Rookie Popper Maker Question

All about flies Fly Tying
1

Hi everyone,

I know there have been questions and stories about building popper flies posted here, but I’m having trouble finding the full, basic instructions. There are a few questions I’d like to have answered:

A. How to build poppers from wine corks (cutting, length, shaping)
B. What’s a good, inexpensive hook to learn with? (size, shape)
C. Similar directions for foam flies?

I’m most interested in using corks, rather than purchasing pre-shaped bodies. I fish Rhode Island waters, and I’m targeting bass, but any warm-water critter will do.

I’m looking for tips, videos, books… whatever you have found useful.

Thanks in advance!
p.s. I’m posting this in the warm water forum, too.

2

Corks…

If you really want to use corks:

Get yourself a fine hoby saw. Dremel makes one, almost any hobby shop or craft store will have one. Some even come with a small miter box. Use this to cut the cork for length if you have to do so, and to cut a slot for the hook in the bottom. Often you can buy corks in the sizes you want at any hardware store. Wine bottle corks are fine for larger baits.

A dremel is helpful in shaping. I used a sanding drum to shape the cork, angle the face, etc. Just take your time.

Use a good two part epoxy to attach the hook the to the cork and to fill the slot. A piece of clear tape applied over the slot after you fill it with glue will keep the finish sanding to a minimum.

Use fine sandpaper to smooth the cork before applying a base coat of paint. I like 400-600 grit for this.

Lacquers were the industry standard for painting cork bodies for generations, but the acrylics you can get anywhere will work. Use white for the base coat. Apply at least two thin coats to seal the cork. The cork will absorb water and not float if you don’t seal it well. Paint with whatever color you wish. Always be sure to allow the paint to dry completely between coats.

Add your choice of tailing, and you are ready to fish.

As far as inexpensive hooks, the kink shank popper hooks made by Mustad were create specifically for this use and hard to beat. I think the Q # is 33903. You can find them online. Size 6 is good for 'gill flies, look at size 2 to 1/0 for bass. You can get smaller and larger ones if you need them.

All that being said, cork is a pain to work with and to get too look good without putting on so much paint they sink.

Foam is easier, and cheaper unless you have lots of wine corks.

One ‘kneeling’ pad or pair of white foam beach sandals will make hundreds of bodies. You can buy a set of punches from Harbor Freight for around $10 that will punch out bodies for you in sizes up to 1/2 inch. You can ‘punch’ them out with a mallet, or put the punch in a drill press and ‘cut’ them.

There is lots of informaion about making foam poppers here. It can be as simple as cutting a slit in the bottom of the foam cylinder, gluing it onto a hook, adding a tail and going fishing, to carefully turning foam bodies on a home made lathe and carefully painting/finishing them. How far you get into it is up to you.

Good Luck!

Buddy

3

Cork is a pain and so is balsa.
Basswood is good alternative for both, :tieone:Soft, relatively light, and a joy to work.

4

If you are ambitious, look at http://www.flyanglersonline.com/articles/bobboese/2012/bobboese20120827.php for detailed instructions on making a foam dremel popper.
I would actually start with a gartside gurgler pattern. Very easy tie and works great as a popper.
Acceptable hooks for large poppers are eagle claw 062 available at Walmart.
Best hooks for Bass poppers are Mustad 30187 Stinger hooks.
Check out my articles (bob boese) on “easy” flies and “bikini” flies and you will find instructions for easy foam flies.
Good Luck

5

I did this one using foam glued together with Super 77 spray. I use a tool that is made by a fellow that owns the Soggy Bottom fly shop, it goes in a dremel tool and I use a nail file to turn it down to the sise you want.
I used to use cork, but the foam is much easier to work with, at least to me. If I want to make them look good, I coat them with Liquid Fusion after putting any color on them.

6

These are great responses! This shows what a rookie I am. Seems like a lot of people share your low opinion of cork. I just thought it would be an easy material to work with, but it isn’t looking that way.

Buddy, thanks for the extensive, informative response.

Namekagon: I like the idea of trying the basswood. I’ll give it a shot!

Coachbob: I did a quick readthrough of your article, and it looks terrific! Thanks for that, along with your recommendations in this thread!

RHenn: what sort of foam were you working with?

Great tips! Keep 'em coming!
Hugh

7

If you want to use wood try western cedar. It is very soft and a 6 ft. fence paling will provide you a lifetime supply for about $2.50. EVA foam is everywhere, flip flops, children’s toys (check for puzzles and toys made to be taken apart or put together) if you know the management or maintenance guys at a public swimming pool they can probably supply with with a lifetime supply of mismatch flip flops in one summer.

All kinds of metal tubes can be made into cutters, my favorite come from wrecked umbrellas.

Colored Sharpies are very handy for coloring bodies and rubber legs. Run a Sharpie down a twisted rubber leg gives you a candy stripe around it. Super Glue will change the color of Sharpies however. Also make friend with a teenage girl they have tons of unused finger nail polish that is good for painting bodies.

A variable chuck on your rotary tool is a neat thing, it allow you to hold tools down to needle size. I like to use a very small wood screw and thread the foam cylinder on it in my rotary tool for shaping with an emery board or sandpaper.

8

If I have more time I get the corkers out to show. It helps to have a drill press or dremel tool for smaller corks but if the cork shape is good by itself then just paint it and dress it. They look really great to.

I use some rather extra large cork to turn out some musky poppers by turning them to shape with sanding sticks I make up.

