Foam rubber baits: how to make fish with your own hands for pike perch and pike perch

What is foam bait?

She has a serious list of advantages, the main ones:

Even an inexperienced user can make foam rubber baits with his own hands. They are cheap, unlike plumb lines, wobblers, spinners and other baits, which are more difficult to make at home.
Elasticity allows the bait to play in the water, attracting the attention of predators. It guarantees that even with a lazy bite it will crumple and the fish will be hooked.
The porous sponge is easily saturated with mixtures, which means you can paint it the desired color or sprinkle it with a flavor that will last a long time.
Range. An experienced fisherman can easily throw the bait at a distance, further than a wobbler or spinner. Consequently, the likelihood of successful fishing increases significantly.
Efficiency. Fish take a properly made bait equally willingly in spring and winter, in November and May, so it is not surprising that fishing with foam rubber is becoming common.

Types of foam rubber baits

Depending on the size and object of fishing, the foam bait can be one of the following types:

perch - a small “carrot” shaped foam rubber up to 5 cm in size. Equipped with a single, or less often, double hook. Used for catching small and medium-sized perch in reservoirs with a slight current and a depth of no more than 3 m;
pike - bait 8-10 cm long, in the shape of a small fish. They are equipped with double and triple hooks. Such foam rubbers are used when fishing for pike along aquatic vegetation, in relatively clean holes and pools;
pike perch - 9-10 cm long, foam rubber fish, equipped with a double and painted yellow or green. Used for catching pike perch in holes and pools;
universal - a foam rubber 7-9 cm long in the form of a small narrow-bodied fish, equipped with doubles. Well suited for catching pike, pike perch, large perch in rivers and standing reservoirs.

Important!

When choosing the type of weight - a solid jig head or a collapsible "Cheburashka" type sinker - preference is given to the latter. It increases the mobility of the bait, allows you to quickly change the weight of the load without removing the hook from the body of the foam rubber. Non-separable eared sinkers are not used - connecting them to the foam rubber hook takes a lot of time.

Read Fishing for taimen with different tackles and choosing baits

Advantages of foam rubber as a material for bait

All the advantages of foam rubber are explained by the characteristics of the material from which it is made. These advantages include the following:

ease of processing - the material is easily cut with simple scissors or a sharp knife or blade;
light weight - foam rubber is light in weight. Lures made from it work well in shallow places. A box with them will weigh significantly less than with wobblers or spinners;
porous structure - a bait made of porous foam rubber, when it gets into the water and becomes saturated with it, becomes mobile and more attractive to a predator. The pores are well filled with attractants and other substances that attract predators with a sensitive sense of smell;
resistance to wear and durability - baits made of this material do not rot in water and can last for more than one season;
color variety - furniture and construction foam rubber (insulation) is very diverse in its color range;
easy paintability - if you still need to give the bait a color, you can use any waterproof paint. Foam rubber will absorb the paint well, ensure its even distribution throughout the pores and dry very quickly.

Note to the angler

Foam rubber for baits is chosen new. Material from old sofas and armchairs is not suitable for these purposes. It crumbles easily, is very fragile and quickly collapses. In water, such a material loses its strength and other properties completely.

Should I buy a foam fish or make it myself?

This problem faces beginners, while masters prefer to make the bait themselves. This option has its advantages: you can give the product any shape, color and aroma. This is important - standard ones will not always be catchy on a particular body of water, and knowing the habits and preferences of the fish on the nearest lake, the expert will return with a catch.

To learn more:

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On the other hand, the cost of this material is low. Of course, ready-made foam fish for pike-perch, pike or perch are inexpensive, but it’s worth considering that their service life is also short. Clinging to grass, small branches or snags, they will wear out, and once in the toothy mouth, they will lose their original appearance. Learning how to cut out crafts with your own hands is useful.

Non-snacking foam shape

It is advisable to tie the shape of the foam fish to the preferences of the predatory fish that we are going to catch with this bait.

But as many fishermen as there are, there are so many different forms of foam fish.

Some people prefer to fish with a long, tapered, non-snappy foam rubber. Some people respect short but wide soft baits similar to roach or perch. Some fishermen can see hand-made sets of foam rubber fish without hooks that look more like works of art by a talented artist.

Although, in my opinion, most fishermen are not very concerned about coloring non-snagging foam rubber of any shape and size. And some, on the contrary, paint the baits so that they burst into burning tears at the funeral of the vaunted non-snappy foam rubber, cursing various foreign inclusions at the bottom of the river.

And, naturally, every fisherman has the confidence that he is the one who catches predatory fish using a non-hooking foam rubber fish made by himself of the most correct shape. Which, in general, is true.

It is the fishermen who have confidence in the prospects of their non-hooking foam rubber, regardless of the color and shape of the bait, who catch predatory fish better than others.

The picture shows the shape of the non-hooking foam rubber template - top view.

