Good Karma, the GIVEAWAY winner, and a new BASS GIVEAWAY

OK - time to let you know who won the first of my giveaways - the flyfishing package. First , the specifics about determining the winner. I had 13 comments to my Giveaway offer, so I used the range of 1 - 13 at random.org, and generated a number. If the number would have corresponded to one of the people who responded but declared that they don't fly fish anymore - Mel comes to mind - I would have done it again until I got a winner. I only need 1 try though, and the number generated was 10. (My wife was my witness, so no one can accuse me of manipulating the number!) The 10th comment was from a newcomer to my blog - Rebecca at The Outdooress. (To see Rebecca's site - the Outdooress - click through on my blog roll) The winning selection was PERFECT on one level - Rebecca had posted the GIVEAWAY on her site to let others know about it. Thank you to Rebecca, and her package will be sent out this week after we email and I get her address. BTW - I asked a little bit about what you like to fly fish for in the comment section. Part of that was to have something to read; part of it was because I planned to include a little bonus in the winner's package appropriate to what their likes are. Rebecca's is easy - she's a trout angler and relies on caddis and Princes. So - she'll have a little something extra in the package she receives.

Congratulations Rebecca, welcome to Flowing Waters, and thanks for the plug on your site!

Now it's time for part 2 of the 3 part giveaway. I think (expect) this one to have a few more comments than the first. The second part of the giveaway is a BASS PACKAGE. Since bass are more widely fished for then trout, and my blog deals with bass a whole lot more than trout, I think this will have more universal appeal than the fly fishing one. I will choose the winner next Saturday - December 5 - using the same methods as with the first one.



Rules will be similar - send in a comment to this post. Please include:
A) Are you a bass angler?
B) Favorite species - smallmouth, largemouth, spotted bass
C) your personal best / biggest bass.

Obviously, these lures can be used for anything, but they are geared toward bass. The package includes:



The Plastics part of the GIVEAWAY



Soft Baits, Accessories

MIZMO - 1 pk Flasher Tubes
STRIKE KING - 3 pks of Tubes. 1 pk each: Craws, Rage Toads, Ocho worms
CULPRIT - 2 pks. worms
LINDY - 1 pk Munchie Ringworms
YUM - 1 pk Floating Worms
OPTIMUM - 1- 2 pk. Baby line-Thru swimbaits
VMC - 1 pk. 1/16 oz. Bugeye hooks, 1 Tube Jig kit
MUSTAD - 1 pk. 4/0 Bigmouth tube hooks
BERKLEY - 1 pk. Powerbait Realstik 3" black shad
FALCON - 1 FTO 1105 Speedbag for worms



STRIKE KING ASSORTMENT


OTHER PLASTICS


HOOKS, SWIMBAITS


FTO SPEEDBAG



Hard Baits

STRIKE KING - 2 each 1/2 oz. spinnerbaits
BILL LEIS - 1 - 1/4 oz. Rattletrap
STORM - 1 each: Deep Jr. Thunderstik, Thin Fin, and Chug Bug
RAPALA - 1 each DTFSS-7 (Flat sided Dive-to 7' crankbait), Long Cast Minnow
SEBILE - 1 each 3-1/2", 1/3 oz. Magic Swimmer


SPINNERBAITS, RATTLETRAP


RAPALA and STORM baits


SEBILE MAGIC SWIMMER


26 pieces in this assortment, plus a bonus of my choosing to the winner!

Before we start the mad dash for Bass lures, I'd like to say Thank You to the newcomers to my blog, and as always , a sincere THANKS to the loyal long-time readers. You're all appreciated more than you know.

HAVE FUN!

Wolfy

FLY FISHHING Giveaway results

I have done the random number generator (with a witness, no less). But - I am walking out the door to do some "Christmas Season" stuff with the family, so I will post the result, and the next GIVEAWAY, tonight.

Thanks to all who particiapted - stay tuned

Fly Fishing GIVEAWAY! Everyone invited

Fly Fishing Package - GIVEAWAY #1

I'm really not in the Christmas mood yet, but I think this may jumpstart "the Season of Giving". I said I would have 3 Giveaways between now and Christmas, and this is the first.

The first of the three parts of this giveaway is a FLY FISHING ASSORTMENT and consists of the following:
- 1 - Scientific Angler WF-5-F Lefty Kreh signature series flyline
- 1 - S.A. 9', 5x leader
- 1 - 25 meter spool S.A. 5x tippet material
- 2 - Seaguar 10 yd. trial packs Flourocarbon leader material - 1 each 8# and
10#
- 1 Plano Fly Box
- 38 flies from Montana Fly Company. The flies are listed in order of the way they appear in the fly box when you open the box, from top to bottom. In the picture, the order is actually from R - L. TOP ROW - Caddis - 2 each: Elk Hair Olive #14, Elk Hair Tan #18, Goddard #16, Olive Sparkle Pupa #14, Tan Sparkle Pupa #14. 1 each Taylor Gut Instinct, Kyle's Killer Caddis.
ROW 2 - Dry Attractors - 2 each: Royal Trude #14, Yellow Humpy #16, H&L Variant #14, Royal Wulff #18. ROW 3 Nymphs. 2 each: Bead Head Flashback Rubberlegged Copper Bob #12, Bead Head Pupa Prince #14, Bead Head Rubberlegged Prince #16, Bead Head Fast Water Prince #14, Spring Creek Olive Superflash Pheasant tail #16, Bead Head Epoxy Back Copper Nymph #20. ROW 4 - Hopper / Dropper 1 each : Bloom Parahopper, Oswald Head Turning Hopper. 2 each: Bead Head Rub-a-dub Olive Caddis Pupa #16, Bead Head Gold Ribbed Hare's Ear #16.


