Summer fishing attracts many, however, in the hot season, coastal sections of water bodies are covered with dense algae, in which predators hide. This makes fishing for perch or pike difficult. To facilitate the task for fishermen, the Croatian Branimir Kalinich created a special bait. It belongs to the category of superficial and in practice has proved its effectiveness. In honor of the homeland of its inventor and because of its specific form, this fishing tackle was called the “Croatian egg”. It is quite simple to make it with your own hands, especially since this does not require the use of special tools.
The properties
Although fishing companies do not produce “Croatian eggs,” they are very convenient because they easily pass through thickets of algae and lure large pikes and perches. Such baits do not cling to underwater vegetation, due to the fact that their center of gravity is shifted forward. A predatory fish notices the fluctuations that the “Croatian egg” creates on the surface of the water, and it instantly grabs it. Thus, it is possible to catch even enough passive pikes.
What you need to make a Croatian bait on your own
To create fishing gear invented by Branimir Kalinic, you will need:
- cork or champagne cork;
- single hook;
- pliers or pliers;
- sheet lead;
- "Emery wheel" or file;
- metal wire with a diameter of 0.5 mm;
- glue "Moment" or any other cyanoacrylic type.
Instructions: how to make a "Croatian egg" with your own hands with the instructions of the parameters
The work is carried out in several stages:
- Processing cork from champagne or wine.
At the first stage, you will need to use a file. With its help, it is necessary to give the cork from champagne an egg shape. By the way, craftsmen advise using an “emery wheel” for this purpose, which will speed up the grinding process and make it better. Further, in order to make a “Croatian egg” from a cork blank, they’ll take a hacksaw for metal and make a cut along the central axis, from the middle of the “nose” to the back of the future bait, after which, using a fine-tooth hacksaw, expand the cut to 2.5 mm
It should consist of a suitably bent wire (D = 0.5 mm) and a single hook. If the latter has a slight bend at the forend, then it should be straightened with pliers. As for the wire, it is better to take a knitting one, as it easily bends and does not rust in water.
- The connection of the frame and cork blanks.
The further manufacture of the “Croatian egg” with your own hands will require some skill. In particular, you should be extremely careful not to make a mistake with the proportions. Masters with successful experience in making homemade baits recommend forming a loop of wire on the hook so that its protruding part is equal to about two thirds of the total body length of the egg. Then, six turns are made at the hook ring with wire, and at the other end it is fixed with three turns of round-nose pliers for reliability.
To bring the croatian egg made by yourself, you need sheet lead. A strip is cut out of it, equal to the length of the body of the bait, 1 cm wide and with a sheet thickness of not more than 1 mm. It is bent in half and squeezed by a hook, as well as a twisted wire. Next, the prepared reinforcement, together with lead picking, is inserted into the grooves cut earlier. We must try to make sure that it is tightly located in the cut holes and does not stagger when used in the future.
Check
After fixing the reinforcement, the quality of the “Croatian egg” should be checked. To do this, you can immerse it in a container of water. If everything is done correctly, the bait should lower to the waterline, going 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 so, then you can adjust the immersion depth of the "Croatian egg" by increasing or decreasing the length of the lead sheet. Sometimes the part of the load protruding from the cut is too large. In this case, it is carefully cut off with a file.
Final stage
In order to reliably fix the hook with the load in the bait, a couple of drops of “Moment” glue should be dripped into the cut where it was placed. You can do something else: pour a small amount of epoxy there. Then you need to wait a bit for the glue to do its job.
Epoxy resin treatment
In order for a predatory fish to become interested in the bait, you will need to make a “Croatian egg” with your own hands. It is best to use epoxy for this . At the same time, 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 can be different, so it is better to follow the instructions. As a rule, it is 1:10. At the same time, work should be carried out in a well-heated room, in order to avoid hardening the material too quickly.
When the composition is ready, they should pour the “Croatian egg”. The resin should flow into all the cracks and into the section where the fittings were inserted. In this case, you must carefully rotate the workpiece so that the epoxy composition evenly covers the entire surface of the egg. In addition to the aesthetic function, he will perform a practical one, as he will securely fix the hook.
As soon as the resin ceases to spread, it should be lightly treated with sandpaper to remove bumps.
Coloring
In truth, the fish pays attention to the shape of the bait, not its color. However, some craftsmen paint the "Croatian egg" with their own hands. For this purpose, any pattern can be suitable, therefore it is not at all necessary to try to accurately copy the appearance of the inhabitants of water bodies. In addition, the prevailing opinion that a too bright bait will scare away fish does not have any basis.
Any colors are suitable for coloring, because at the final stage of the work the “Croatian egg” will still have to be covered with parquet or the so-called yacht varnish. Both of these materials tolerate direct contact with water. Thus, in addition to the decorative function, they perform a protective one, preventing the soaking of the “Croatian egg” and the abrasion of the paint applied to the surface.
How to make a Croatian egg with your own hands with improved features
So that the predator with great zeal pounced on the proposed bait, it can be made more provocative. For this purpose, a small notch is made in front of the “Croatian egg”, like a popper, where a plastic “nose” is inserted, a small “propeller” or beads are glued. Ideas for improving homemade cork bait can be seen on wobblers made by well-known companies. In addition, some fishermen use old store floats as their basis in order to make a “Croatian egg” with their own hands.
Among the most popular options for the modernization of the bait, the addition of a “tail” can be noted. As you know, the "Croatian egg" was to the liking of the fishermen, thanks to its unfastened algae. To improve this property of the bait, a small piece is cut out of an ordinary plastic bottle, resembling the shape of a “swallow’s tail” or “fork”. Then a hole 4 mm deep is drilled in the “egg” itself, a cut “tail” is inserted into it and the attachment point is lubricated with resin.
Some tips from experienced fishermen
Those who have already used the “Croatian egg” recommend:
- If you are going to use the bait to catch pike, choose a larger hook. Otherwise, the pike can simply bite the "egg" or even, dragging it, bend the spinning rod into an arc, but not catch.
- Make a small hole in epoxy 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-attachment of the “Croatian egg” reduces its undercutting, therefore in reservoirs where the amount of algae is uncritical, one should not try to modernize the bait.
Now you know how to make a "Croatian egg" with your own hands. With the instructions presented above, the solution to this problem will not be difficult and you can see the effectiveness of homemade bait on the first fishing trip on which you want to test it.