second tee from the bottom. The frame is glued into the cut along with a lead load. If there are voids in the cut after installing the frame and lead, they can be filled with pieces of ordinary matches, carefully placed on the glue flush with the surface of the bait.

We soak it in drying oil so that if a pike gnaws through the varnish coating, the bait does not begin to take on water. We paint the surface with nitro varnish or oil paints with the addition of varnish. On top there are 1-2 more thin layers of varnish.

Regarding the colors of the poppers, this is purely my opinion: popper color - for the fisherman... The fish actually hears the sounds, sees the game and the dark silhouette against the sky, as the bait moves along the surface. So, it is better to choose colors that are easily visible. This allows you to control the popper's wiring even from a long distance. It is important. I usually paint poppers in bright, acidic, contrasting colors and combinations thereof. Small elements such as eyes, gill covers, fins and scales can be completed “for fun” with a regular alcohol marker. And then apply the outer layers of varnish.

We hang the tees through the winding rings. The rear tee can (and sometimes even needs to) be draped with a neat fly or a short tuft of rain. The size of the tees is selected experimentally. It happens that the lower one is slightly larger than the rear one, this often allows the popper to squish well when jerking. That's all. If good running and sound characteristics are achieved, you can test the bait during real fishing.

Here is a diagram of the location of the wire frame inside homemade popper.

Poppers made in this way regularly catch decent perch and grass pike. However, this design does not allow making a rattle in the popper, which is often installed by manufacturers of branded poppers. I'm working to make your own noise popper. There are already prototypes. When such a model successfully passes tests, I will write a post describing the manufacturing process. So, we are waiting for the open season!

Popper is a surface bait and is included in the arsenal of many amateur and sports anglers. During wiring, such baits emit characteristic sounds that actively attract perch, pike, and sometimes catfish.

Fishing stores have many models from different manufacturers with very interesting colors. Of course, it is very difficult to find an alternative to branded models, but still, you can make it yourself, catchy poppers. If you consider how many varieties of baits actually exist, and that it is not cheaper, then fishing turns into an expensive pleasure, since you want to have a full set of existing baits for all fishing occasions.

The basis of the bait is a dried willow stick of a suitable size. To bring the stick to the required shape, you can use an ordinary, but rather complex knife. Using a knife, the sides are slightly narrowed so that they become flatter. The tail part is formed in the same way. The front part of the workpiece is sawed off at an angle using a regular hacksaw. Then you can begin to form a recess in the front of the workpiece. To do this, you can use a well-sharpened round chisel. Finally, a cut is made from the bottom of the workpiece, along the body of the future popper, for loading. The bait blank is ready, as you can see by looking at the corresponding photo.

After this, you can begin preparing the frame, which is made of steel wire with a diameter of 0.5-0.8 mm. Depending on the size of the popper, a frame is made with either two or three rings. This frame is inserted into the cut, along with a lead load, and secured in it with glue. After installing the frame, voids may remain in the cut. They can be sealed using matches placed on glue or filled with epoxy and then carefully sanded. To ensure that the workpiece is not afraid of water, it is well soaked in drying oil, after which it must be allowed to dry completely. And finally, it is advisable to paint the popper with nitro varnish or other paints, preferably with the addition of varnish. For greater reliability, the top of the popper is coated with two more layers of colorless varnish.

As for the coloring of the bait, this is more necessary for the fisherman than for the fish. Since the popper moves along the surface of the water, the fish only sees its silhouette and how it moves and makes sounds. As for the fisherman, he needs to control the operation of the bait, and from a great distance. Therefore, it is better to paint the popper in bright colors so that it can be seen far away.

Once the popper is painted, you can begin installing the tees. To make it more attractive, you can tie a small fly or a bunch of rain to the rear tee. The size of the tees is determined experimentally. It is possible that the middle tee will be larger than the rear one. It all depends on the action of the bait: this way it “squishes” better and attracts the predator more.

Perhaps look at the diagram of the wire frame and how it is located in the cut.

These poppers successfully catch good perch and pike. Despite this, the design does not allow placing a rattle inside. As a rule, branded models have such an addition to their design, which makes them unrivaled.

In conclusion, we can say that there is room for imagination. And if you are smart, it is quite possible that soon a similar homemade popper with a rattle inside will appear on the Internet.

Probably all spinning anglers are familiar with such bait as a popper. And it’s no secret that it’s not difficult to make a popper for pike with your own hands. You will need a minimum of tools and a minimum of metalworking skills to make this bait.
Not every angler has the opportunity to buy a branded bait. After all, not everyone lives in cities where there are fishing stores, and not everyone can afford to buy expensive bait. And I have the opinion that a pike caught on a popper that you made yourself will bring more satisfaction from fishing than from a popper purchased in a store.
It has long been known that manufacturers of such surface baits as poppers do not make them heavy weight. Which in turn prevents you from doing long cast bait. And of course, the size of the pike bait should be larger if you are going to hunt for pike, and not for its babies. There are many articles on the Internet on how to make a popper yourself. I offer my version of a weighted, floating popper.

