So... what was in the goodie-bag?

[Ground Pounder]

Hey folks, you might remember that I proposed a goodie bag swap back at the beginning of August. Well, five of our brethren signed up, and we hit our local stores for some shopping.

Unfortunately, my camera's broken, so I'm hoping one of the guys will put up some photos when they get their packages. In the meantime, I wanted to give everyone a short description of what we ended up with.

(Note - I'm not sure what the rules are regarding posting info of stores, products, etc. that aren't officially affiliated with the site, so please let me know if this violates any TOS rules - thx!)

Vegasspider sent in an awesome variety of Gitzits and Skin & Bones plastics from Canyon Plastics in Las Vegas, NV. He also couldn't help himself, and sent us some Luck 'E Strike Bass Magic Shakey Tails to try out, plus a little something extra (more on that in a minute)

carolina-rig-01 sent in some samples of his PB&J football jigs, made by his company, Thunderstruck Jigs out of Carthage, MO. Featuring 80-strand skirts for a full presentation and limitless customization, these jigs team up perfect with...

bcklash's 3 1/2" Kodiac creature baits in a Ginger Craw color with purple flake from River Rock Custom Baits in Waynesboro, VA. Real nice colors on these, and a nice compliment to the jigs... do you guys hang out or something?

Jrob78 headed over to the Academy store near Dallas, TX and scored us some H2O Xpress model CRS shallow-diver (2'-5') square-billed crankbaits in Natural Shad, a great baitfish imitator for runnin' those schooling shad.

cassidyta headed down to Fisherman's Outpost in San Diego, CA and picked up some of their house-made Flutter Craft 4" hottie curly tailed worms in chocolate, a perfect option for both speed and finesse applications.

Ground Pounder (the guy that came up with this hair-brained idea) reached way up north to the UP to grab a few hand-painted Trigger Blade Baits from RJ Lures in Houghton, MI, in a "phat shad" color scheme. These blade baits have a heavy vibration that works great on open water smallies when the bite's thin (and the toothy-critters here in the Great Lakes love them as well!).

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and now for the surprise...

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I open Vegasspider's package, and with all the other stuff in there, and I see a KVD-autographed Strike King KVD-C1 crankbait

When I e-mailed him to make sure he didn't put it in there by mistake, and he replied:

"I got lucky and got 6 of those as a door prize a few years ago. I was at a Nitro event and KVD was there and hardly anyone showed up and they gave me a box of stuff and 6 signed ones in the box."

"What to do?" I asked myself. I could keep it, but that wouldn't be fair. I could pull a name out of a hat, but that's too easy. I could donate it to the fishing gods at my local lake, but that would only bless my lake, so that wouldn't work. So I decided to do what anyone else would...

... An NBA style and have a draft lottery!

I dropped one ping-pong ball with everyone's name on it into a bucket... along with 47 ping-pong balls with my name on them...

Nah, I'm kidding. I had my kid draw out of a hat, and the winner was...

carolina-rig-01

So that's it for now folks. Gentlemen, I'll drop you a line in the morning with your tracking numbers, and I hope everyone enjoys their new fall fishin' toys.

Also, for those who didn't get a chance to participate, or those who want to participate again, be on the look out for the upcoming September version of the goodie bag swap, appropriately themed...

"Back to School"

-GP-