Flyin' a little too high

At the Roc City Tattoo Convention in May of this year Sharkey and I went out fly fishing for steelhead with Eddie Molina of Hand of Fate Tattoo in Ithaca. Eddie's lettering tattoos are astonishing. If you're in the area go check out his shop. I hadn't used a fly rod in about a billion years, since I took a fly fishing course in high school. Needless to say I struggled with it. However, on the way home Sharkey and I couldn't stop talking about fly fishing, and we stopped and purchased fly setups at Cabela's on the way home from the convention. Unfortunately I haven't had a lot of time to use it. Luckily my wife was nice enough to let me practice in the yard once in awhile, but that's about it. I've barely gone fishing at all lately, and to be honest, it's a little maddening. 

Luckily today I had some free time before my tattoo appointment, and I decided I was going to do some fly fishing, by hook or by crook (no pun intended). Most of the better fly fishing spots in CT are far enough away from my house that it wasn't feasible to go for only an hour or so. I decided on Wadsworth Falls in Rockfall, which is part of the Coginchaug River. They stock it with trout annually, though it's hard to believe there would be any left this late in the season. 

The open flat area is usually under water earlier in the year with the spring rains and runoff. During the summer heat it dries out substantially, making wading fairly easy.

While wading out I saw a fingerling pickerel, which I'd never seen before. It actually took me a second to register what kind of fish it was. Before I could snap a picture, he was gone, probably off prowling along the rocks in search of minnows to ambush. 

I had my fly gear stashed in the pockets of my overshirt and pants, neither of which offered much room. I was wearing my redhead wading boots and socks, and was prepared to get wet. I rolled up the cuffs of my black work slacks so as not to soak them before work. I started out with a small brown pheasant tail nymph. I tied on about five feet of 5x tippet and began casting upstream towards the falls. 

I couldn't get the nymph out very far and couldn't figure out why. It was because the breeze created  by the waterfall was blowing it back. I started casting across the river and got a little more distance. I could watch tiny bluegill follow the nymph and peck at it, but no serious bites. 

After the nymph I tied on a green and yellow "trout poacher" fly I adapted from a Joe's Flies spinner. After a few casts I lost it in a tree. 

One thing I noticed is that the breeze was tangling my line pretty badly. Every few minutes I had to untie a wind knot of some kind or untangle my fly from my rod. This got annoying really quickly. 

After losing two more flies to the local foliage, an olive green dry fly and a black dry fly, I tied on a small grasshopper I purchased at Cabela's a week earlier. It floated well, and had a large enough bait profile that I was getting numerous strikes, but kept missing the hook set. I can cast these things decently, but setting the hook and reeling them in is another matter entirely. 

Eventually I got a solid hit and dragged the fish in without using the reel. It was a tiny White sucker, maybe about 2 inches or so. I was thrilled to have finally caught something on a fly rod, even if it wasn't a trout. 

I quickly unhooked him and let him go.

After a few more casts and

missed strikes I managed to bring in a small pumpkinseed on the same fly. 

 

I suppose I shouldn't get too excited over a pumpkinseed. After all they do go after just about anything in the water. But regardless it was a lot of fun and I hope to do it again soon. 

Thanks for reading!

Withdrawal

So it's been a bit since I went fishing. My wife started her new job this week, and that means that the morning shift with Henson falls to me. It's awesome because I love spending time with my son. The only thing is my early morning fishing expeditions are pretty much shot except on school holidays and weekends, and I generally need to work those days. 

I've been practicing my fly casting in between appointments at the shop and I think I'm improving. I definitely want to get some time on the river soon. I've never landed a fish on a fly rod before and I'm excited to give it a try. 

Regardless, new posts soon, I promise. Sorry for the lack of updates, but I assure you it's for a good reason. 

Cedar Lake

Went out with my father in law, Tim, on his beautiful boat that he made himself. Water was low at Cedar Lake in Chester, CT, so launching the boat through the tangle of weeds at the boat ramp was tricky, but Tim got us through. Tim got a nice largemouth on a white spinnerbait while trolling the area around the camp, which was the only thing we got in the boat all day. I missed some hook sets on a Booyah Pad Crasher and a Savage Gear Line Thru Trout.

Regardless, nice fish Tim! And thanks for taking me out on the boat!

Fuck Yes Fly Fishing!

