Jig fishing bait, no doubt, can be purchased today in almost any fishing store. However, the manufacture of a mandala with your own hands, which someone once made for the first time in their garage, is a tempting idea. Moreover, the catchy little thing, one that has already received worldwide recognition among the fishermen, is done easily and simply. What a miracle bait looks like visually, of course, you already know. And they use a mandala, as a rule, for catching such predatory fish as zander. But with success, you can extract from the water and perch, pike and even powerful catfish. And all thanks to its optimal responsiveness to the slightest spinning movements and successful bait characteristics.
What are they usually made of?
Do-it-yourself mandulas are usually made from pieces of polyurethane, which can be found everywhere, in a variety of pantries and on balconies - among old things. Tourist rugs, women's slippers, flip flops, some building materials, stationery and household goods - all this can be an excellent raw material for making mandulas with your own hands (it’s better to make several lures at once, in reserve and in shift). Half an hour of your time will take you to make them. And how nice it will be to fish for the bait “handmade” - just do not pass! In addition, you yourself can always choose the color, size, weight according to personal preferences, and not follow the not-so-nice “take what they give” formula.
What is a mandula?
Fishermen are creative. And they make a lot of the fishing arsenal, as a rule, with their own hands. Spinning jig fishing, popular today, does not remain without close attention. For this type of fishing, folk experts also make different lures. And one of them - a mandala on a pike with her own hands. This is a synthetic bait, assembled from three or even more parts. And at the heart of it is a strong wire threaded through pieces of foamed polyurethane. Not only pike are caught on the mandula: both perch and pike perch. Just for the predator of rivers and lakes, the bait should be a little larger and heavier - but the principle of assembly and action remains the same.
Materials
Sculpting a mandala with your own hands always begins with a selection of source material and appropriate tools for crafts. We will need polyurethane foam. It is very suitable (as a deposit to mine) pieces of insulation, a tourist rug, summer colored flip flops. Still needed:
- wire (diameter of about 0.5-0.7 millimeters);
- hooks (tees or doubles);
- rings or carabiners for attaching to a sinker;
- weighed themselves (it is better to take "eared");
- cotton ear sticks, which are needed as an axial tube (successfully replaced with candy sticks or empty pen pens);
- material for the tail of the craft: New Year's rain, multi-colored wool;
- for fastening jewelry - durable thread.
Instruments
We need a sharp clerical knife, scissors, instant glue (it should be waterproof, but not corrode synthetics), pliers for making ringlets from wire, punches of various diameters, sharpened, thin awl.
Manufacture
Mandala on a pike with his own hands consists of three segments. To understand the manufacturing process itself, we will determine their names by location to the jig head: head; body; tail.
- First, we glue the polyurethane plates together, alternating the color according to your preference (you can peek at the branded bait, which is sold in the store). If the material itself is thicker than one centimeter (for example, slippers are used), then the plates can be cut down without gluing together.
- We chop pieces of 10-12 multi-colored washers from polyurethane with sharp tubes. On the axis (in the role of which it will be most convenient to use an awl (knitting needle)), we string the chopped washers (glue together). A head with a body for the bait is obtained in the length of 1.5 or 2 centimeters, and for the tail of the "fish" foam will be enough half a centimeter in thickness. Thus, the total length of a mandala made with our own hands is about 5-7 centimeters for perch. And for large zander, pike need to make bait for more. A mandala for a pike made by her own hands - up to 10 or even 12 centimeters in length (for a "trophy" predator, for example).
- Here, a set of washers has already been formed, glued and strung on an axis. We begin its processing and grinding to give the desired shape. The head with the body of the bait is cut with a clerical knife in the shape of a cone, and the tail can be left in the form of a cylinder. We complete the workpieces with scissors. The bait will not require an ideal cone, and small errors will give the mandula realism. So that she has a complete appearance, the elements of the frame are prepared. Moreover, there are 2 hooks in the classic: one is located in the head, the second - in the tail of the synthetic bait.
- We equip the first tee in the head with a wire in such a way that it has 2 rings. We use the front pliers to lower the forearm of the hook to secure the sinker through the winding ring. Our second ring extends beyond the limit of the hook bend and serves for fastening to the body. We insert a piece of plastic tube of the ear stick into it. The ends are slightly melted. Such a device will be needed to pass the wire that will connect the head to the tail.
Assembly
When the elements are prepared, the do-it-yourself mandula on the perch is assembled completely. We put a cone of polyurethane on a tee in the head with 2 wire rings. We put the workpiece on the tail tee. We cut the wire onto the ring, which is located above the hook bends, we twist it to fix it. We cut the short end of the twist from the wire, and the longer thread through the plastic tube in the cone of the mandula. With our own hands we wind the tip of the wire into the tail hook ring, we also fix it with twisting. Next, we decorate the tail with a piece of New Year's rain or colored wool. These decorative elements can be fixed with a drop of “Moment” glue (waterproof). We mount the mandala to the carabiner using the clockwork ring (this manipulation can also be performed directly at the place of fishing). The tackle is ready for fishing, and now you know what a mandala is made with your own hands (see the photo of the process above). This is an excellent catchy bait that allows you to get pikeperch, perch, pike in a jig way fishing for spinning. Good luck and trophies to you!