Мандула: виготовлення та особливості ловлі

Spinning jig fishing is very versatile, both in terms of fishing techniques and all kinds of baits. Most of them can be purchased only in a specialized fishing store, but there are more simple and accessible, which with some skill and at home can be mastered.

One of these baits – mandula.

1. Description of the bait

They are quite a few varieties, but in general terms mandula is a few components of floating bars, equipped with two tees.

The most classic version of this bait consists of three parts: two basic elements in the form of a cylinder, cone, ball, strung on a wire and connected so that they move freely. In the same way to the lower part is attached to the third part with a tee, on which is attached a “down” of lurex. In the upper part is mounted one more tee larger in size, for its lug clings and the lure itself. The standard of the classic mandula looks like this:

But many are probably ready to argue. In each part of our country there is a different vision of this bait. How many people, so many opinions about mandula and its best form and appearance.

Number of parts. Two main parts are not limited to the varieties of mandula and of those that I had a chance to catch were of three, four parts and even with a split end – almost a two-headed eagle! There are also one-piece baits, from one part.

But the most effective in practice were two- and three-piece mandulas. They combine good aerodynamic characteristics and stable work in any reservoirs.

Hooks. Most often mandulas are equipped with tees and their number is equal to two, although in practice there are these baits with one or several tees (in the case of multicompound design). Tees have one undoubted advantage – it is a high realization of nibbles. But in this barrel of honey could not do without a spoonful of tartar: such mandulas well cling not only to fish, but also snags.

The alternative is obvious – it is single hooks, most often offset. There is an installation with such hooks, protected by a special wire, for especially “strong” places with a lot of snags, grass and other underwater dangers that await every fan of jig fishing.

There are also mandulas and with doubles, their equipment can only limit the imagination of the fisherman.

Shape. Mandula is a flight of fancy, so the shapes of the constituent parts can vary greatly. The simplest and most popular mandula looks like several sliced cylinders or even rectangles. They can be both perfectly polished and almost shiny, and completely untreated, angular and scary to look at. But this absolutely does not mean that the fish will not peck! On the contrary, often irregularities give mandula an unusual element of the game, favorite predators.

Also quite often there are mandulas in the form of cones with sharp corners or softened, rounded. In fact, according to the sensations of sharp corners improve the game and more attractive to fish. But when fishing for mandulas, everything is so conditional and depends on the preferences of the fisherman that it is not worth making definite conclusions. It is better to try and then the fish itself will vote for the right option!

Fur. In relation to this element of mandules there are also disputes. Some say that it is not needed at all, others knit lurex, others attach silicone, threads, tinsel, fur, plastic tails, metal petals. And the list goes on and on.

Who is right, who is to blame, can only answer the fish. From the experience of fishing for mandulas I can safely say that each of the options has the right to life and will bring results in certain cases. If you try to remember the most successful mandulas, then lurex as a snap of the front tee will be in the lead.

Material. Mandulas are different: black, white, red …. And also from different materials! The most popular are polyurethane foam and eva, although I have seen these lures even made of Styrofoam. Their main property – positive buoyancy.

At the same time, the rigidity of the material is also important, which depends on the durability of the lure. For example, foam mandulas will work well, but quickly come to waste, so making a choice in favor of one or another structure, you need to pay attention to its density. In this regard, mandulas made of Eva have proven to be the best.

2. making a mandula

This is a creative process, which, however, begins with a banal search. And you have to look for the components of the future bait.

And if there are no problems with the tees, because they can be purchased in every fishing store, but with the material for manufacturing everything is different, it is definitely not to be found there.

The first way is to find things at home that are made of suitable materials. The first things that come to mind are slippers, which are so popular in the manufacture of mandulas that even became a nickname for this type of bait. You can use them, but so no shoes are not enough.

Тому в рамках проекту second way out is to search in stores for things made of eva. This can be mats or children’s toys. The latter option is the most suitable, for example, bypassing only a couple of stores, managed to find a children’s “soft constructor” made of eva (different figures) for a few pennies (about 100 rubles for a material 30 by 30 cm, height of about 5).

The third way of mining material for mandulas is to order it from China. Many popular online stores in the Celestial Empire have it in the assortment. It also costs inexpensive.

The material for the down is also not a problem to find, it can be purchased in hardware stores, in departments for sewing or even cosmetic. The same lurex is available on the Chinese online resources described above. And surely everyone will have something suitable at home!

Now let’s imagine that we are armed with all the necessary items for making mandula, what next? Let’s consider step by step the simplest variant of mandula making from two main parts and a tee with lurex down.