Let's prepare a successful basis for further equipment

Whether you get a catch or waste your time depends on the correct execution. All work is done step by step:

Take a suitable piece of foam: upholstery material, dishwashing sponge and any other. Experiment with different hardness and porosity. White foam rubber is better suited - it can be easily painted in any color and applied a complex pattern. But you can also take ready-made painted material.
Cut out the blank - choose the shape yourself. Some will choose a bleak as a template - thin but tall; others prefer a gudgeon - almost round in cross-section. It makes sense to make several blanks in order to determine during fishing which one is more catchy. To cut at home, you will need scissors and a razor blade.
Soak the foam rubber with water so that it springs less and is easier to process. Round the corners, give the head the appropriate shape, and make a cone-shaped tail.
Cut the narrow part to create a place where the hook will be installed. If other hooks will be used, this step of the instructions can be skipped.

The base of the foam rubber bait for pike, perch, pike perch and other predators is ready. Let's look at different rigging methods so that each fisherman chooses the one that suits him.

Features of baits

Foam rubber fish appeared in the USSR in the 70s of the last century. At the same time, the production of factory-made products was established in the city of Vladimir. Soon, fishermen all over the country knew about baits made from this material and successfully used them on various rivers and reservoirs.

Foam rubber fish have the following advantages:

Low cost and availability of materials for its manufacture. You can buy foam rubber, hooks and sinkers in any remote corner of the country.
Ease of manufacture. Every angler can make a foam rod, and for an experienced spinning fisher this process takes just a few minutes.
Positive buoyancy. Despite the fact that foam rubber absorbs water, the fish is located vertically at the bottom.
High flight characteristics, which are achieved by the compactness and streamlined shape of the bait.

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You don’t mind tearing off the foam rubber, because it’s cheap and easy to make yourself. Therefore, the bait can be used in the densest snags without fear of getting caught on branches or tree trunks.

The shape of a foam fish can be realistic, completely replicating a real fry. However, this characteristic is not the main one, since many anglers successfully use foam rubber of any appearance. The most popular is carrots. It’s easy to cut it yourself, and it catches just as well.

Carrot - the optimal shape of a foam fish

Today you can buy foam rubber of any color in hardware stores. The fisherman must have light and dark baits, and various pink, green, light blue shades can be used as an experiment. Perhaps on a particular body of water one color will “pop” better than others.

Advice! For pike perch, dark-colored foam rubber shows good results.

The foam rubber shows the best results in cold water. It is used in early spring and from the second half of summer. The fish is also effective in winter spinning when fishing in non-freezing sections of rivers near large cities and megalopolises.

Lures for jig fishing

However, there are many examples when foam fish showed decent results in the summer. The bait worked perfectly for pike perch when fishing in reservoirs, as well as for pike when fishing in small rivers, lakes and quarries.

Of course, the main use of foam rubber is jig fishing. The bait works on a stepped retrieve. Thanks to its positive buoyancy, it can be moved literally in one place, tugging the rod without winding the line with a reel. This technique is especially productive when the predator is extremely passive and lethargic.

Another effective way to feed foam fish is by dragging along the bottom. The bait is fed either evenly or with stops. Wiring speed ranges from super-slow to moderate. The predator is attracted by the turbidity rising from the bottom, the noise made by the equipment, and the fish sticking out vertically, which imitates a fry swarming at the bottom. The foam rubber must be carried out slowly. Long pauses at the bottom, up to 5–10 seconds, allow you to provoke a passive predator to grab.

Foam rubber bait works not only at the bottom. It can be used in the water column, but with less effectiveness than jig fishing. The main wiring in the middle horizons is wavy. The reel's line reel speed ranges from moderate to fast. The main fishing targets in this case are pike and perch.

Today, the production of foam fish is established on a production scale. But, despite the attractive and realistic appearance of factory products, homemade foam rubbers are more effective, since they are made for specific fishing conditions.

Soft fish on a jig head

Quite productive, and therefore a common type of bait. Of course, a jig is noticeably more expensive than a regular double or tee. But there is no need to rack your brains over the additional load, which will probably regularly cling to various obstacles, threatening to break. Take a jig hook, the shank of which is 3-4 cm less than the length of the base. Carefully pierce the foam from the front so that the sting sticks out from the “belly”. Make sure that the hook goes completely into the bait - only the weight should be visible.

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All that remains is to squeeze out a few drops of glue to securely fix the foam rubber to the weighting agent and let it harden. Now you know how to make a foam fish with your own hands, and you can always repeat the procedure, which means that every trip to a river or lake will bring rich fruits.

How to paint a foam fish

Many fishermen may think that painting a foam fish is very simple. But it is not so. Proper painting is far from an easy task, which requires certain skills and tools from the fisherman.

Everything would be fine, but active paints containing a solvent will simply ruin your bait, since foam rubber is a very delicate material. If you are not vigilant, you can easily ruin the workpiece, but there is always a way out.

