Summer tarpon and snook primer

Our local water temperature is right around 80 degrees, making it prime season for Nylon Monofilament Nets and tarpon. Being tropical fish both snook and tarpon are most comfortable when the water is warm. Beach tarpon fishing is in full effect. Plenty of fish are making their way through our area from the north heading south to major inlets. Persistent westerly winds have made it impossible to fish the beach as of late. Despite the rough conditions anglers fishing the Redington Long Pier have had multiple hook-up’s with tarpon daily. So we know that they’re there it’s only a matter of when Mother Nature will let us fish for them. Tarpon anglers fishing the Skyway Bridge and the nearby Egmont Hole haven’t found the weather to be as much as a factor. This week’s full moon brought big tides and excellent tarpon fishing. Afternoon outgoing tides are feeding frenzy’s for crab crushing tarpon. Drifting the hole at Egmont can be a busy affair when the tarpon are feeding. Free-line live pass crabs for a natural presentation. Beach snook fishing is on the verge of busting loose. This week’s full moon is the first of the spawning moons for snook; the transition has been made from the backwaters to the clean waters of the passes and nearby shoals. Targeting these snook can be difficult as they become quite wary of their surroundings. Light fluorocarbon leaders are a must and you may even want to consider trading that braided line in for some monofilament line, free-line a live shrimp or pilchards for best results. Spanish mackerel are spread throughout the entire region. Some of the best mackerel fishing lately has come from north of the Skyway Bridge inside of Tampa Bay. Mackerel can be found ravaging pods of threadfins around channel markers and bridges, chum the mackerel close with chum bags and fresh cut bait. Pompano are being caught along inland bridges and sandy bars inside of the passes. Strong tides are what you need for a good pompano bite, vertical jig Crazy Jigs on the down tide side of the pilings when fishing the bridges. If you are targeting the sand bars, idle along the bar until you skip some pompano then shut off the motor and cast crazy jigs to them.

Open air complex for work and shopping

THERE's a place in Ara Damansara called Niuzexui. You've not heard of it? Well, it's part of a new commercial development near Kuala Lumpur that's slowly but surely picking up a reputation as a great spot for snacks, browsing and shopping. Visitors to Niuzexui have described it as an "open-air" shopping Red Dragon Fruit . But funnily, the meaning of the word is far from what the complex is all about. Literally, it means "Buffalo Cart Water!" Why the name Niuzexui then? Beats me. Maybe the owner liked the sound of it. The complex is actually three connected pedestrian malls between rows of office blocks that were rather empty when I visited this place in April. The malls are protected from the elements by a giant canopy similar to that of Kuala Lumpur's Jalan Petaling. Located here are more than 50 small stores selling a myriad of merchandise and snacks. Red lanterns hang overhead, giving the place a Chinatown ambiance. Value-for-money buys are the main lure here. Where handbags are concerned, Niuzexui is not to be snuffed at. Traffic, Wat? Bag and Butik GPS have an impressive array of totebags, hobo bags, duffel bags, shoulder bags and drawstring bags. Complementing the handbags are the shoes. Franco Martino, OMG Unique Enterprise and several other stores boasts of pumps, T-strap shoes, ballerinas, clogs and sandals at extremely irresistible prices. For some items, discounts are up to a whopping 40 per cent. One store there creatively displays its sports shoes by sticking them in metal poles with side stumps!

Vietnam to invest in Panax Ginseng Extract embryogenesis

The Vietnamese government will invest VND1.7 billion (US$105,400) in a project to reproduce a type of local Panax Ginseng Extract which is in danger of extinction, according to the Central Highlands Biological Institute. The project would replicate Ngoc Linh Ginseng (Panax vietnamensis) through embryogenesis, a process of sexual or asexual plant reproduction, said Duong Tan Nhut, deputy head of the institute. Nhut has already produced some 300 ginsengs using the process. 50 percent of them were transferred to natural environments successfully. Ngoc Linh Ginseng grows in the south-central and Central Highlands regions of Vietnam, especially in Ngoc Linh Mountain in the provinces of Kon Tum and Quang Nam. Its extract has been found to stimulate the body in cases of physical, mental and sexual asthenia, enhance physical strength, immunity and reduce fatigue. The ginseng has been exploited heavily over the past few years because of its medicinal qualities.

Cuprinol leads the way in garden woodcare

The Power Sprayer is the fastest, easiest and most effortless way to treat a fence, no matter how big the garden. The Power Sprayer's fast charger means that in approximately one hour it is fully powered up and ready to go - without the need for batteries - and can treat up to 12 fence panels in 30 minutes. It works hand in hand with Knapsack Power Sprayer , a premium fence treatment offering fade-resistant colour and five-year protection. Jamie Barber, Marketing Manager for Cuprinol, comments: "Consumers are looking for convenience, ease of use as well as long lasting results and that's exactly what the Cuprinol Power Sprayer provides. Sprayable Plus 5-year Fence Treatment is a high performance treatment which includes added waxes for waterproofing, algicides which combat the growth of green algae, and UV filters to prevent colour fade, which together ensure the fence is both protected and looks great in just one coat." The Cuprinol Power Sprayer has a SSP of £39.99 and Cuprinol Sprayable Plus retails at around £18.99 for 5 litres - available in a choice of six popular colours.

