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How to make a Croatian egg with your own hands

Summer fishing attracts many, but during the hot season, the coastal parts of the reservoirs are covered with dense algae, in which predators hide. This makes it difficult to fish for perch or pike. To make it easier for anglers, Croat Branimir Kalinic created a special bait. It belongs to the category of superficial and in practice has proven its effectiveness. In honor of the homeland of its inventor and due to its specific shape, this fishing tackle was named "Croatian egg". It is quite simple to make it with your own hands, especially since you do not need to use special tools for this.

Properties

Although firms that manufacture fishing goods do not produce them, they are very convenient, as they easily pass through thickets of algae and lure large pikes and perches. Such lures do not cling to underwater vegetation, due to the fact that their center of gravity is shifted forward. The predatory fish notices the vibrations that the "Croatian egg" creates on the surface of the water, and immediately grabs it. Thus, it is possible to catch even quite passive pikes.

What you need to make your own Croatian bait

To create a fishing tackle invented by Branimir Kalinich, you will need:

  • cork or champagne cork;
  • single hook;
  • round nose 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 done in several stages:

  • Processing of 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 champagne cork the shape of an egg. 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" with your own hands from a blank cork, 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-toothed hacksaw, expand the cut to 2.5 mm.

  • Frame preparation.

It should consist of an appropriately 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 wire, as it bends easily and does not rust in water.

  • Connection of frame and cork blank.

Further making the "Croatian egg" with your own hands will require some skill. In particular, you should be extremely careful not to be mistaken with the proportions. Craftsmen 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 length of the egg's body. Then six turns of wire are made at the hook ring, and at the other end it is fixed with three turns with round-nose pliers for reliability.

  • Loading.

To bring the "Croatian egg" made with your own hands "to mind", you will 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 no more than 1 mm. It is bent in half and squeezed by the hook, as well as the twisted wire. Next, the prepared fittings, together with the lead load, are inserted into the grooves cut out earlier. You need to try to make sure that it fits snugly in the cut holes and does not stagger when used in the future.

Examination

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 done correctly, the lure should drop down to the waterline from the start 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 the case, 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 cut protruding from the cut is too large. In this case, it is carefully cut off with a file.

The final stage

In order to securely fix the hook with a weight in the bait, a couple of drops of Moment glue must be dripped into the cut where it was placed. You can do it differently: pour a small amount of epoxy resin there. Then you need to wait a little for the glue to do its job.

Epoxy treatment

In order for a predatory fish to become interested in bait, you will need to arrange a "Croatian egg" with your own hands. It is best to use for this. It is not recommended to use too much of this material, as it has a rather high cost.

The mixing ratio of resin with hardeners may vary, so it is best to follow the instructions. As a rule, it is 1:10. In this case, the work should be carried out in a well-heated room in order to avoid the material hardening too quickly.

When the composition is ready, they should pour the "Croatian egg". The resin should flow into all crevices and into the cut where the reinforcement was inserted. In this case, you need to carefully rotate the workpiece so that the epoxy evenly covers the entire surface of the egg. In addition to the aesthetic function, it will also perform a practical one, as it will securely fix the hook.

Once the resin stops flowing, lightly sandpaper it to remove any unevenness.

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. Any drawing can be suitable for this purpose, so it is not at all necessary to try to accurately copy the appearance of the inhabitants of the reservoirs. In addition, the prevailing opinion that too bright a bait will scare away fish has no basis at all.

Any paints are suitable for painting, since at the final stage of work, the "Croatian egg" will still have to be covered with parquet or the so-called. Both of these materials tolerate direct contact with water well. Thus, in addition to the decorative function, they also perform a protective one, preventing the "Croatian egg" from getting wet and erasing the paint applied to the surface.

How to make a "Croatian egg" with your own hands with improved characteristics

In order for the predator to pounce on the proposed bait with great zeal, it can be made more provocative. For this purpose, a small recess is made in the front of the "Croatian egg", like a popper, where a plastic "nose", a small "propeller" is inserted or beads are glued. Ideas for improving homemade cork bait can be spied on wobblers produced by well-known companies. In addition, some fishermen use old store floats as a base to make their own Croatian egg.

Among the most popular options for modernizing the bait is the addition of a "tail". As you know, the fishermen liked the "Croatian egg" due to its non-clinging to algae. To improve this property of the bait, a small piece is cut out of an ordinary plastic bottle, resembling a "swallow's tail" or "fork". Then a hole 4 mm deep is drilled in the "egg" itself, the cut "tail" is inserted into it and the attachment point is lubricated with resin.

Those who have already used the "Croatian egg" recommend:

  • If you are going to use the bait for catching pike, choose a larger hook. Otherwise, the pike can simply bite the "egg" or even, by dragging it, bend the spinning rod into an arc, but not be spotted.
  • Make a small hole in the epoxy under the "muzzle" of the bait, which will improve its properties.
  • In addition, it should be borne in mind that any improvements in the non-hookability of the "Croatian egg" reduce its undercutting, therefore, in reservoirs where the amount of algae is uncritical, you should not try to upgrade 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 be convinced of the effectiveness of homemade bait on the very first fishing you want to try it.