1) Cutting the material for the “body” mandula. There are many options: you can do it with an ordinary knife and cut the necessary pieces, you can saw with a jigsaw or a fine wood saw or prepare a tube for cutting.

The last option is suitable for those who plan to engage in mass production of mandulas or simply save time for their manufacture. To do this, you will need a metal tube with a diameter sufficient for the expected thickness of mandula (10-15 mm). Then we sharpen its edges with emery or sharpening stone and you can cut blanks and further cut / glue them depending on the thickness.

2) Processing of the received blanks. I will start with the fact that you can not process them, but for lovers of a pleasant appearance, aesthetes of fishing, it should still be useful.

The first way of processing is manual, with the help of a knife and sandpaper, it requires a lot of patience and nerves of steel. The mechanism, I think, is clear to everyone.

The second is semi-automatic. For example, you can process a blank for mandula with the help of a sharpening stone on an electric drive. We bring the workpiece to the rotating emery stone and process it to the desired shape. One more “quick trick” – put the workpiece on a thin drill bit of an electric drill and bring it to the sandpaper, the result is the same!

3) Creating the down. We take a bundle of lurex threads, wind on a few fingers, fold twice and slip into the ear of the tee, cut the ends with scissors. To fix the down on the tee and giving it a positive buoyancy from above tightly pull a small “pill” of the same material as the blanks, pre-punctured hole with an awl. For extra reliability you can put it on glue.

4) Manufacturing of the hinge mechanism. For this you will need a stainless wire thickness of 0,5-0,8 mm, which hands and with the help of pliers give the shape of a pin. On it we attach a tee with a down, and on top of it we put the first main blank on glue. Twist the protruding end of the wire into a loop.

5) Final reunion. The last part of the mandula body remains. It is pierced with an awl and planted on glue over the second tee. But before that we take a piece of wire, make a loop on one side, to which we attach the ready part of the mandula, and the second side of the wire tightly wrapped around the tee.

And that’s it – our bait is ready!

3. peculiarities of fishing for mandula

Mandula is a classic jig bait and the reservoirs of its application fully corresponds to the choice of any “jigger”. Therefore, let’s consider some features.

1) Bark and grass – obstacles to fishing for mandula. If you do not take mandulas-unhooked, then catching a bait with several open hooks on reservoirs with a lot of underwater obstacles is possible, but with significant losses.

2) Current is a great helper. Rivers are ideal for fishing on mandula, it hangs in the water column longer, additionally shakes after touching the bottom and catches on hurrah! Although on non-current water bodies mandula is also good.

3) Overloading is not a problem. Mandula catches well with any weights, it does not matter whether we put 10 or 50 grams, regardless of its size.

4) Depth does not matter. It is believed that fishing for jig baits assumes the presence of holes in the reservoir, at least in relation to the reservoir itself. But in relation to mandula all stereotypes fall – it not only catches well on shallows, but also does it with weights of 20-30 grams.

5) Mandula likes sharpness. This bait is passive, it does not have as such its own game, so it requires active animation. The most universal wiring mandula – a few sharp turns of the coil and the subsequent pause until it touches the bottom. Wiring can be carried out and jerks rod, varying the speed and frequency of jerks / turns, alternating them with pauses.

6) Pauses – good. Jerks are good, but without pauses in such fishing is nowhere, because most of the nibbles happen after the fall of mandula on the bottom. The duration of pauses is selected individually: it can be a second exposure and, as soon as it touches the bottom, again jerk …. And sometimes even 10 seconds is not enough, especially when catching passive pikeperch.

7) In any unclear situation – hook it! With mandula it often happens that bites are very gentle, on the edge of sensations even with top gear, you hook it, and there is a trophy! This also happens when fishing with other jig baits, but with mandula is a regularity.

It is better to take a sensitive tackle with you. As banal as it may sound, but with mandula it is better to catch with the most sensitive tackle, which is dictated by the above feature.

9) If nothing bites – put mandula. This bait is an excellent indicator of predators in the reservoir. It is difficult to think of a lure that is also good at activating the bite of predatory fish.

10) The unevenness of the bottom – the best helpers. Mandula catches best of all on anomalies, if the bottom of the hole, ledge, brow, dump – these are the best places to catch mandula. Although the result it gives and on a flat bottom, being an excellent searcher.

Mandula is a simple, but very catching bait, which will allow you to catch the most desirable trophy, which can be absolutely any predator.