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.