Saturday is our first tournament, and I'd like to know just where this guy is? I didn't exactly wait until the LAST minute, just the next to last, to order some Silver Thread AN40, my line of choice for most treble hook applications. That stuff is impossible to find locally, and we don't even have a tackle shop to order it from anymore, so I went straight to the source. I hope it comes in time, I change my line all the time, so I am confident what I have is not bad, but I'm not confident with the line I have!

I have started a new site for a buddy of mine, Today's Look Not much to see right now, as the owners are dreaming up the content now. The site might even change designs a few times before it is all done, but I wanted to get something going for now, as a visual is way easier to work with for some people, including me!

By this weekend, I hope to add three new colors, the first, an old Norman color, which I have painted before, I just never took any pictures, and the second and third, Metalli-Gill and Metalli-Bass, as well as some new repaint pictures for the gallery page. I am in the market for a new digital camera as well. I cannot decide if I want to get a more feature packed compact, a Pro-Sumer (looks like a dSLR, but no removable lens, for one), or go straight to dSLR. I do not take pictures like I used to, so I am not completely sold on the dSLR, but if I go that route, I shouldn't feel as I am asking the camera to do things it cannot at times.

Being off Friday through today, I thought for sure I would get tons of things done....that's exactly what I get for thinking! Two people in my family were sick, then my work truck needed some repairs. Needless to say I stayed pretty busy all weekend. One highlight to all this is that while I am responsible for providing my own vehicle as a rural mail carrier, the Post Office I work at is going to give every carrier a Government vehicle, which is music to my ears! This also means that the weekends, every weekend, can be spent working on baits or fishing, not working on a truck.

I did manage to add the new patterns to the site, both are in my brand new Metalli-series, a shad and a perch. More to come very soon. As the name implies, these new baits offer a metallic flash unheard of in a balsa bait, as well as maintaining my realistic patterns. Look for more soon, as well as some baits with added rattles! I am very excited to begin offering these.

I finally got myself an Apple TV...been wanting one since they were introduced, despite that I hardly ever watch television! I do, however, enjoy watching movies, and this is where the Apple TV comes into play. I discovered I really need a new television, so that will come soon, hopefully.

Added some more pictures to the individual bait pages today, as well as put two new patterns on the drying wheel, will take pictures of them tomorrow, for those that know how to find my Picassa album, there is a sneak peak there for now. Not much else happening in the bait world today, other than I got another airbrush from my favorite company.

Mail count is starting tomorrow, which is exactly what it sounds like, all the mail I get to deliver is counted, some voodoo math is done, and that determines how I am paid. The mail volume always drops during the count, surprise, surprise. The USPS swears they do nothing to reduce the volume of the mail, yet I just received a back-payment because they were caught doing just that. Oh well, you just have to be slicker than they are! The count lasts two weeks, and is pretty stressful, so hopefully it will not slow any production down for me.

Just got back from my club meeting, we meet the third Wednesday of each month and eat, then discuss what's going on and set times for the upcoming tournament. Our first tournament is the 1st of March! I've not even been out on the water all year long, been so busy here at the shop. The tournament is at Gaston lake, which I had two second place finishes last year to the same person! My first goal is to not fall flat on my face due to lack of water time, my second is to beat that guy! With the drought last year that is still very much a problem now, I can only hope that we can continue to fish all season, as we have not even begun to recover from the drought.

I got some more baits cleared and started on a new set, trying to get a bunch ready so I can add the pictures to the new site. I also had a few repaints to do, standard baitfish colors, so I added a few Flatsiders to the mix for this. I have a few new patterns I want to work on, here's hoping I will be able to get to them this weekend.

So now that the new site is up, I'm having a 'yard sale' of some of my molds and equipment as well, sooner or later. I currently have them on a few tacklemaking sites for sale. It's sad for me to stop offering these things, as just about every day I do something related to tacklemaking, even if it was no more than go to the shop and shuffle things around!

Still working on the site a little bit at the time, trying to tweak this and that to make it the best I can. The latest is working on a logo, which I may farm out, as I can get the work done a bit cheaper than I can buy the tools to do it!

Today I was working on some repaints for my mechanic, who put a new ignition system in my Jeep yesterday,as well as more baits to add to the photo albums, which are lacking, I know!

Uploaded the site today at 10PM, and been making minor adjustments ever since. I'm really excited about this project taking off. The old design was always a sticking point with me. The pre fabricated shopping carts are nice, but not very good in the way of style. If you see anything broken, please contact me and let me know. The new pictures will be added almost daily from this point until everything has a home, then regular updates to keep everything fresh.

This is the first post in what is to be the famous Peoples Choice Premium Baits weblog. Stay tuned!