Jurelometer - is this how to make cool plastic fishing lures?

[Brewcrafter]

Somehow I became aware of this when I looked at Donnyboat's link for the closing of Alvey Reels.  For some reason I was thinking they were melting down kiddie toys to make fishing lures; but I was mistaken.  Anyhow, we did talk about using child action figures as fishing lures in today's forum ZOOM call (I believe Hardy Todd is currently looking for a GI Joe Scuba SEAL version to use as a lingcod lure) but I was able to go back and find a link to the original story.  Maybe Donnyboat can shed some light on this?  For the longest time here in the US there was a chain called Woolworths that has been long out of business, not sure if there is a relation there.

https://au.news.yahoo.com/why-fishermen-shouldnt-use-ooshies-as-lures-051713409.html?guccounter=1&guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZ29vZ2xlLmNvbS8&guce_referrer_sig=AQAAAJkKA2jYGXzm6A1ZawGnZyX9UKDc3FM360BEIRZp2CXC-bwwjJChEcOKTeyUkmYfh5EWWH_i_BgH-U9pi3QT9jcZXvIfw75YcJpLsXmbxvZ1yQW3mhSQmOhHn_ZgATvhPIHAsripl8Gpm3HVzbUMDIG26N2jgHab7krr9W8yKtWs

[jurelometer]

I saw this quote: The plastic in the collectables isn't designed for the ocean, and certainly not for the stomach of fish, unlike regular lures which are safe to be eaten.

Talk about lazy reporting...

Berkeley Gulp is the only fishing lure product that I am aware of that uses a biodegdeble plastic, and also claims that the product is non-toxic to fish and humans.

The majority of soft plastic lures are made from PVC. I would expect that these Ooshie pencil toppers are the same.  Some of the newer durable or lifelike soft plastic lures are made from TPU (Thermoplastic polyurethane).  Probably too expensive a material for ooshies.  Can't see how there would be some sort of modification to either of these plastics that would make them safer to fish ingest or less damaging to the marine environment. 

Hard plastic lures are usually ABS plastic. No such thing as "ocean safe" ABS either.

Don, or one of our Aussies can correct me, but I think no relation to the USA Woolworths. But a giant mega retail corporation nonetheless.

A GI Joe diver action figure with some sort of swimfin paddletails, would get bit just fine by the lingcod if you count get it down to where the fish are.   Scuba diving would be an entirely different experience if humans were only 8 inches tall . Jaws would be a movie about a 10 lb flounder.

-J

[Brewcrafter]

I was curious and looked, and the going prices for GI Joe Scuba Divers make some of the absurd fishing reel listings on the Big Auction Site look actually modest by comparison.... - john