First cork popper

[agn54 0]

My first attempt at shaping a cork from a beer bottle. It sure ain't the most beautiful fly but hopefully it works. I don't have a dremel so I used an electric nail file for dogs that got the job done well enough. Any advice anyone can offer on how to shape these would be greatly appreciated, particularly on what shape or size to cut the cork down to before sanding.

 

[Poopdeck 0]

A beer bottle cork? Where do you get beer bottles with a Cork? I use wine bottle corks that I cut down to rough shape with a hacksaw blade. No hacksaw just the blade. It cuts it easily. Then I just clean it up with a piece of sand paper. If I'm making a very large popper I'll shape it with a belt sander.

[Bimini15 0]

Some beers do have corks. I have seen many in Europe, not so many in the US.

 

I like the popper. You could get a more cylindrical shape if you put a needle through it, then the needle in a drill and you sand it.

But I honestly don't do that myself. I have used foam cylinders or shaped foam popper for a while now.

[vicrider 0]

Maybe you mean a wine bottle cork and like most other things that fall off our vises, it'll catch fish. This is from a friend of mine and he has done a lot of them, all nicer than the last. I do believe he buys preformed bodies and paints them several at a time with air brush. He also has a market for them. Something to shoot for.

[vicente 0]

There are a pretty decent number of nice beers that are corked instead of capped.

[agn54 0]

It's a cork from a bottle of Belgian ale, looks kind of like a champagne cork only smaller.

 

Poopdeck, thanks for the tip on the hacksaw blade. I was using a box cutter blade that wasn't working very well but got the job done eventually. Bimini that's a great idea about the needle.

[Bimini15 0]

 

To a good popper!

[vicente 0]

Those guys make some great beer LA fin du monde, was my first thought when I said move beers.

[agn54 0]

Yup thats pretty much it. Great beer that comes wth fly tying materials!

[Poopdeck 0]

Here are a couple cork poppers I tied up last time I tied cork poppers

[agn54 0]

Very cool flies! Do you use any particular grade of sandpaper for hand sanding them? Also, I have never actually fished a cork popper. Do they sit any differently (a bit higher or lower) in the water than hard or soft foam? Have you noticed it they heavier or lighter to cast than foam?

[mikechell 0]

Definitely heavier than foam, and they sit lower. But they have a completely different sound which, sometimes, brings more strikes.

 

Nice cork bodies, Poopdeck.

[Poopdeck 0]

Thanks Mike. I don't use any particular grade sand paper just whatever grade I have within arms reach. If I were to reach for a specific one I would probably grab 120.

 

I can't answer any comparison questions because I only make cork poppers or foam sheet gurglers. I refuse to pay the price for preformed bodies. I know they float, hate to say it but, like a cork. I paint them with cheap craft paint and cover them in two coats of sally Hanson.

[McFlyLures 0]

Some beers do have corks. I have seen many in Europe, not so many in the US.

 

I like the popper. You could get a more cylindrical shape if you put a needle through it, then the needle in a drill and you sand it.

But I honestly don't do that myself. I have used foam cylinders or shaped foam popper for a while now.

Quality beer in the us has cork... not bud light... lol

[mikechell 0]

I refuse to pay the price for preformed bodies. I know they float, hate to say it but, like a cork.

I could be misspeaking when I say cork is heavier than foam. When I think foam body poppers, I automatically go to flip flop foam. I also do not paint my foam bodies.

So, cork is heavier than flip flop foam ...