Ed.

Very nice! that's what I like to see, flat clean water, where were you when you you took the video? Makes me want to go for a swim!

I can't remember what percentage of micro balloons I used as it was quite a few years ago that I made them, using the 2mm wire will add a lot of weight to your lure so I would reduce it to a smaller diameter, you most likely do not need wire that thick, I am not sure what the breaking strength of 2mm is but it would be well in the area of several hundred KG's, even 1.6mm that I am using is overkill but I have a large roll of it so that is the only reason I used it. 1mm to 1.2mm will probably be strong enough. Polyurethane is heavier than water so you need to make the lure lighter by reducing the lures weight per volume ie; filler of some sort, light weight beads or even an air cavity of some sort. Pic below is of one of the lures, replacing both hooks on the lure with the hook size on the right will make it sink otherwise it will float with the ones on it. They are both 6/0 but the silver one is 5X strength.

I made 2 sizes of poppers a while ago, 155mm and a 180mm, using 2 part Polyurethane (not resin) and added micro balloons (from a fibreglass supply store) that gave me added buoyancy, when I put on the 6/0 treble hooks on the smaller lure it still floated. I also used much heavier 6/0 (5x) trebles on the larger 180mm lures, those ones sank but only slowly. Adding the micro ballons reduced the working time of the mix considerably and made the mix white. A 1.6mm stainless wire runs from the front to the back through the mold for the eyelets. The polyurethane I used is pretty tough (used for make boat trailer rollers) it was slightly flexible unlike resin, and it is very hard to get paint to stick to it, I sprayed the mold, when it dried I then poured in the mix. Coated the outside with a clear polyurethane paint and added glitter to it, then coated it again and added some eyes and the hooks. If I used 1mm stainless wire it would reduce the weight a bit as well so probably float better but 1.6mm is what I had at the time, don't know what size hook you use but you might get better flotation if you used smaller or lighter hooks, also you might be able to add some light weight plastic beads inside the mold as well to lighten the weight of the resin.

Well, can I have some fish fingers please, but only from the fish's right hand!. Now that the picture is on the internet, I wonder how many people have razzed her about it?

If this is a real picture and not done as a joke or had the image Photoshop'ed, then it just shows what some peoples basic intelligence level is!

And did it have a pearl in it?

$28000.. bargain. I'll see how much loose change I have in my pocket. oops, nope shy by $27995.00. I wonder if they do part payments? Too rich for my check book. I must be lower end riff raff!

$250000 package to stay there, damn I forgot which pocket I left that cash in. Looks like us riff raff have no hope of ever staying there!

Nope, it's a small town.

Lying in bed.. ever have the feeling that your being watched? Is this in the Maldives, if not where? Great views to relax by.

Absolutely, now that I have finished my little speech I am about to start working on my boat again , forgot how much fun it is sanding fiberglass!

I think that the biggest problem in getting accurate info is the connection to money, agenda based groups that get financial gain or political power will undoubtedly keep up the rhetoric of doom and gloom to keep the money flowing. I heard one of the chief scientists for Australia has said that we contribute .003% of the worlds greenhouse gases so nothing we do will make any significant difference, another has said the opposite. Now compared to an active volcano that can spew out hundreds of times that amount not to mention the other contaminants such as sulfur dioxide, particulate matter, ect, 50-70 volcanoes are active (erupting) each year and there is an estimated 5000 volcanoes under the sea of which a huge number are active which also makes the seas more acidic, which kills off sea life which exacerbates the situation. At any given time, there is an average of about 20 volcanoes that are erupting above land, so we are fighting a loosing battle just on that front alone but we are spending hundreds of billions of dollars to reduce CO2 for no gain. Due to tectonic plates shifting, moving up, down and sideways, this will not end anytime soon and we can't do anything to stop that from happening, so whilst islands may sink, the Maldives spring to mind and that is regrettable, but unless you can stop a continent from sinking that will happen no matter what we do, that is not climate change that is continental plate drift, we are also deluding ourselves if we think that we can stop CO2 rises happening to any significant degree. Factor in that the planet's axis tilt is moving about 15m year northwards our weather is going to change no matter what. Our planets CO2 levels were much higher millions of years ago than they are now as the planet had much more plant life, continents move and weather patterns change, plants convert oxygen to CO2 at night and reverse it during the day when photosynthesis kicks in, also producing carbohydrates, as they die it also converts back to CO2, methane as well as others. Lastly there is that matter of that big old yellow circle in the sky, it's output also varies with time, it is not constant and that has a bigger effect on our planets warming than anything humans can do. So at the end of the day it is anyone's guess who is right is right, having said that, what we do know for a fact and are sure of is that the world weather is changing but it has been changing for far longer than humans have been around in our present form as in long haired and dragging knuckles on the ground with no technology. Actually some of my friends still look that way!. Whilst we should make less pollution because it is the right thing to do, we should not, at the expense of spending futile hundreds of billions of dollars for no gain. We should probably concentrate on reducing population growth as that will most likely kill us off faster. Money will always skew any facts that come up in the media, what's that saying, don't let the facts stand in the way of a good story!! Anyway that is my 2 cents worth on the subject and others are free to disagree.

Thanks guys

I have 6 or 7 ugly stiks, they are a composite glass/graphite rod but the graphite is predominantly spiral bound like a spring, I think that they are the only brand that uses the Howald process to build them, so they have a huge hoop strength, which also gives them the tip sensitivity. They do have a range of 2 piece rods but the larger stronger rods are now confined to spinning reels or one piece especially in the overhead variety. They will take much more abuse than the straight graphite rods which you have to take care not to nick the rod or high stick them. Although I do have both types I still prefer in many ways the Ugly stiks as you are just able to fish with them instead of pampering them, my oldest rod is about 40 years old and I still fish with it, I just replace the guides if they fail, as that is the only thing that has happened to any of mine. I am not sure about how they build the newish GX2 or their travel rods though.

Hi Guys, just a quick intro, I live in Ningi Qld., and don't fish as much as I used/like to, missus does shift work and so have to pick the weather, her schedule and life's complications in general to be able to go out fishing so fishing sessions have been few and far between. Recently been doing up my boat for sale and so been getting a bit more interested in land based shark fishing again lately, as once that is gone it will all be land based or occasional charters. Lately I have been upgrading some of my gear to allow this. As I am close to Bribie Island it gives me access to a range of fishing types, now to just get life out of the way and do more fishing.