Montana Fly Co. Flies


It's my belief that Montana Fly Co. flies are the finest commercially produced flies available today. Their patterns are awesome, they constantly add new patterns, and my experiences show that the fish like them as much as I do.

Everything in this GIVEAWAY is new and un-used. You DO NOT need to be an experienced fly fisherman to win - this could be the package that jumpstarts your fly fishing career!

5 weight floating Flyline


Since I've never done anything like this before, I want to keep it simple. The winner wil be chosen by a random number generator next Saturday, November 28 at noon Central time. The comment that corresponds to the number generated will win the package. And, yes, I will ship Internationally.

Please limit your comments (for the purpose of winning / entering the contest) to 1 per person. I would like the comment to state:

A) are you currently a fly fisherman (or woman)
B) Do you primarily fish Warmwater (bass, panfish) or Coldwater (trout) or Saltwater
C) Any other comments or stories involving fly fishing, even if you just say you want to try it!

HAVE FUN - Let the Season of Giving begin!

Wolfy

The Blog Days of November, and some random thoughts. (And - maybe - A GIVEAWAY!!!!)

They say the Dog-Days of August are the worst times - too hot to fish, fish don't bite, everything is just lethargic. These must be the Blog-Days of November. For some reason, I find myself in blogging funk. I just have no drive to post anything on my blogsite, and I'd rather have no new posts than worthless drivel. I was commiserating my dilemma with Lizzy at From the Fisherbabe and she was echoing the same feeling. Her impetus for a new post came today when she received her new Cabelas catalog; mine came through our conversation. Nothing in particular - just the overall feel of the conversation. I came home from work and decided that my blog needed a jumpstart, fishing experience to write about or not.

I've decided That I need some enthusiasm and interest in the site, and nothing generates interest or enthusiasm like A GIVEAWAY. I will be putting together at least 3 separate packages to be given away randomly between now and Christmas. There will be one BASS assortment, one TROUT assortment, and one PIKE assortment. I will be posting details and pictures of all of these over the weekend - stay tuned.

One thing Lizzy and I talked about is something I've just recently paid any attention to, in the way of recently posted additions to my blog list. I have, what seems to me, an inordinate amount of blogs written by women on my blog list. We both came to the same conclusion - the blogs I really like to read are the one's where people show real emotion and enthusiasm for the sport, and I believe women convey that better than a lot of men. So I'm not really searching out blogs by women - it just happens that I like what a lot of them are writing. Ladies - keep on writing great stuff! I hope I convey the same amount of enthusiasm that I read in all the blogs on my bloglist!
[by the way - this is certainly not a knock on any of the blogs written by men that many of us follow. If I follow it, I like the content, regardless of the gender of the author]

So - keep reading. I'll be unveiling the Christmas 2009 Giveaway this weekend. Good luck to all of you!

Wolfy

55 degrees today - gotta fish

The lower pond in November


It was 55 today with a southerly breeze. I know there won't be many of these days left, so I went out to the old reliable pond over lunch today. The pond was stocked with trout a few weeks ago, so even if none of the other residents are cooperative, I figure I should be able to catch some trout.


Mepps Aglia Streamer


I started off fishing for the trout. I used the Mepps Aglia Streamer spinner pictured. Its become a favorite of mine, even though it is a little bit longer than I would call ideal. After 5 visible hits from trout, and no hookups, I decided i needed to go smaller. I went to the old reliable 1/16 oz. jighead with a 2" grub, and started after them. My grubs were Lindy Munchie, and I started with a watermelon color. the pond was very clear.


November crappie


All the trout were about this size


The fishing was a little slow, but I was only there for 45 minutes. Final tally - 4 trout brought to hand (and a few others hooked and lost), 2 gills caught, and 1 crappie. All were on the Munchie grubs, and all were on subtle colors. I threw a chartreuse grub, but found no takers. The watermelon and copper colors caught everything.


Good colors today


Not a day for the record books by any means, but a day on the pond catching trout ove lunch beats the hell out of the usual lunch alternatives!

I must have offended the Weather-Gods

I bought a plane ticket about a month ago to fly to Arkansas and do some Fall trout fishing. I should be there right now, enjoying the Ozarks and trying to set the hook on a few trout - maybe a trophy trout.

But I'm not in Arkansas. I'm in Illinois. And there are NO tailwater trout nearby.

Foiled again.

If you remember back about 2 weeks ago, there was a tremendous amount of rain from Texas to Illinois, with the system moving slowly to the East, taking the moisture with it. I watched the news over one of the weekends and saw cars completely submerged in Little Rock, ARK due to the flash flooding.

Uh-oh - that's where I was flying into to fish! No problem, I thought - 2 weeks will flush out the rivers and they'll be perfect when I get there.

Wrong again.

The dams have been releasing water almost around the clock. The conditions you hope for when fishing these tailwaters is for a long period of NO dam release, so you can get out and wade the shoals. Well, that's not going to happen for this fisherman in 09. I'll start making plans to try again in 2010.

But - all is not lost. I was talking to a friend at the trade show I worked last week, and he was GUSHING about how great Falcon Reservoir has been lately. This is a guy who fishes all over the South, and has caught a lot of big bass. So, I'm trying to set up a short trip to the Mexico border to sample Falcon. I'll keep you posted.