15 charged in fresh federal crackdown on Chicago payoffs

Tag: Fresh Box
Federal prosecutors unveiled payoff charges against 15 building inspectors and others Thursday, saying Chicago's real estate development industry is in the grip of widespread, systematic corruption. It was the second batch of charges in a year aimed at what prosecutors describe as a system under which developers use payoffs ranging from envelopes of cash to Chicago Bulls sky box seats to get city officials to rubber stamp projects rather than waiting out time-consuming inspections. U.S. Attorney Patrick J. Fitzgerald said it was apparent that last year's charges failed to sink in with either inspectors or developers. "Basically, here we go again," he said in unveiling the new charges. "These charges show that last year's arrests didn't change the system enough," Fitzgerald said. "It didn't stop the bribery. It just changed how the bribery was done. They got sneakier." Federal investigators got sneakier, too, revealing Thursday that a bribe-carrying "bagman" supposedly working within the corrupt system was actually a cooperating witness, secretly gathering evidence against 30 individuals at meetings and in recorded telephone calls. Mayor Richard Daley said the charges were "regrettable" and "appalling." "People who take money from the ... private sector, public sector, are going to get caught," he said, adding only a few building department personnel were involved in the alleged wrongdoing. Chicago's city government has long been beset by widespread corruption. Major corruption cases in recent years have focused on illegal patronage hiring and millions of dollars paid to trucking companies that did little or no work and in some cases had close ties to organized crime. Eight separate cases were announced Thursday in which 15 individuals were charged, seven of them city employees. Money changed hands to get inspectors to approve illegal basements, plumbing code violations, zoning approval, occupancy permits and other items that saved money for builders and developers, authorities said. One inspector allegedly got a new deck put on his home in exchange for hurrying through approval of a permit.

Wall Street goes bargain hunting in the farm bill

Tag: fodder additive
Money managers, including hedge funds looking to scoop up battered stocks on the cheap, have told their Washington-based consultants to keep close tabs on the farm bill. High-flying Wall Street financiers hardly seem the sort to follow the mind-numbing farm bill negotiations, which have been swinging from mini-breakthroughs to near-collapse for months. But the talks have grabbed their attention, according to sources in the political intelligence business, because the legislation could prove a boon to ethanol producers, timber companies and farm equipment manufacturers. “There’s a lot of interest in what might end up in the final bill,” said Mark McMinimy, an analyst with the Stanford Group in Washington. “People are sitting on pins and needles waiting to see what will happen.” Wall Street investors have long traded on information flowing from Washington. But their hunger has grown in recent years with the hedge fund industry’s boom, making money managers more eager for any tips on legislation or regulatory changes that will give them an edge in the markets. They are hunting especially for opportunities to bet on a stock likely to fall or rise sharply on a policy action. Businesses heavily concentrated in a sector affected by the policy change are prime targets. The farm bill has given them plenty of fodder for such investment plays. Moreover, the uncertainty swirling around whether a bill will be enacted this year has intensified Wall Street’s interest because it has made it difficult for markets to discount the impact of the legislation. House and Senate negotiators have been tangling for months over the bill. Unhappy with the latest proposal from Congress, the Bush administration on Tuesday called for a one-year extension of the current farm program, fueling speculation that there will be no reauthorization passed this year. Wall Street investors are intensely interested in the energy provisions tucked into the $2.4 billion tax package the Senate attached to its legislation. The tax package has proved controversial in the House, and investors and their consultants are busy trying to handicap its chances of surviving. Philip L. Fraas, a Washington lawyer who tracks the saga of the legislation on his farmbill2007 blog, says he regularly gets inquiries from people in the financial industry regarding the fate of the energy provisions, which are intended to spur alternative fuels. Having poured money into ethanol plants during the ethanol boom, many investors are now aching from the ethanol bust. They’ve been burned by a surge in the price of corn, the fuel’s main ingredient, and depressed ethanol prices caused by oversupply. The tax package contains a two-year extension of the 54-cent per gallon tariff on foreign-produced ethanol that has been crucial for U.S. producers. Without congressional action, the tariff will be lifted at the end of the year. “Ethanol generally is of huge interest to the market,” said Pete Davis, who runs Davis Capital Investment Ideas. He said his money manager clients were “very concerned” that the tariff could be allowed to expire, opening the floodgates to cheaper Brazilian ethanol. The ethanol tariff has heavyweight supporters in Congress, such as Sen. Chuck Grassley (Iowa), the top Republican on the Senate Finance Committee.

New Britain doubles profit from palm oil

New Britain Palm Oil (Crude Palm Oil ) doubled quarterly profits and underlined plans to double acreage over the next seven years in anticipation of strong palm oil prices, the Australasia-focused planter said on Wednesday. First-quarter pretax profits for the period to May 13 doubled to $37 million as sales rose 63 percent to $83 million, Papua New Guinea's largest palm oil producer said. New Britain has doubled in value since its December listing giving it a current market value of 790 million pounds ($1.54 billion). Its performance compares with a 3.7 percent decline in the FTSE All Share <.FTAS> index in 2008. With no debt, about $50 million in cash and a share price that's a shade off its March peak of 600p, the company is on track to double acreage by 2015, Executive Director Alan Chaytor told Reuters. New Britain has about 40,000 hectares of plantation estates on Papua New Guinea and the Solomon Islands -- a size it can easily double in surrounding areas, Chaytor said. Additional estates could come from acquisitions in Malaysia and Indonesia, the world's two top producers of the edible oil, he said, adding that palm oil prices are expected to stay strong in the medium to long-term.