The winner is.....

Congrats to Terry from Winfield, Iowa.

Terry is the lucky winner of the Abu Garcia 6500C3. We contacted him by phone and he was thrilled about winning the reel. We will be posting a photo of Terry with his new reel in the near future. Be sure to check out sliprig.com on a regular basis as there may be a new giveaway or game for 2011.

Thanks to everybody who visited sliprig.com this year. We wish you the best for the upcoming year.

Its my birthday

It's my birthday. 44, for those of you who are curious. My wife Vicky (I call her Peggy) brought me lunch today as she often does. After work we went out for some pizza and then a little shopping. The kids stopped by this evening and gave me a food saver for my birthday. Although I am well aware of why they gave it to me (bagging and freezing bait), my first thought was I don't save food I eat it too quick. Hey, nobody ever had to tell me to eat my dinner! Now I need a run of shad so I can catch a bunch, vac pac them and fill the freezer. The bad news is that the shad won't be running for another four or five months. Thats OK though because I have projects to keep me busy. Next weekend I will finish the second trap that I have started and then I'm on to the shad tank.

it's over

As Thanksgiving approached I looked forward to having the extra time off from work but now looking back on the long holiday weekend it seems to have gone by so fast. Back to work tomorrow! I spent most of the day organizing the utility boxes that I use for tackle boxes and have them condensed down to two small boxes that will fit in the glove box of my boat. I have two other small utility boxes, one that is used when I am out to catch bait and a pocket sized box that I carry when I fish from the bank. It always seems that just when I think I have my boat and gear set up the way I want it I get another "great" idea to make it a little better. I don't know if I am actually making things better or not but one thing is for sure, all of my "great" ideas help me pass a lot of time in the winter. I took a drive down by the river this afternoon and to my surprise there were three trucks and trailers at the Water Works boat ramp. I would have liked to have been there when they got back to the ramp but didn't feel like waiting. The new 2011 fishing regs are out. The biggest change as far as I am concerned is that there is no snagging from the dam at Oakland Mills down to the Faulkners boat ramp. Boy there are going to be some ticked off people. Waa! If you haven't seen the new regs, be prepared. DNR put a mexican man and his little mexican boy on the cover. The good thing about this is that they actually have a rod and reel instead of a soda bottle with line wrapped around it.

To those who have to go back to work tomorrow, I feel your pain! To those who don't, well...

It has been nice to have these days off and the good news is I have one more day. I opened up that roll of hardware cloth and in the process took a chunk out of one of my fingers. It was rolled up so tight that when I removed the wire that was wrapped around the roll it unwound like a spring and got me. I soldiered on. I managed to finish one trap completely and have the second started. I have a white 55 gallon barrel in my driveway that will become a shad tank when I finish the second trap. See? Although I am a self confessed fair weather fisherman I really do think about cat'n all the time. Because I only have a 16 foot boat I am constantly looking for ways to condense the gear I have on board just to save space. I picked up another smaller utility box because I want to condense the the tackle I carry into smaller boxes which will fit in the glove box I have in my boat. Another project for another day!

Black Friday road trip

The warden had a meeting with a shop owner in Anamosa so I went along for the ride. When we made it back to Coralville I checked out the the new Theisens. I had heard they had a little fishing gear and a little was right. One thing I did notice was a shelf of blood bait of a particular brand. Thats odd because I hadn't seen any of it in several other stores. Anyway, they do have one short aisle of fishing gear but I didn't bother to look closely enough to see what it was exactly. I did pick up a ten foot roll of hardware clothe that I'm going to use to make a couple bait traps. I started last season with six traps but the heavy rains took three of them and one was damaged beyond repair so I need to make some more over the winter. I still have a couple days left before I have to go back to work so I'm hoping to get started on my winter projects.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving! Hoping everybody is having a good day with family and friends!

Happy Thanksgiving!

It's Thanksgiving eve. A little cold. A little rainy. A little windy. I have decided to build another bait trap or two since I have the next four days off. Although I'll probably spend most of the next four days in the garage I'll probably wear a trail in the floor from the garage to the fridge. The left overs are every bit as good as the dinner its self. Back to the traps. If I would have thought about it early enough I would have went to the hardware store tonight to get the hardware clothe for the traps but since I didn't I will have to wait until Friday to start them. I think I found a source for the white barrel so I can make the shad tank but I have to wait for that to happen. Another project I have to wait to get started on. It's a good thing I'm a patient man!

Happy Thanksgiving!