So, to make a pike popper you will need some tools. In my case, this is an electric drill, a three-millimeter drill, as well as a good, fairly sharp knife, sandpaper, pliers, and a hacksaw. This is enough for cutting out the workpiece and making fastening loops. It is better to make loops from stainless wire, but if this is not available, you can also use galvanized wire with a diameter of one millimeter.
I will use dense and heavy wood, the species of which I cannot name exactly, since this board was a part of an old table. But the tree looks like oak or beech.
Dense wood is more resistant to pike teeth, and if properly processed, lures made from such wood will serve you for a long time. There are all kinds of impregnations to protect wood from moisture. After all, painting the bait will not give a guarantee, since pike teeth damage the paintwork, and over time the wood absorbs moisture, as a result of which the popper becomes unusable.

Optimal pike poppers range in size from eight to ten centimeters. Almost all poppers are shaped like an elongated cone; let’s not deviate from the general principles.
We take the prepared board and mark it. We decide where the front of the bait will be, where the back is, and draw a rough sketch of the bait. (photo 1)The cutting angle of the spitter is approximately sixty degrees. And we do it first, then we cut out the outline of the future popper. Using a sharp knife, give the bait round shapes. Try to make the workpiece symmetrical, then the game of the bait will be symmetrical. (Photo 2) The resulting workpiece can already be processed with sandpaper, smooth out all the irregularities, and the shape of the future popper is almost ready. Next action will be the production of the spittoon itself. You can either drill out the spittoon with a large drill or use a sharp knife; despite the fact that the wood is dense, the knife does an excellent job of cutting. I think everyone has this minimum to cut out. Then we take sandpaper and refine the spitting area, which should be approximately five or six millimeters deep. The bigger and more voluminous spitter, the larger the gurgle it will produce and, accordingly, the pike will respond better to the popper.
The next step is to twist the fastening loops. (Photo 3) I do not use a solid wire frame in my baits. I am completely satisfied with gluing the loops in. (photo 5) The epoxy resin holds the loops in the workpiece quite firmly. In the same way I glued the fastening loops when , and checked their reliability by tying a weight weighing sixteen kilograms to a loop, and raising the bait, which he held suspended for about one minute. The hinges hold securely. It is quite enough for catching even a large pike. Before gluing the fastening loops, you need to mark the locations of the holes and drill these holes with a three-point drill. The front hole can be drilled either in the center or raised under the top of the bait. You will get poppers that differ in the game. In the case of a hole shifted upward, you can drill a hole in the lower part for the rattle. (Photo 6) A rattle can be easily made from the needle cap of a disposable syringe. Having cut the cap to the desired size, put three balls inside, with air gun The balls are the right size, others are also possible. The main thing is that they roll freely inside the cap. After using a lighter or over a fire, heat the open edge of the cap, wet your fingers with saliva and close the inlet. The rattle is ready. Lubricate the hole in the workpiece and the rattle well with epoxy resin and glue it in. This also applies to fastening loops. Measure the lower hole in the workpiece so that the lower tee reaches the front fastening loop, avoiding frequent overlaps of the tee and the leash.
After our workpiece has dried, it needs to be tested. It is necessary to put winding rings and hooks on the bait and lower it into the water. Look at the position of the bait in the water. How much the bait itself looks out on the surface of the water, and how it is located relative to the horizon. It will be good if the tail of the popper sags at forty-five, sixty degrees from the surface of the water. And only the top of the back will be visible from the water. Using dense wood, this may be the case, but if the bait has higher buoyancy, you can load the popper with balls from an air gun. One ball weighs half a gram, and when drilling holes with a three-point drill, the ball is hammered tightly. By placing the balls closer to the tail of the bait, we thereby sag the tail more. This is how we select the required buoyancy of the popper. After these simple steps, thoroughly dry the bait and prepare it for painting.
The painting process is quite simple. We tie a wire to the future popper by the back loop and dip the workpiece into a can of paint. Making the main layer. Then we hang the workpiece until the paint dries completely. (photo 7) Afterwards you can start painting the bait. It is good to do coloring using nail polishes; the color range of varnishes is huge to suit every taste. More a good option cover the popper with aluminum foil intended for insulation ventilation pipes. This foil has a sticky layer on one side and sticks perfectly to the bait. It would also be a good idea to squeeze out a pattern on the foil that resembles fish scales. (Photo 8) After coloring the popper, we again attach the wire to the back loop and dip it in colorless varnish. We hang it out until it dries completely and the popper is ready. Be sure to hang from the back loop. This is necessary so that drops of paint and drops of varnish flow down and do not dry out in the spitting chamber of our popper.
Dear readers, I have offered you my vision of making a popper. And there are many options. And you choose how and from what to make bait. The main thing is to create and catch fish.