How to proceed?

[MINESAPINT]

I have seen lures this shape:

Do you call them poppers? I am not sure how they are supposed to work and not sure how to proceed. It is made from Ash and is about 6 inches long.

Thanks

MINESAPINT

[mark poulson]

I would put a line tie low in th cupped face, a hook hanger about a third of the way back toward the tail, and another one in the tail.

Seal the bait, put on the split rings and hooks, and try it.

Ash is a heavy wood, so you may not need any balast, but I suspect you may need a belly weight toward the read to get it to pop well. Only testing will tell you.

[hazmail]

Before you do that seal it, and drop it in some water, you need to get the orientation right. That slope on the front could be 90deg out - because it's made of wood, it will have an uneven weight distribution (density), floating it will show where the heaviest part (bottom) should be. As mark says, stick some hooks etc on, and give it a burl. With a bit of luck, you may already be close.

Anyway this is a good way to learn heaps of basic stuff -Keep us posted. pete

[ipock2]

I make alot of these. However I use poplar and basswood, whichever I have around the shop. Mine are between 2 1/4" - 3". Normally no weight is requried. Place line tie a little towards the top and it will http://topfishingplace.com' rel="external nofollow">

Edited October 6, 2008 by Spike-A-Pike
Rule 4 - not allowed to post a website as part of the signature

[scottishghillie]

Nice looking blank. Now for the fun part.

1. Find the centre line of the blanks and mark it with a pencil or marker.

2. Install both front and rear eyes. These can either be screw in ones pre-made and bought, or thin stainless steel wire made and fixed in to a hole drilled at either end and secured with a good glue or epoxy, or a third option is to through wire the lure. This means drilling a hole all the way through the lure front to back and then running the same stainless wire though and then securing at the rear with wraps. There is plenty of advice here one how to do all of the above.

3. Seal the wood. Again plenty of info here on how to do that.

4. Once sealing layer is dryed, now do the float test. For a popper to work well you need the face to sit this way . You lure as it is will sit this way / . Once you have confirmed this, on the centre line drill a small hole. This you need to then refill with ballast weight. Lead is the most common metal used for that. A couple of small splitshot will more then likely be all you need to ensure the lure sits the right way up. Hammer the shot in to the hole. You may need to use a nail or screwdriver to drive the lead all the way in to hole and to ensure its just under the level of the surrounding wood. Once you have done this, all you then need to do is let the lure dry out, seeing as it has been in water. Once dry fill the hole with either wood glue, epoxy or similar.

5. When filling material is dry get the sand paper back on it and smooth the filling down to make a nice smooth lure.

6. The fun part... Painting. Again there is lots of info on the board on this. Also look through the gallery for suggestions.

7. Once the paint scheme has been applied, or re-applied several times if your like me and screw up sometimes, all that is left is topcoating the lure. Again search the boards here. Lots of great info on all sorts of products that are used to protect the paintwork and the lure from teeth (hopefully) rocks (if your unlucky) and the water.

As to how it works in water, when retrieved it should spit water forward from the cup. This is what causes the commotion and hopefully results in a good take from your target species. Additionally, you will probaly find that it will send out a nice wake, this also is a good thing when fishing surface lures.

Good luck and keep us posted with your progress. Hope this has helped.

Edited September 21, 2008 by scottishghillie

[diemai]

@ MINESAPINT

I won't add to the working procedure , all has been said already previously , but I'd strictly recommend the use of a lighter type of wood for topwater lures , at first it provides better action for the purpose , second you have better possibilities for adding ballast weights , hence alter or even improve the action of the lure .

I most likely turn my topwater plugs from abachewood , available over here in boards of 20 and 25mm thickness , at different heights .

It is light , somewhat between pine and balsa , easy to work with , but yet holds screw eyes well , if you epoxy them .

It is used to furnish the seatbenches of those Finnish steambaths called "Sauna" , thus this wood is also known as "Sauna-boards" over here .

As far , as I'm concerned , famous Finnish manufacturers like "Turus Ukko" and "Nils Master" use it for their wooden crankbaits as well .

greetz , Dieter

[MINESAPINT]

Thanks for all the great advice again.

