Making your own salt water poppers

[scorpioreno]

This is the time of year that we start new projects. I found this two part video on how to make salt water poppers from start to finish. What I like most about the video is the lure air brush system they use in part 2 of the video. For those of you that cant use a air brush system because of lack of room or ventilation this system shown in the video is using forced air to the tip of a felt tip marker. You can easily use the system indoors. I cant load both videos so I will load it in the next thread.

Part 1

[scorpioreno]

Here is part 2
http://youtu.be/nioBuTsERrg

[Mark]

Thank you for posting.

The painting process certainly makes a professional looking finish. I need to look into that.

I use colored foam for my poppers in lieu of paining them. The result is not as attractive and I do not get the two-tone effect but the stripers don't mind.

I follow most of the other processes in the video except that I paint the eyes with latex hobby paint using different sized nail heads to create the pupil effect. I coat the eyes with head cement or epoxy and that preserves them for the length of the fly. But to be honest, I think eyes matter more to the fisherman than the fish.

Here's one of my foam poppers for stripers:

G.jpg

I put rubber legs on this one. I use this style when fishing for largemouth bass. That usually requires a slower retrieve than for stripers and the legs provide extra but subtle action that the bass like.

A.jpg

This is a good time of year to tie. I do very little tying during fishing season.

[scorpioreno]

Those look good Mark. I like the Copic Markers and air system. I'm thinking about getting them after I finish my round of tying some salt water jigs.

[Romo]

That air marker system does look pretty sweet. Some mixed reviews on amazon from people who say the air cans don't work well and a compressor is needed. Even so that seems like a much better alternative to airbrushing for those of us without heated garages or ventilated work areas.

[Cowpokey]

Those are slick. I like the air marker system too, pretty clean.

[Slobber Bob]

I just saw that air marker painting system on a fishing show just recently. The host said it was an ok substitute for an air brush system, but it can only do base colors and can't do things like metallic.

[Memory Maker]

That air marker system does look pretty sweet. Some mixed reviews on amazon from people who say the air cans don't work well and a compressor is needed. Even so that seems like a much better alternative to airbrushing for those of us without heated garages or ventilated work areas.

Ya don't need a heated garage or a ventilation system for most airbrushing. Most airbrush paints are water based and don't need ventilation. It's only when you get into the solvent based ones that you should vent. Also, the airbrush work on that popper could be done with a $10 Harbor freight airbrush. I looked into the Scoptic pen airbrush. It's good for convenience and not having to clean an airbrush but expensive for the pens etc and you have to be careful of the finish reacting to the paint. You can easily airbrush into a box on a tabletop without problems.

[Memory Maker]

........ Changed my mind on the Copic Airbrush .......... I still think they are expensive with the pens costing between 6 and $8 but it's great for painting 1 or 2 lures and there is no mess or work when changing colors ....... Just ordered 1 that I can use with my compressors ......... Anybody know a local place to get the markers ...... Hopefully at a discount