No they are not a PITA just cause some think so.

Afterall cork thumps the water better than everything I had use.

9

If you want to make your own popper blanks, you can make “plug cutters” very easily out of spent bullet casings. Start by drilling out the primer with a 3/32 inch drill bit. (do this from the inside of the shell). Then, slip a 3/32 inch bolt through the hole so that the threads of the bolt come out the back of the shell. Now, tighten down a couple of nuts to hold it it place. You now have simple plug cutter that you can use in a drill or drill press to make popper blanks out of foam or balsa wood. I have a complete set of these ranging in size from 22 caliber up to 50 caliber and it takes me about 5 seconds per plug. For freshwater, I usually use about a 45 caliber sized plug and then mount it on the needle in my variable speed Dremel to turn it done to the size and shape I want. I use different colored foam flip flops depending on what I am making. If I want to add some additional color, I string the shaped popper bodies on a piece of thin piano wire and hit them with a spritz of spray paint. Again, it takes me less than a minute to paint 10-12 popper bodies. For added durability, I sometimes give them a coat of epoxy. This makes them almost indestructable and allows me to add 3D eyes and more color changes if I want to mix a bit of very fine sparkles to the epoxy. I hope this gives you some more ideas to try out.

Jim Smith

10

Just a side note: Wear goggles, a face shield or safety glasses with side shields when using the rotary tools, especially at high speeds. If things get out of balance at 30,000 rpms things fly off at odd angles.

11

That is very true, I have flung foam all over my garage!
As far as the foam I use, I go to Hobby Lobby and they have a great selection of colors and thickness to choose from.

12

Jesse: cedar? Wow! Never thought of that! Really interesting idea. And yes, I will definitely wear eye protection.

Dog: Glad to hear cork isn’t all bad; I’d still like to at least give it a shot.

Jim: I don’t have access to shell casings, but I definitely like the idea, along with the rest of your tips!

RHenn: Thanks for the foam info; I will check them out.

Great info, folks! This is really interesting reading!

13

Sure,why not?
I made a lot of wine cork poppers back in the day with nothing more than files and a coping saw.
I still use it once in awhile,albeit commercial preshaped, here’s a corked devil bug.

14

Hi Teachmarkey,

I have a broken radio antenna, the telescoping type, that I intend to use to cut plugs with. I need to take it apart and sharpen it. In the past I used a laboratory cork borer, which works great, but is a bit of a pain to borrow and bring home from work. For what its worth every now and then you see cork borers on Ebay. The ones we have are a bit like a simplified hand opperated drill press. They make power models, and also make hand heald models.

You might be able to contact your local gun club to get access to some cartridge cases. Even if everyone reloads at the gun club, cases wear out, and get disposed of, so you might be able to pick some up. You don’t need many, just a few would be enough.

I like the hump back mustad popper hooks, #33903 is the old model but I don’t know the new model numbers, that mustad makes for poppers. The hump helps the popper body grip the hook shank better than a straight shank.

The way I attach foam bodies to a popper hook is to first wrap the shank of the hook with very open spirals with a coarse tying thead and then coat the spirals with a very thin layer of thin super glue. To attach the foam body to the hook shank I cut a slot for the hook shank and do a trial fit. I use a pointed blade to cut the slot a bit deeper for the “hump” on the hook. When the fit is good I put a glob of the thick super glue on the hook shank and then “pinch” the “top” of the popper body to open up the slot on the bottom of the popper. The thread wraps help the body to “grab” the hook shank.

With the slot opened up I set the body on the shank, and then carefully pinch the foam body to hold the slot shut over the shank for a little bit. Be careful not to glue your fingers to the popper body…it can happen. You ought to have some acetone on hand to free your thumb and first finger if need be.

Regards,

Gandolf

15

Teachmarkey,

PM me your mailing address and I’ll send you some shell casings you can use free of charge.

Jim Smith

16

PM sent, Jim! Thank you!

Gandalf: great advice with the acetone. I am definitely the kind of guy to wind up gluing a popper to my thumb otherwise! :stuck_out_tongue:

17

When making foam bodies (my preference) I use Aberdeen hooks (they are readily available, cheap and will like hold anything you catch on a flyrod) I run a piece of mono through the eye of the hook, then use a large sewing needle to pull to pull both ends of the line through the body. This allows me to get the shank of the hook through the bottom 1/16" of the body. Super glue has be adequate to keep them from rotating in the body. I have covered the hook shank with a thread base but I am not sure that is necessary. I modified a pair of large pliers to kink hook bodies but rarely use them anymore.

18

When making foam bodies (my preference) I use Aberdeen hooks (they are readily available, cheap and will like hold anything you catch on a flyrod) I run a piece of mono through the eye of the hook, then use a large sewing needle to pull to pull both ends of the line through the body. This allows me to get the shank of the hook through the bottom 1/16" of the body. Super glue has be adequate to keep them from rotating in the body. I have covered the hook shank with a thread base but I am not sure that is necessary. I modified a pair of large pliers to kink hook bodies but rarely use them anymore.

So you’re using the needle to make the hole for the hook? And the hook has Super Glue on it when you do so?

19

So you’re making the hole with the needle, then pulling the hook through with the line you’ve run through hook and needle? And the hook has Super Glue on it when you do so?

20

The only thing I dislike about using cork is having to fill the holes and prime the bodies before painting. And I myself seem to have a difficult time making the small bodies, i.e, size 10.