I'm getting more and more stoked on the idea of fly fishing these days. I've been practicing my casts and am looking forward to getting out on the water soon. Stay tuned to see how bad I fuck up!

Snag hag Beelzebass tees

Snag Hag Beelzebass tee shirts now available! Sizes small through 2XL, $15 each, shipping included. PayPal is patrickmurdough@yahoo.com. If you want one you'd better grab one, it's a small run of shirts. Thanks for looking!

Making The Best Of It 7/10/14

So I have this fishing spot near my house...and for once I'm not going to tell you where it is.

This particular spot isn't easily accessible, nor is it visible from public roads. Because of this it doesn't get a lot of fishing pressure. Because of THAT, the fishing there is pretty decent. There's a healthy population of largemouths, as well as pickerel, perch, and various sunfish. Its probably one of my favorite fishing spots.

My son is 9 months old this week, and currently sleeps what seems like 2 hours a night total. This means very late nights and very early mornings for all of us, but especially for my wife, as she is often the only one who can soothe our little howler monkey at 4 AM. I do my best to get up with him in the early mornings so my wife can get a LITTLE more sleep; however this cuts into my opportunities to go fishing a substantial amount. Imagine my surprise the previous night when my wife told me I should go fishing in the morning! I think I peed a little...

My son started to get noisy around 5:00AM, so we all pretty much got up and started our day. I got to the spot around 5:30; there's a ten minute hike and some mild bushwhacking involved, but once you get out of the woods its nice and clear. The water isn't overly weedy like most spots this time of year, and while I love throwing topwater frogs, I was STOKED to be able to change it up a bit.

I had no time to prep my gear, which was scattered between my car, my wife's car, our shed, and my drawing desk. My spinning reel was running on empty, so all I had was a pair of bait casting reels spooled with 20 pound Fireline Crystal braid. I brought my Cabelas Tourney Trail spinning rod and a heavy saltwater jigging rod, my temporary replacement for my broken Bass Pro casting rod. I brought my big swim baits, my soft plastics tote, some frogs, and a few crank baits.

I started with my standby, the KVD Strike King Swim'n Caffeine Shad. I left my newly purchased bag of green and whites in my car, so I stuck with the unused silver ones I'd bought months ago. I always opted for the green over the silver for fear of finding the latter useless compared to the former. Usually I fish them with little or no weight as I prefer to dead twitch them on the fall and the retrieve. In spite of this my heavy rod was already rigged with a 3/8 oz weight from my last fishing trip, and I didn't feel like retying my setup, so I said fuck it and started casting.

Fishing with the braid was nice because, while the weeds here are minimal, there are plenty of rocks and logs to get hooked on. The braid allowed me to rip through most hangups as well as feel the lightest of taps. Two or three casts in I had a solid hit from a 1.5 pound bass. With no fear of the braid snapping I horsed him, unhooked him, weighed him, and threw him back.  I got three more hits on the KVDs, all under two pounds, before I snapped my line off on a cast and decided to try something else for a change.

Tried a few cranks and frogs before I eventually switched to a Rapala DT series in brown and yellow. After dredging up weeds from the bottom on the first two casts I got a hit from another 1.5 pound bass, then another hit me but jumped the hook about halfway in.

My time was running short and I wanted to get a few more fish before I headed home. I tied on another hook and weight but this time I used a black and red senko worm, only to have a fish take it and somehow slip the knot and get away. I replaced the hook and put on another KVD which got me two more hits before my trip was over.

Once again, the KVD comes through, albeit with an assist from Rapala. I feel kind of bad throwing the same stuff over and over again, like I should switch it up more, but my trips are so infrequent and sporadic now that I really want to make the best of my time out and catch as many fish as I possibly can. In spite of this Sharkey and I have talked about doing a trip out and a post about buying weirdo budget shit lures from clearance racks and my local gas station in order to keep things lively. That will probably happen sometime in the near future. Until then or when the fish stop biting them, the KVDs will remain my default.

Summer Slop Party

BEFORE...

...AFTER

Proper. 

Throwing a Matsuo or other weedless topwater frog for some summertime action is one of my all time favorite things. Stay tuned for an upcoming post about modifying one of these essential bass tools. 

Pat Gets Wet at Miller's 06/16/2014

I am trying to keep this post more brief and to the point than past ones...