As you are aware from my dumb questions I am new to lure making but you will be unaware I am also new to fishing with lures.

So the lure which is the subject of this thread is called a topwater lure (equivalent of a dry fly)?. It will be towed across the surface of the water and its principle attraction is that it should pop when tugged due to its design?, providing the design is correct!

MINESAPINT

[diemai]

@ MINESAPINT

I won't put wooden or plastic topwater lures into same category as dry flies , but off course all of these work on the surface , they do not run below(or maybe at least a fraction , if you want to be tolerant with the term !) .

The topwater lures separate into still different terms for lures with different actions , but all have in common to be retrieved on the surface .

As there are :

-poppers (generate popping sounds on short jerks and twitches)

-stickbaits(streamline,-or cigar-shaped , tailweighted lures , on rythmic , constant twitches they "walk-the-dog" , meaning they come back in in a zig-zag course on the surface).

-crawlers(have a wide cupped nose-plate of metal , causing the lure to come back with a gurgling , "plopp-plopp-plopp" sound on a steady retrieve) .

-creepers(similar action pattern like crawlers , but have two hinged metal wings on either side) .

propbaits(cigar,-or streamline-shaped , have propellers fore and aft or only on one end , steady retrieve or twitching) .

globe-lures(cigar-shaped , have a rotating front section , a wide propeller blade is screwed onto the rear end of front portion to let it spin on a steady retrieve).

tallywhackers(fish,-or streamline-shaped , have a rotating tailsection , driven by a single , larger , potruding flap that is similarly shaped like one half of a buzzblade , also steady retrieve required) .

flaptails(a lure , that has a swivelled , thicker kinda spinnerblade on the tail , that moves to either direction on a slow retrieve , if it starts to spin , you're going too fast . Often has some metal or screws on its rear for the blade to hit on for added noise) .

chuggers(rather looking like a popper , but has also sligthly different mouth designs for different actions , some of 'em pop on a jerk and also dive up to 1 1/2 feet down , my favourite of these is the "Heddon Lucky 13" , an extremly good pike lure for shallow water) .

OK , this little list-up may be not perfect , but I hope , that it would provide some info for you !

greetz , Dieter

Edited September 22, 2008 by diemai
spell error

[MINESAPINT]

I have now managed to purchase a quantity of stainless steel (316) wire 1.0mm and 1.6mm so am in a position to continue with my popper. I do have various lighter weight woods available but will continue with this ash blank for practice/experience.

One thing I am unsure about which Scottishghillie tried to explain in his reply is whether the sloping mouth should look down into the water or up into the sky?

I assume it should look down into the water and additionally the attaching eye should be attached towards the top of the gaping mouth?

I imaging this arrangement will create a rocking/popping motion or am I just confused?

Thanks

MINESAPINT

[diemai]

@ MINESAPINT

Check this , hope , that it is readable !

Toweyes placed a little fraction above the center , and nothing should go wrong , too high above the center and the lure would overturn .

Greetz , diemai

[mark poulson]

Just a couple of thoughts to muddy the water.

I find that poppers that sit a little tail down work better. This helps them pop or chug more easily as you retrieve them, since the cupped face is constantly trying to face up.

You can achieve this by drilling you tail hook hole over sized, and adding lead there. If you're using a through wire, you'll probably have to experiment with a sacrificial wire, one that you don't mind cutting off and throwing away, to be able to adjust the weight. With screw eyes, just hang enough weight on the tail hook to get the lure to hang down a bit, and then put that weight into the over sized hole. You'll have to re drill for the screw eye, and use one that's long enough to get into the wood again.

You can try to add the weight by drilling the lure body next to the screw eye instead, but most poppers are so tapered toward the rear that there's not a lot of room in the wood to drill.

If you're using a through wire, you can leave the tail section long enough to wrap lead wire, from a fly tying shop, onto the shaft before the hook attachment eye.

You'll probably wind up making a few before you get one that works the way you want it to.

So don't invest the time in a great paint job and topcoat until you've tested the lures and got one that works.

Been there, done that.

Edited September 24, 2008 by mark poulson