Catching a predatory fish with a Croatian egg

The reason for this is not only the lack of such pronounced predator activity as in the spring and autumn periods of zhora, but also problems with algae and water lilies. Many reservoirs overgrow in the summer so that the use of the usual spinners, silicone, wobblers, and even surface baits and walkers becomes impossible. The Croatian egg bait, due to the structural features of the hull, makes it possible to catch promising points even in such difficult conditions for other baits.

As the name implies, the lure is egg-shaped. There are two types of Croatian eggs:

1. glider - round;
2. popper - a notch is made in front, due to which the sound "pop" is made.

The Croatian egg popper is made from lightweight materials and has positive buoyancy. Features of the loading (the entire load is evenly distributed over the lower part of the bait) lead to the fact that after casting the bait always turns over with a single hook up, which is the reason for such an outstanding non-hooking. According to this criterion, all other baits lose to the Croatian - the lure going in the water column is clearly not a competitor to the Croatian egg, as well as silicone baits, which, if you do not take into account the few floating models, work most often in the bottom layer.

Photo 1. Wiring diagram of a Croatian egg.

Surface wobblers (poppers and walkers) also more often cling to aquatic vegetation, as they have two or more tee hooks facing down. Wobbler Croatian egg often has protection from the hook of a single hook.

The variety of forms of glider baits is also quite large - in addition to the usual egg, you can often find baits imitating frogs, rats and other animals on sale. Also on sale there are a wide variety of models in terms of equipping with hooks - instead of a single hook, you can find a double, and often the stings of the hooks are covered with metal or plastic antennae, which further reduce the likelihood of hooking (although many anglers believe that such protection makes the number of effective cuts significantly less) .

Features of fishing and used wiring

Fishing for a Croatian egg has a certain seasonal restriction.

Attention! Croatian, like all surface baits, is most effective when used in warm water.

With a decrease in air and water temperature, it is better to give preference to a jig, wobblers or spinners - in cold water, predators go to deeper parts of the reservoir and have little interest in what is happening on the surface. Also, you should not count on a catch using such a bait over deep areas, shallow water up to one and a half meters deep are the best places to use such baits.

Planing baits are most effective in places inaccessible to other spinning baits - in shallow waters overgrown with grass, above a snag that comes to the very surface of the water, when casting through small windows in aquatic vegetation. Catching pike with a Croatian egg, among other things, is also a rather spectacular process, because only when fishing with surface baits, you can observe in detail the attack of a predator, accompanied by a column of spray.

When fishing on such baits, the following posting options are used:

• The simplest option is uniform wiring. At the same time, the wiring speed is chosen based not only on the behavior of the predator at the time of catching, but also taking into account the density of vegetation - the thicker, the slower the wiring should be, since in such difficult conditions the pike needs more time to prepare for the throw. If the bait fell on a water lily leaf, it is better to smoothly drag it to the edge of the leaf, so that the fall into the water looks more natural, you should not make sharp jerks.
• Posting with frequent stops. This option of posting a Croatian egg is resorted to in cases where the fish is in the surface layers of water, but its activity is low. To make the bait even more attractive, during the pause, you can give it small fluctuations by means of small twitches of the tip of the spinning rod.
• Planing wiring- the Croatian is driven at low speed, without stopping, shaking the spinning blank and smoothly changing the speed of movement.

Self-made Croatian egg

You can make a Croatian egg yourself. For this you will need:

• A small block of wood (light woods are more suitable), or even a cork from a champagne bottle or other light material.
• Offset hook and a piece of wire, which, if necessary, can lengthen the hook.
• Lead in the form of a thin plate or pellets.
• Epoxy resin, varnish, paint.

Photo 2. Option for preparing parts.

How to make a Croatian egg? First, using a knife or any other convenient tool, the workpiece is shaped. Then, a cut is made in the lower part of the future nozzle, into which a hook is later installed. After that comes the turn of the installation of the lead weight. In an alternative version of the load, shallow holes are drilled in the body of the nozzle, into which lead pellets are then installed. It is advisable not to immediately glue the lead, but to be able, after checking it in a container with water, to shift the load to the side, reduce, or vice versa, increase its weight. The hook in the cut, as well as the load, is glued with epoxy.

After the loading of the bait is completed, it is necessary to paint it. At the same time, the colors are limited only by the flight of fancy of the fisherman making the baubles. But it should be borne in mind that fishing will be more comfortable if the upper part of the egg is painted in a bright, noticeable color from afar - it will be easier to control the wiring, but the color of the upper part is still not visible from below. In general, many anglers believe that the color of surface lures is much less important than those working in the water column. The vision of most fish species is not sharp, and it will not be easy for a person to discern the color of the bait against the sky in sunny weather. After painting, to protect the bait from contact with water, it is covered with several layers of varnish, after which the Croatian can be used for its intended purpose.

Choosing the optimal size of a Croatian egg

Attention! Gliders are most often used for catching pike in thickets of aquatic vegetation..

Photo 3. Models of Croatian eggs.

However, pike are not the only ones reacting to such nozzles. You can often observe perch bites, but other types of fish react to such surface baits less often. When choosing the size of a Croatian egg, you need to focus on the approximate size of the fish in each particular reservoir - too large Croatian eggs will not provoke a small pike or perch to attack.

Just as if there are trophy specimens in the reservoir, too small baits should not be used (naturally, gliders for pike will be significantly larger than perch options).