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Fun Foam Popper
by Doug Christian
Fun Foam Popper
(Doug Christian's current favorite recipe)
Hook: 33903 Mustad size 8
Thread: Danville 3/0 waxed
Tail: 2 round rubber legs (orange) topped by a tuft of yellow olive or tan rabbit fur clump, topped by a short brown olive clump of deer hair tips.
Hackle: 2 or 3 turns thru the butt area of the deer hair of brown olive or brown dyed grizzly body hackles. Any soft neck hackle may be used
Rubber
Hackle:		 2 round rubber (orange) threaded in an X pattern thru the popper head.
Head
Color:		 Dr Y Br B Y
(Dr = dark red: R=red: Y=yellow: L=lime green: B=black: W=white: Br=brown: Dg=dark green)

Other good head/ leg combinations:

  1. Frog Dr Y Dg B Y with pale yellow legs
  2. Y B W B Y with yellow legs
  3. R Y B Y B with yellow legs
  4. Y L B L Y with green chartreuse legs
  5. R W B W W with white legs
  6. All white marked with markers with white legs
  7. All yellow marked with markers with yellow legs
  8. R B B B B with black legs
  9. R B Y B Y with black legs
Comments:
This is a popper that I have been tying for 15 years and is a standard popper that can be dressed in a variety of methods. The uniqueness of this pattern is the popper head which uses a closed cell foam 2 mm thick and either 9 x 12 in. size or 18 x 12 in. size. It was originally called fun foam and is a children's craft item available in craft shops and discount stores having a craft department by a variety of manufacturers. I laminate 6 x 1 3/4 inch strips with ordinary rubber cement used as a contact cement. The size of the strip is a convenient size for the applicator built in the standard bottle sold in the school supply section, but rubber cement may be bought in quart sizes and a thinner is available.

Laminate as many strips together as desired according to the size of the head desired. I use 4 strips for size 10 popper hook, 5 strips for size #8, 6 strips for size #6 etc. and I have laminated up to 16 strips for a saltwater pencil popper type. All laminations are done 2 at a time coating each side then waiting till almost dry and pressing together. After the block is completed you may cut the heads immediately but it appears that waiting 24 hours helps the durability a bit.

After the block is completed I make the first cut using a sharpened butcher knife (a fish fillet knife works satisfactorily}. To make a standard popper I cut at a 60 degree angle and make each successive cut at the same angle with spacing sized for the head. I then cut off (razor) the same size perpendicular ending up with a rectangular block with square head. I then make a slot for the hook with a razor as well and mount on the hook with super glue. Ordinary super glue works as well as fancy brands and a coarse thread base aids in durability. You can usually get 3-4 popper heads depending on size, and 30-40 popper heads from the whole block. After mounting on the hook, use a scissor to roughly shape the popper and then sand to shape. I use a variable speed drill with a 3M sanding disk (extra fine). Doll eyes may be glued to each side (a thicker super glue that doesn't run is helpful). I usually store my completed heads in this form. There are over 20 different colors available and a number of color combinations have worked. It doesn't take as much room to store the heads waiting for the dressing to be added. I also find that it pays to make at least 6 head poppers at a time for efficiency. I laminate 4 strips for size #10 hook, 5 strips for size #8, 6 strips for size #6, 8 strips for size #2.
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