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Item #1 - An exerpt from an article published in THE WASHINGTON POST, by KIM HART

Hook, Line and … High-tech Lures

After centuries of servitude, albeit involuntary and impaled on the point of a hook, the humble bloodworm is finally being liberated.

It’s a revolution of sorts - one not of worms but of technology.  A chemist in Florida has invented an artificial alternative that America’s fishermen are increasingly turning to.

The worm is slowly being replaced by a more modern concoction - the latest in a long line of high-tech gizmos that are making outdoor sports more about comfort and efficiency than the thrill of the chase.

Today’s anglers take advantage of high-resolution under imaging to locate schools of fish, submerged cameras to see what’s happening beneath the surface and global positioning devices to find the spot again.  There are super-light reels made of titanium, invisible fishing line and scientifically engineered bait that simulates every fishy detail.

Fishbites, the fast-selling bloodworm challengers, came out last year and have since taken a sizable chunk of the bloodworms’ business in bait and tackle shops along the Eastern Seaboard.  Resembling strips of pink bubble gum, Fishbites are infused with chemicals that mimic the scent of the real thing.

The bloodworm has for generations been the bait of choice for fishers of croakers, spot and mullet on the mid-Atlantic coast.  But over-harvesting the mudflats of Maine in recent years has yielded small, shabby worms, as high demand has at times more than doubled the price.

These days, a single, five-centimetre bloodworm can cost nearly a dollar.  Their small size makes it easy for sly prey to pluck them off the hook, and they survive only a few days in the fridge.  A piece of Fishbites, by comparison, costs about seven cents, lasts for months in a tackle box and stays on the hook.

While lures have been around about as long as bamboo poles, it is rare that one gains in popularity so quickly that it threatens an age-old industry.  Judging by the pink Fishbite scraps that line the pier of Cape Henlopen State Park in Delaware, anglers don’t seem to mind trading tradition for no-fuss success.

Fishbites debuted five years ago when William Carr, a retired researcher for the University of Florida’s Whitney Laboratory for Marine Bio-science, perfected a chemical mixture nearly identical to the substances that attract fish to live bait.  It took him 30 years to come up with the recipe for shrimp, clam, squid and crab, and another year to develop the organic gel-like substance he used as the bait.

It wasn’t until Carr, 70, came out with the bloodworm version last year that the family-run business, Carr Specialty Baits Inc., started to make a killing.  The family started selling the product through a few independent bait shops in Florida; now about 1,000 stores carry it.  Revenue reached $1.8 million US last year, up from about $257,000 in 2004, based on units sold.