So once again I returned to Miller's in the hopes that I could get a strike on a big swimbait. The moon was still out when I arrived. I started with my Savage Gear trouts, which I'd got strikes on before, but nothing seemed to want them this time around. 

I switched to my 9 inch sinking 22nd Century Baits Triple Trout hardbait, a rather expensive piece of hardware. This bait is supposedly good for seeking out bass because of how wide it swims and also because the double hinges squeak as the bait clacks its way through the water. 

After a few casts from my favorite spot at Miller's, I managed to snag it just offshore in about seven or eight feet of water. I yanked as hard as I could to try and free it, but could not do so. For a moment I resigned myself to simply giving up the lure and moving on. 

It was then, however, that I got the idiotic idea to swim out to retrieve it. After all, it was only out about ten feet from shore, and I could follow my braided line all the way out to the snag.

 I would like to mention that this was the first time I have ever swam out to retrieve a fishing lure. I have no inclinations towards water or swimming, and have not swam for several months, if not years. I weigh about 200 pounds currently and am not a good swimmer/athelete and cannot open my eyes underwater anyways. Although none of this occurred to me at the time. 

I stripped down to my boxers and climbed down into the pond, which seemed freezing cold at the time. Our summer has yet to kick in to high gear and it still gets kind of cold at night. I got acclimated to the temperature and began to doggy paddle / drown my way out to the snag. 

Once there I attempted to tread water but could not do so because I was already exhausted from the swim out. I wrapped my hand around the braid and began to yank at it in the hopes of freeing my lure, only to slice up my hand profusely. 

The act of staying afloat for mere moments exhausted me and I returned to shore. Once there I sat on a rock in my soaked boxers, panting in exhaustion for several minutes. 

After I caught my breath I grabbed my rod for one last try to yank the lure loose. I figured I would either snap the line or break my rod in the process, but at that point I was comfortable with both of those outcomes. "Fuck it."

I pulled my rod up as hard as I could, and after a few seconds I felt a release of tension and assumed it was my line breaking. I began to reel and...lo and behold...my triple trout was free! The hook had bent just enough to release it!

A few lessons here:

Don't throw expensive swimbaits until you know where the rocks and potential snags are. 

Braided line cuts hurt. Like a fucking lot. Avoid them if possible. Mine hurt for days, and being a Tattooer I had to constantly wash my hands, opening up the wounds over and over again. Braid is dangerous, handle it with care. 

Braided line is strong stuff. I was using 20 pound Fireline and I gave that pull as much strength as I could muster, and the hook gave out before the line did! 

Finally, if you don't swim well, dont bother going out to retrieve your lures. If you love something, let it go. But then pull on it REALLY HARD, and if comes back to you it was truly meant to be. 

I didn't catch anything at Miller's in the four hours or so I was there. Not even a goddamned nibble.  Oh well. 

Thanks for reading, and see you next time. 

Upper Moodus Reservoir with Sharkey 06/14/2014

Sharkey and I set out at about 4:30 AM and got to Moodus by 5:00, and from there we parked at the beach along the Lower Moodus Reservoir and fished at the tressel. There were already people fishing for crappie and one gentleman had a bucket full of them that he brought home. So apparently the crappie bite there is decent.

Sharkey caught a largemouth from shore using a red lipless crank bait. I got a tap on a Savage Gear Line Thru trout, but no follow up bite to set the hook. 

At 6:30 we went to Lakeside Dan's, a small tackle shop tucked back into the Upper Reservoir. We rented a small rowboat, which neither of us really had any experience with. We proceeded to struggle our way out into open water and across the reservoir to a large group of lily pads. 

I had no hits on large swimbaits, but the KVD shads came through again with a solid bass and a pickerel. I threw them at the edge of the pads and slowly reeled them in with little twitches now and again. 

We eventually realized that the boat was taking on water through a small bolt hole in the side, and we decided to move back closer to shore before we sank ourselves. In the process Sharkey lost his lipless crank when he hooked into a big stump in the middle of the pads and we couldn't maneuver the boat close enough to retrieve it. 

Sharkey was at the front of the boat as we ran ashore, and he stood and hopped out before I could shift my weight. The entire back end of the boat dipped into the water, thoroughly soaking me and my gear, much to the amusement of my compatriot and several onlookers. 

