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Tim - Sorry I could not see the fins in the last half of the video, maybe my eyes just did not want to!! Other than looks, fins might be used to add a little drag to the rear end - as they say '90% of a lure is made to catch fishermen not fish', but whatever it looks like, it has to move or have action sometime.pete

Gee Tim I watched your video over and over and thought with the fins seemed better, it has action at a much slower speed, where without the fins you seemed to be ripping it to get action. As V/Man says the fins on the second last segment seem to be inhibiting the action there, but overall looks good - not sure what the fins are made of, but if they are rigid as opposed to flexable they will act just like a tail fin on a rocket and try and keep the tail in line with the head - I would be trying something more flexable here (silicone??). Also the fins may be creating drag at the rear, forcing the tail end down and the whole bait to more horizontal than without the fins - this is something I have found after 3 failures, if the WHOLE bait is not travelling in a horizontal plane or paralell to the surface, the vortex is shed under or over the following segments so you get no effect, and this may even contribute to roll. This is very pronounced with the profile I have been making where you get a wing effect with the uneven sloping head. Dave may be able to clarify this vortex shedding idea, it's all beyond my feble brain.pete

Hey Nathan- Happy Birthday you old 'B', I was 48 once - I now see why you had to have the meet in late April - say hi to Mrs and Junior for me.pete

Lately I have been cutting elastic bands and winding them around the joints, before painting and finishing, seems to work the best out of those I have already tried (tape, and custom made PVC guards). I make pretty small baits (2"-3"& 4"), so you might have to scale the size of the rubber up a bit for larber lures.pete

For what it's worth,Plasterers here use milk or citric acid to retard setting time of 'Cornice' cement.pete Also http://www.sculpture.net/community/showthread.php?t=2595

Hey Gene what about Kauri Pine and Expanded PVC - Don't worry I will do it when I get back. Great job and I was surprised to see Maple suck up so much, maybe it's different to the Maples we get here, Mirante and Queensland Maple are both on the heavy/dense side. pete

Great idea Tim, simple and effective - Maybe this should be in 'Home Brew Tools' or a 'Tutorial', otherwise in six months it will be lost.pete

Mart - welcome aboard, nice fish you have there, nice lure too. pete

AAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH- ----------- O.K ------------ choke me on that 'hard candy'. Or soft !!!!!!! pete

It was me, I hi-jacked it with a new name "Dr Kildare", I will pass on the 'Vortices' lectures, BUT where's my boiled sweets.pete

Phil - you could borrow mine, you would be one of the few I would trust with it.pete

Good on you John, I think this is called perseverence, which certainly seems to have paid off, and something I am running short of. pete

Milia - Apparently "boiled sweets" are something trench coat wearing old guys (English of course) used to offer young girls for their 'favours'?? Not sure if this works, though it sounds very inexpensive . My Grandmother always used to have a jar full, but not sure where she got them. Here's some samples (of boiled sweets): boiled sweets - Google Image Search Pete

Spare me guys, I know nothing about these mysteries of nature, I have spent the past two months trying to get a 'swim bait' to swim (up to five now). V/M is the man, he knows more about vortices and Reynolds numbers than anyone I know. All the above were just suggestions, I could probably come up with the '10 boiled sweets'. Hope to see you there next year, if this 'swine flu' doesn't wipe us all out!!!!!!!, Can't wait to try another of Dan's home brews, just for that 'exotic flavour' and after taste - maybe this would be a good little gift for the ten thousanth member, 10 of Dan's home brews!! I'm wondering weather he would live to see the 10,001st member sign up.pete

What are we going to do for our soon to be, esteemed ten thousandth member?? A free trip to 2009 Clinton Meet - a bag of ten lure blanks - A bag of wire and blades - a bag of 10 boiled sweets - A free two hour lecture on vortices - A 1 gallon can of expanding foam ------any suggestions???? Pete

Tim - very nice 'outfit' there - I spent 10 of 32 years working in the 'Hazmat' section in our fire service, you would fit right in with that get up8O, love it .pete

Dick - thank's for your reply, with such a good product, it's a shame there is not a simple solution to keeping the moisture out -I have no doubt someone will come up with a container which is suitable, cheap and readily available, the 'zip lok' bag sounds like a good start, and I might get around to trying a wine cask (bag) one day, but at $55 for a pint here it is a pretty expensive experiment.pete

This is an excerpt from a post I put up on another forum about one month back I have this mate, we have been fishing together for about 30 years, and it's usually me who forgets /breaks, or loses everything, but a couple of months ago (last spring), before I got my new boat going, we went Trout fishing for four days. On the first day, out at dawn and cold, we put all our gear in his boat and off we go, down the lake to a carefully plotted spot we had scientifically chosen, with the help of a bottle or two of red the night before. There we were planing along, me with my back to the cold wind, my mate telling me how happy I would be when I finish my new boat with the new four stroke EFI Merc blah, blah, where you can actually have a conversation at this speed, and me gawking out the back, watching my new (($130 - used once) rod and reel, in slow motion, gently rolling out of the vertical deck mount (where he had inserted it, back to front), gliding back behind our speeding boat, and disappearing into the wake foam. I alerted him to my rod's fate, and told him not to worry about it and keep going, he gave me that knowing look of, ' you stupid B******, why did you put it there'. What do I say? I know if it was me and my boat, and his rod, he would have had me turn around, go back to the dock and call out the Police Diving Squad to retrieve it. Sometimes I think we have fished too long together, I feel like Walter Matthau, and I know he's Jack Lemmon.

They will only be one year older next year, so I am hoping they can make it back. By the way, nice curves and nice skirts too .pete

Tim- Sorry I don't have any pictures, it's getting late here and I'm going to Queensland fishing in the morning. Here is some info that will get you started, I'm no electrician, so go for it at your own risk!! I made a simple one which works like this : Plastic Bending Fixture but mine is nowhere near as exotic. I used a 12v battery and a rheostat (12V car light dimmer - ) to regulate the heat, when the battery went flat, I used an old battery charger, you need plenty of amps, so if you have a variable charger you might be in business. Tap Plastics make one, which I think would be pretty cheap there: Tap plastics Or if you have a TIG welder, this guy has the amps. TIG -Part 2: You can cold bend polycarbonate (Lexan) in a 'break' but I think cold bending would weaken it, so I think hot is the go, you should bend it around at least a wire size which is the same size as your hinge pin for a snug fit

Tim the hinge is the easy part, making the bender takes all the time - these are pretty strong, and probably stronger with a bigger pin, but wait until Diemai sets his S/S ones up , they should be indestructible. pete