How to make your own hands "Croatian egg"

Summer fishing attracts many, however in a hot season coastal sections of reservoirs are covered with thick algae, in which predators hide. This makes it difficult to catch perch or pike. To facilitate the task of anglers, the Croatian Branimir Kalinich created a special bait. It is classified as superficial and has proven to be effective in practice. In honor of the homeland of its inventor and because of its specific form, this fishing tackle was called the "Croatian egg". It's easy to make it with your own hands, especially since you do not need to use special tools for this.

Properties

Although firms engaged in the manufacture of goods for fishing, do not produce "Croatian eggs," they are very convenient, since they easily pass through thickets of algae and entice large pike and perch. Such lures do not cling to underwater vegetation, due to the fact that their center of gravity is shifted forward. The carnivorous fish notices the fluctuations that create the "Croatian egg" on the surface of the water, and instantly it suffices. Thus, it is possible to catch even a fairly passive pike.

What will it take to make a Croatian bait on your own?

To create a fishing tackle, invented by Branimir Kalinich, you will need:

• Cork or cork from champagne;
• Single hook;
• Round nose pliers or pliers;
• Sheet lead;
• "Emery circle" or file;
• Metal wire with a diameter of 0.5 mm;
• Glue "Moment" or any other cyanoacryl type.

Instructions: how to make a "Croatian egg" with your own hands with the parameters

The work is done in several stages:

• Processing cork from champagne or wine.

At the first stage, you will need to use the file. With it, you need to give a cork of champagne the shape of an egg. By the way, craftsmen are advised to use for this purpose a "sanding wheel", which will speed up the process of grinding and make it more qualitative. Next, to make a "Croatian egg" with their own hands from a cork-billet, take a hacksaw for the metal and make a cut along the central axis, from the middle of the "spout" to the back of the future bait, after which, using a fine-tooth hacksaw, expand the cut to 2.5 Mm.

• Preparation of the frame.

It should consist of a suitably curved wire (D = 0.5 mm) and a single hook. If the latter has a slight bend in the forearm, then it should be straightened using pliers. As for the wire, it is better to take the knitting, as it easily bends and does not rust in the water.

• The connection of the frame and the plug billet.

Further production of the "Croatian egg" with their own hands will require some skill. In particular, you should be extremely careful not to be mistaken with proportions. Masters who have a successful experience of creating self-made baits, it is recommended to form a loop of wire on the hook so that its protruding part is equal to about two-thirds of the total length of the body of the egg. Then, the ring of the hook is made with six turns of wire, and at the other end it is fixed with three turns by round-bends for reliability.

• Load.

To bring the "Croatian egg" produced by the hands "to the mind", lead sheet will be needed. A strip is cut out of it, equal to the length of the body of the bait, 1 cm wide and with a leaf thickness of not more than 1 mm. It is bent in half and crimped hook, as well as twisted wire. Further, the prepared reinforcement, together with the lead load, is inserted into the grooves cut out earlier. You should try to make it fit tightly in the cut-out holes and not stagger when used later.

Checking

After fixing the reinforcement, you should check the quality of the "Croatian egg". To do this, you can immerse it in a container of water. If done correctly, the bait should drop to the waterline running from the beginning of the hook to the center of the ring. In this case, the point of the hook should be directed upwards. If this is not the case, the depth of immersion of the "Croatian egg" can be adjusted by increasing or decreasing the length of the lead sheet. Sometimes the part of the load protruding from the section is too large. In this case, it must be accurately cut with a file.

The final stage

To securely fix the hook with the load in the bait, it is necessary to drip a couple of drops of the Moment glue into the section where it was placed. You can do the same in another way: pour in a small amount of epoxy. Then you need to wait a bit for the glue to do its job.

Epoxy resin treatment

In order for the carnivorous fish to become interested in bait, you will need to decorate yourself with a "Croatian egg". It is best to use epoxy resin for this . In this case, it is not recommended to use too much of this material, since it has a rather high cost.

The proportion of mixing resin with hardeners may be different, so it is better to follow the instructions. As a rule, it is 1:10. In this case, work should be carried out in a well-heated room to avoid too rapid solidification of the material.

When the staff is ready, they should be flooded with the "Croatian egg". The resin should drain into all the cracks and the incision where the reinforcement was inserted. It is necessary to carefully rotate the workpiece, so that the epoxy composition evenly covers the entire surface of the egg. In addition to the aesthetic function, it will perform and practical, as it reliably fixes the hook.

As soon as the resin stops flowing, it needs to be lightly treated with sandpaper to remove irregularities.

Coloring

In truth, the fish draw attention to the shape of the bait, not its color. However, some craftsmen paint their own "Croatian egg". For this purpose, any drawing can come up, so it is not necessary to try to copy the outward appearance of the inhabitants of reservoirs. In addition, the prevailing view that too bright a bait will scare away the fish, has no basis under itself.

For coloring, any colors are suitable, because at the final stage of the work the "Croatian egg" will still have to be covered with parquet or so-called yacht lacquer. Both of these materials are well tolerated by direct contact with water. Thus, in addition to the decorative function, they also perform a protective function, preventing the soiling of the "Croatian egg" and the erasing of the paint applied to the surface.

How to make a "Croatian egg" with their own hands with improved characteristics

To predator with great zeal attacked the proposed bait, it can be made more provocative. To this end, in the front part of the "Croatian egg" is a small groove, like popper, where a plastic "spout" is inserted, a small "propeller" or beads are attached. Ideas for improving homemade bait from a cork can be spied on wobblers produced by well-known companies. In addition, some fishermen use old store floats as a basis to make their own "Croatian egg".

Among the most popular options for upgrading the bait, you can note the addition of a "tail". As you know, the "Croatian egg" was fished for fishermen, due to its non-seizure for algae. To improve this property of bait, a small plastic piece is cut from a conventional plastic bottle, resembling the shape of a swallow's tail or fork. Then in the "egg" drill a hole 4 mm deep, insert a cut "tail" into it and smear the place of attachment with resin.

A few tips from experienced fishermen

Those who have already used the "Croatian egg", recommend:

• When you are going to use the bait for pike fishing, choose a bigger hook. Otherwise, the pike can simply bite the "egg" or even, pulling it, bend the spinning in an arc, but not to be detected.
• Make a small hole in the epoxy resin under the "muzzle" of the bait, which will improve its properties.
• In addition, it should be borne in mind that any improvement in the non-clutchability of the "Croatian egg" reduces its undercutting, so in reservoirs where the amount of algae is uncritical, it is not worth trying to modernize the bait.

Now you know how the "Croatian egg" is made by yourself. With the directions presented above, the solution of this task will not be difficult and you will be able to see the effectiveness of the homemade bait on the first fishing trip, on which you want to experience it.