After I berated Sharkey with a wide variety of insults, we moved back to the tressel to find that the other fishermen left. We worked our way along the road past a long cove that was filled with more lily pads. About halfway between the edge of the pads and the neighboring point,  I managed to get a strike on a green Booyah Pad Crasher but missed the hook set yet again. I have yet to master the trick of the weedless frog hook set. I know you are supposed to wait a second after the strike before you set the hook, but my timing is always off and the frog always floats to the surface once again. 

 Sharkey tried his luck at the tressel once more but had no luck there. When two other fishermen made their way down the road and positioned themselves right alongside us at the tressel we decided to pack it in for the day and head in to work. 

I managed to lose two rigged Savage Gear trouts during casts on this outing, presumably because of either (A) the rod I was using is not a freshwater casting rod and therefore not flexible enough to absorb some of the shock on the cast, (B) I am still snapping my rod too much when I cast big swimbaits and have not yet gotten the hang of casting them with more of a smooth swinging motion, or (C) both. I lost a few more at Miller's Pond a few days later in the same manner. I intend to switch back to my original casting rod in the hopes that this will at least partially lower my odds of snapping off during a cast. 

Miller's Pond 06/03/2104

So I stayed up 'til midnight last night rigging my Huddlestons and Savage Gear trouts for this morning's fishing trip. My plan was to bring minimal gear, mostly big swimbaits, and do some real damage. I was up at 4:30 and at the pond by 5:00.

Miller's is a small pond in Durham CT. It maxes out at about 20 feet deep. The shoreline is fairly shallow but has some good dropoffs. Bass fishing at Miller's pond is, honestly, about quality, not quantity; I haven't caught a lot of bass there, but I've caught some BIG bass there and seen plenty haunting the shallows in the early mornings. 

Last fall I went out with my buddy Sharkey and caught what I estimated to be about an eight pound largemouth, my current personal best, with a KVD shad in baby bass. With no scale, I had no way to weigh this monster. I've returned to Miller's pond many times since, and only caught one comparable bass.  

I was hoping today would be the day that I would realize my goal and drag in a solid swimbait bass. Ever the optimist I brought the scale I'd purchased at Bass Pro Shops, the spring loaded one that lips your fish with a set of pincers. 

 

I have thrown large swimbaits here a few times before, but  wasn't very confident or proficient, and have never caught anything on them. I was unaware that a slow and steady retrieve was key.

My setup is an eight foot Bass Pro Shops heavy action rod with a matching bait casting reel spooled with 80 pound Berkley pro braid line, no leader or swivel. This rod is set for 1/2 oz to 3 oz weight range, but I can get away with a little heavier than that if I am careful with my casts. 

My first spot was a rocky shoreline along the old dam edge with a weed bed that starts just beyond the neighboring point.  I started out with an 8" savage gear 3D trout, and after a few SLOW retrieves, I felt a light tap then a jostle at the end of my line;

 I set the hook hard and began to reel. I got him to about five feet in front of me when he unhooked himself. I continued to cast to the same spot in an effort to repeat my experience, but to no results. Eventually, I snagged my 3D trout on the bottom and was forced to cut my line. This is why they say swimbait fishing is "high risk, high reward" fishing. 

I moved to a nearby rock ledge with a steep drop off and changed to a six inch Huddleston in rainbow trout. By slowly dragging it along the bottom I felt every rock and weed bed, and after a few casts this lure snagged too. I attempted to remove it and *snap* my line breaks off AT THE REEL. I somehow managed to jostle my line loose and retrieve my Huddleston, though I'd lost a lot of line. 

I concluded that I needed to cut away some line on the surface of my reel in order to find a solid end to tie to. By the end of this cutting process I had a PILE of perfectly unusable line at my feet. 

I tied on another savage gear trout in the hopes that I could coerce another bass to bite. After a few casts and dragging it along the bottom, I snagged YET AGAIN, losing my swimbait and another twenty feet of line or so. I tied on yet another swimbait, and when I cast it, the lure jerked back hard mid air and dropped to the water.  It was then that I realized my reel had almost no line left, certainly not enought to be throwing these big baits.  My replacement spool of mono was in the car, about a 15 minute walk away, and I was on a time limit, so that was not an option. 

