Peterjay Posted February 21, 2010 Report Share Posted February 21, 2010 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. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GDille Posted February 21, 2010 Report Share Posted February 21, 2010 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 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peterjay Posted February 22, 2010 Author Report Share Posted February 22, 2010 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. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nova Posted February 22, 2010 Report Share Posted February 22, 2010 Try the Dollar Store. If they have it, it will be a lot cheaper than anywhere. www.novalures.com Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HellRAISER Posted February 28, 2010 Report Share Posted February 28, 2010 Take a look at your mouse pad the black foam ...the under side Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