Permanent markers
. This type of markers does not wash off with water and is perfect for coloring fish. True, such a marker is very expensive, but it is convenient to work with and you can apply a clear drawing.
Spray cans with aerosol acrylic paints
. You need to paint dry foam rubber from a spray can very carefully and carefully, otherwise you can simply ruin the workpiece if you apply a lot of paint. There is a drawback to this method of coloring - you cannot color the fish indoors, you will have to go outside.
Acrylic paints in liquid form
. The main thing is to wet the fish well, otherwise you will simply burn the dry foam with such paints. Painting with a brush is more convenient and can be done even in an apartment.

Advice
: Paint looks best on white foam.

And in general, the variety of colors is simply stunning, but I have not had the opportunity to test other types from personal experience. So, of course, I won’t advise you about something I don’t know about. If you have opinions on this matter, then you are welcome to comment.

Foam fish with double and tee

Before you start making bait, it is advisable to cut out the tail fin - it will play, attracting additional attention from predators. After this, carefully, using a thick awl or thin scissors, make a hole from the “abdomen” to the “muzzle” of the homemade fish. Pass the base of the double or tee through this hole, and then connect the separate parts into a structure using glue.

Some craftsmen, when making foam rubber for fishing with their own hands, decide to use not one hook, but two at once. It's just a little more complicated:

A larger base will be needed; only a large pike or pike perch can swallow it. Cut it out of foam rubber of a suitable color and density.
Make two holes in it - in the stomach and near the tail. They should come out in the area of the muzzle. Insert the hook into the first one and push it to the outlet hole. Solder a small piece of soft but strong wire to the other hook. You can use a metal leash. Pass the wire from the tail hole to the outlet hole.
Moving the foam aside so as not to damage it, solder the second tip of the wire to the other hook and let the solder cool.
A little glue to ensure high reliability.

The equipment is complete - you have received the tackle with which you will catch big fish. Surely she won't be able to spit out such bait.

Varieties of fish made from foam rubber

Foam rubber baits used when catching predatory fish, depending on the size and type of hooks used, are as follows:

non-snagging foam rubber with double hooks;
foam rubber on single;
baits equipped with single hooks;
foam rubber on solid jig heads.

All of them can be made from cheap and simple polyurethane foam (foam rubber) with your own hands.

Unhooked on double

This type of foam rubber is a bait in the shape of a fish, or less often a truncated cone. The points of the double hooks are located not on top of the fish, but on the sides. This makes the foam rubber snag-resistant. When a predator grabs it, the soft material allows the hooks to effectively hook it.

Depending on the weight of the load and the object being fished, such foam rubber can be from 6 to 12 cm long.

On an offset hook

This foam rubber has the appearance of a wide-bodied fish. The offset hook is mounted so that its tip is hidden in the body of the fish in the tail area. This arrangement of the hook in the body of the foam rubber ensures that if a predator grabs it, it will securely and firmly hook it into the dense tissue of the fish’s mouth. Used when fishing in heavily snagged, cluttered places, heavily overgrown backwaters and old rivers.

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Note to the angler

Single hook

A foam rubber on a single hook is a bait with a cylindrical body, like a wobbler. The body of the bait has a slight narrowing at the tail. A single large hook is passed through the body or glued into it. Such foam rubbers are small in size and are used for catching small and medium-sized perch and grass pike.

Note to the angler

When choosing a hook for such a foam rubber, preference is given to models with a long shank. The exception is fish for catching small perch - hooks for them are taken with a short shank and of a small size (No. 6-8).

On a jig head

Foam rubber fish are equipped not only with collapsible “Cheburashka” type sinkers, but also with lead jig heads weighing up to 15-18 grams. Like the foam rubber on a single hook, it has a cylindrical body without a pronounced tail.

They are used for catching pike perch and large pike on rivers and large lakes.

Foam rubber with twister

Very often, foam rubber bait is combined with a twister. The resulting “tandem”, thanks to the mobility of both baits, attracts predators, has a long flight range and low grip. Connect two baits into a single whole using soft knitting wire.

This bait allows you to catch medium and large sized perch, trophy pike perch, and pike.

Foam rubber plus twister

Another bold but effective solution. Production will be more expensive, but the likelihood of a bite with each trip will increase. The fact is that foam rubber is a soft, easily torn material; it will not be possible to make a large tail from it that would oscillate in the water. A twister will help you make a catch fish with your own hands. In this case, the base should be made short and thick - without a tail. Thread a tee or double into it using the method described above.

To learn more:

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Impregnation with attractants is an important point

As mentioned above, one of the main advantages of foam rubber baits is the possibility of using special flavors. This important advantage should not be neglected. You can purchase attractants at any fishing store. The porous material absorbs these substances and retains the aroma. This is especially true in muddy water - fish can track the bait by smell, and not just by swimming close enough to see it or feel it through touch.

But you shouldn’t get too carried away - one drop of attractant is enough for the foam base to retain a noticeable odor for a long time. An overdose may result in the scent repelling prey.