I moved to the opposite side of Miller's pond to the area where I caught the big guy last year and cast out to about the same spot in the water with the spinning setup I'd brought. I started with a 10" yum mightee worm in green, but switched over to the KVD shads, and I added a worm weight to the setup to gain some extra distance. 

After a few casts into the weeds, I felt a very faint tap, and as I took in the slack of the line I saw movement. I set the hook hard and eased in a bass I estimated to be between three and four pounds. I put him on my scale, which said he was two pounds, which leads me to determine that I need a digital scale. I unhooked him and released what would be my only catch that day, and headed home shortly after that. 

(PS: fish selfies are hard!)

So I lost two big swimbaits today and a whole lot of braided line, and that shit ain't cheap. People wonder why  I chose this asinine name for my Blog, and I couldn't have illustrated it any better today if I tried. My friend Sharkey and I have a tendency to lose very expensive tackle on a regular basis. The snag hag strikes again, and  she always seems to take the expensive ones! Regardless, with a rewarding hit on one of the eight inchers, I fully intend to replace my lost lures and return to Miller's Pond as soon as possible before the bite dries up. 

First Post

Where to begin....

 My name is Pat Murdough and I've been fishing for as long as I can remember. When I was younger, I was given a little plastic fishing rod and fishes as a gift. That toy fishing rod was my first real possession that I can remember. 

And now, I love fishing unequivocally, irrevocably, and absolutely.

Growing up in New England, specifically New Hampshire and Vermont, there were numerous opportunities to go "drown some worms" as my family called it. I fished with my Uncle Bert and my father a lot, but only recall a handful of specific excursions. My first real friends were an elderly couple who lived across the street, George and Ginny, and George and I shared an affinity for angling, and went on a few trips together before he died. My first setup was a Zebco reel on five foot Shakespeare rod, which I still use to this day for ultra-light stream fishing. My collection of rods and reels has grown exponentially since then, but I LOVE the feel of that old Shakespeare so much, and, as cliche as it sounds, it really does bring me back to a much simpler time and place.

 When I was in Junior High, our family moved to a larger house in a different section of town. Bicycle being the only mobility I was afforded, I rode everywhere, exploring strange new back roads and wooded trails. It wasn't long before I found various brooks and streams on these exploratory rides, and I started bringing my Shakespeare everywhere with me so I could fish these unexploited areas. When I got my driver's license and my parents gave me access to the family Astro Van, I would throw my gear in the back and drive to even more distant ponds and streams in my efforts to become a more knowledgeable and therefore better angler, and spent as many days as possible doing what I really loved.

As I got older, fishing took a backseat to what I considered to be more important at the time: school, earning a paycheck, and chasing pussy. I fell in with a crowd of mostly goth kids and, in order to win their approval, began to reject and resent my small hometown and anything that I thought exemplified "redneck behavior." This included anything having to do with things like classic rock, trucks, and hunting and fishing. I did not fish from my Junior year of high school until sometime around my last year of college, and even then only minimally. At that time I was employed as a body piercer at a local tattoo shop, attempting to be a goth club dj, and working on a somewhat long distance relationship, so fishing was pretty low on my list of priorities.

I now live in Middlesex County, CT with my wife, Kate, and our son, Henson, who, as I post this, is almost 8 months old. We live just outside of a larger city, and we own a small cottage in a wooded area near the CT river. I own a tattoo shop in Berlin, CT, about 20 minutes from my home, and I work about six days a week from 11AM to 8PM. And every moment I am able to, I go fishing. 

When I was younger I primarily fished for trout. Now, because CT's trout stocking system is so poor and trout are scarce barely a month after opening day, I concentrate on bass. However, as I tell any one who asks, I fish for "whatever's biting." I'm not a picky person by nature. I fish for striper, trout, crappie...whatever and wherever I can.

I'm starting this blog as a sort of fishing journal, chronicling my fishing trips and catches, as well as discussing various setups, types of fishing, and general angling stupidity that I get into, either by myself or with friends. I am by no means an expert, but I will do my best to provide useful information based on my location and my experience, hopefully with a lot of photos and videos. 

I will also be posting relevant artwork that I do, and probably have tshirts and stickers available to promote and support my blog.

So I hope that you enjoy what I'm doing here, and I promise I will TRY to keep posting regularly to keep future installments a lot more succinct. Thanks for looking, and good luck out there.