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The first foam fish appeared in 1978. Sport fisherman Sergey Pavlov made his first prototype of this lure, then it made a real sensation! Even now it is in great demand among both amateur and professional anglers, epitomizing the saying “everything genius is simple”.

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For 40 years, the foam fish has undergone more changes than the composition of the group of “Arrows”. To make the game more active, the lure was given the form of vibrotails, twisters, it was added a second element, like a mandula, glued silicone tails, cut the nose at an angle, so that the lure played like a wobbler. Of course, did not ignore the external similarity with the prototype. Lures glued fins, eyes, painted like Faberge eggs, spending a lot of time and effort.

All these modifications of manufacturers of foam baits are aimed more at catching customers in stores, rather than fish in the river. It is unlikely that an inexperienced person will be flattered by an unrepresentable angled bait made of foam rubber, when there are silicone fish that look a little better than the real ones. But it’s not just about brand competition. Fishermen who make lures with their own hands, spend a lot of effort, time and investment to invent something new or just copy what they have seen.

Meanwhile, professional anglers sportsmen are more conservative in their preferences. The vast majority catches on the usual “carrots”, and even without a tail. Maybe it’s not about appearance?

Features of foam rubber

Soaked in water, foam rubber becomes more plastic. During wiring, it makes low-amplitude oscillations in the horizontal and vertical planes. The surface of the bait’s body is riddled with small holes that create an acoustic background under water, describing which it is said that the bait “hisses”.

In addition, there are cavities in the foam under water, filled with air. Thanks to this foam fish has a positive buoyancy and when touching the bottom on the jig wiring takes a vertical position. In a similar way behaves fish that is looking for food on the bottom. This is the main reason for using foam rubber.

Another feature of foam fish is again associated with air pores. The air enclosed in them at sharp jerks begins to come out, forming small bubbles. We can not say for sure, but most likely in a complex of these three features of behavior underwater foam fish and attract predators.

The fourth feature does not affect the attraction of predators, but also follows from the properties of foam rubber. It is about absorption, that is, absorption of water in the volume of the bait. The foam consists of 90% of air, which is displaced by water. Even after one wiring there may be no air left in the foam rubber, about 75% of water does not flow out of it and remains in the foam rubber when the lure is removed for air. Thus the weight of the lure increases considerably. It can be rather roughly estimated as 1 g per 1 cm of the lure. This increases the throwing range when fishing at the lower limit of the test and creates an excessive load when throwing at the upper limit. It should be taken into account to avoid overloading.

Mounting options

Usually two variants of mounting foam fish are used: on a “cheburashka” with a double and on a “cheburashka” with an offset hook. Under “cheburashka” means any weight with two “ears” depending on the fishing conditions and the fisherman’s preferences. It can be a ball, “lentil”, “pill”, “conductor”, “head”, etc.. There is almost no difference in montages. Both options are considered unhookable, although for “strong” places is best suited to a combination of “conductor” and offset hook. The foam is easily deformable, so even with a bent stinger double hooks are not uncommon. Sometimes the connecting link between the cheburashka and the lure is a winding ring. It gives mobility to the lure, but is often used simply by technical necessity.

Passive lures vs. active lures

In the fishing world there is an ancient stereotype that active baits work on active fish, and passive – on passive. But it is worth a little reflection, and it becomes clear that active fish can peck at almost anything. Almost every angler has faced the so-called exit of the predator, when any action leads to a nibble. However, the lion’s share of time spent on the water, falls on the other side of the coin – the selection of a key to passive fish. Here you start experimenting with the size, color, type of bait, animation, feeding, etc. One of the possible solutions may be the change of active bait to passive. Together with all the peculiarities of the behavior of the foam fish under water, it becomes a rather specific passive bait. Therefore, if various active silicone baits have already been tried, the passive foam fish will have a much better result than the active one.

Popular manufacturers of foam baits

Uncomplicated foam fish from the brand Επικοινωνία can often be found in the arsenal of spinningists. They are made of high-quality durable foam rubber, so they can withstand a lot of nibbles. The company offers a large number of colors: there are black and gray lures, as well as two-color, very bright and saturated colors. Different models can be equipped with an open or clamped double or treble hook.

Lex Porolonium lures were developed with the participation of an expert in spinning fishing Konstantin Kuzmin. As a result of long testing of different types of porolonium, the optimal type of this material was chosen. Despite the apparent simplicity of these lures, the shape of the “fish” is carefully thought out. The back is flattened, which contributes to more effective hooking. Beveled “gills” allow you to place a double hook behind them, thus making an unhooked. The thin tail is very mobile, due to which the bait has a very attractive game for the predator.

Another popular brand of foam baits – Lefty NN. These models quite realistically imitate fish. These foam baits have a wide head, curved shape, elongated narrow body, which has a special relief. More such fish are complemented by fins that open during the fall. For the predator, this serves as an additional attractive factor. If you animate the bait with light twitches, so it will imitate a wounded fish.

Making baits

One of the main advantages of foam fish is the possibility of manufacturing with their own hands. Despite 40 years of fishing progress, homemade fish catch no worse than “store”, while requiring minimal investment of time and money.

To simplify and speed up the manufacturing process, you need to make 2 templates for cutting out the shape of the bait in the horizontal and vertical planes. On the templates we cut out the shape, attach a double hook and make a cut under the forend. Both stings are brought together with pliers to reduce the likelihood of snagging. Glue the hook with “Moment” glue and that’s it! If desired, you can use foam rubber of different colors or paint the bait with a waterproof marker.