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Redneckr3bel

Sheet foam poppers

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I'm tired of buying those packs of popper heads. Is there any way I could make a popper from sheet foam besides a crease fly cause I don't like the action the have for bass

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Get sheets of foam. Coat with rubber cement on each side. After putting them together I put a sheet of waxed paper around them and then stack books on them .

You can then punch out the bodies suing gasket punches from Harbor Freight. Or using copper tubing sharpened or shell casing.

Another thing I do is use a 1/64 inch drill bit in a dremel tool to make a hole thru the foam.

It is then very easy to run the shank thru it and hold with super glue.

 

Rick

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Gurgler similiar to Stealth Bomber. Glue sheets together as suggested. Purchase block foam from Sleazy Steve's Soggy Bottom Flyshop. Buy cheap flip flops. Many options.

 

Kirk

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If you don't have to have foam for your popper bodies, you can make cork bodies quickly and easily and it's fun, too. Get a bag of cork bottle stoppers from the craft store. To make your popper body, stand a cork stopper on its larger end. Take a razor blade or X-acto knife and slice straight downward from one end to the other, cutting away about 1/3 of the stopper. Now lay it on the flat "belly" you've just created. Take your blade and slice downard from the top edge of the larger end of the stopper (the part that will become the "face" of your popper) at a 45-degree angle (or whatever angle you like). Flip it over so the flat "belly" is facing up and cut a slit running down the middle of the "belly" from the "face" to the smaller end, about 1/16" deep. Run a generous dab of superglue up into the slit, then press the hook shank up into the slit. Position the popper body on the hook shank as you like. Voila! Popper.

Paint it or color it with permanent markers (I like the Berol Prismacolor Markers) or paint it with glitter nail polish, or any combination that floats your boat. I like to use the Prismacolor markers with a top coat (or 2) of Sally Hansen's Hard As Nails.

To make little froggies I mix lime green and flat gray acrylic paint from the kids' crafts section of Wal-Mart to make a nice olive, then add dots of yellow and black for extra frogginess. :) I topcoat the paint wtih Hard as Nails, too.

Good luck and have fun.

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I've done my share of cork head poppers (but in the salt their life span rarely gets past the first or second bite....) that I very carefully hand painted - and that was after going to the trouble of bending Mustad 34007 or 34011 (the long shank version) with two pair of pliers to get a kinked shank.... All of that wasn't bad when it was a hobby -but it just wouldn't work if you were filling a large order for a shop or you needed bugs day after day as a full time guide.

 

As a result I came up with the SpeedBug using Wapsi's soft foam pre-shaped and slotted popper heads. The pics below will give you some idea of the results. The only pattern I know of that competes is Gartside's Gurgler. It's also quick to tie and deadly effective. I don't have any pics of the Gurgler (my version, of course) handy but you shouldn't have much difficulty finding them (both the original and its many variations).

Like the SpeedBug they're quick to tie and not difficult to master.... Hope this helps - wish Jack Gartside was still around, he was one of a kind and folks will be tying his patterns long after I'm gone..... I only met him once when he was one of several tyers down here for an expo (and we were both busy tying for folks visiting the show.

 

As far as the Speedbug goes the cement is just super glue and the hook size is a #1 34007 on a head that's listed as being for a #4 hook....

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I've done my share of cork head poppers (but in the salt their life span rarely gets past the first or second bite....) that I very carefully hand painted - and that was after going to the trouble of bending Mustad 34007 or 34011 (the long shank version) with two pair of pliers to get a kinked shank.... All of that wasn't bad when it was a hobby -but it just wouldn't work if you were filling a large order for a shop or you needed bugs day after day as a full time guide.

Yeah Bob, cork vs. teeth is a losing battle for sure. :) I use the Wapsi soft foam heads too and like them. They are faster, that's for sure, but then I'm just tying for myself so I do enough for the next trip and they last as long as they last...whole different ball game from production tying. I also Tried Wapsi's hard foam heads, but didn't like them--too heavy. Even in the smaller sizes they make too much of a "splat" and scare the fish away in shallow water. Plus they are harder to color with markers than the soft foam.

I like poppers with flat faces, so I like the cork because I can shape it how I want.

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Alright this is what I came up with....I think it will be great for when the bass and striper are rising for shad and I had 5 minutes to try it out with a white and chartreuse for a few minuts and landed a bass

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First off when putting the hook into a foam body super glue does work fine. If one uses cork or balsa epoxy works much better and is quite durable. The weak link is the body material. The material will separate before the body comes loose. I actually prefer balsa but it is more work to form the body depending on the body shape desired.

 

I have used 1/4" dia poppers for sunfish for 50 years. I started with cork and they were and are very durable. A few years ago I went to craft foam as well as the cork. I use a paper hole punch and punch out a bunch of 2mm foam disks which are 1/4" and c/a glue 3 disks together to form a cylinder. I then just cut a slit in the cylinder about 1/3 thru the cylinder side, put some c/a glue in the slit and insert the kink shanked size 10 hook and squeeze the foam together for a few seconds to ensure a good bond. The popper is now ready for hackle and tail. I do all yellow so no paint is required but I do sometimes tie in rubber legs on the hook shank. ......As stated above glueing several sheet together and then cut out cylinders or they can also be cut out with a scroll saw if one is available but they are rough and not pretty. ( which is OK for me ) I also use flip flops and cut out as just stated. As far as durablility of the 1/4" poppers I can only remember having a couple body's breaking off. I usually lose them or give them away long before they fail. I don't do a lot of large poppers but balsa has a lot of advantages but they are time consuming to make pretty. Again, epoxy is THE way to attach balsa and cork to a hook. Cut a slot in the body and fill with epoxy and then position the hook in the slot.

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You can make an effective popper using a circle punched out of a sheet of craft foam. You'll also need a hook, some marabou for the tail, some hackle for the body. The guy who showed it to me many years ago called it a "fun foam" popper.

 

Foam Circle

Side view

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Bottom view

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Heart shaped foam

Side view

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Bottom view

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Simple and effective.

 

There are couple of others that can be made from foam circles or hearts just a bit more complicated. Mainly I use the soft foam popper bodies. I buy the white ones and use either permanent markers or Copic paint pens to color them.

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Flip flop foam ... cut with a sharpened tube. Skewer on large pin (hook diameter or slightly larger.

Use sewing needle to place legs.

 

 

Start thread at the eye and cover hook to provide glue-able area. Tie in the "tail" portion of the fly. When ready, apply super glue to the "body" portion of the hook.

 

 

Slide foam onto hook and secure with needle through the hook eye. Let the glue set.

 

 

This is my "replaceable head fly". When the foam gets chewed up ... just pull it off and put a new head on. I've had "tails" last through three heads before they had to go.

 

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Redneck.... that white foam/marabou thingy is really pretty but I hesitate to call it a popper.... maybe a slider, or hopper. Far as I've always observed a popper needs a concave front end in order to pop.

 

Nevertheless, I'm going to tie some of those things you made, whatever the heck they are.

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