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| My brother, Josh with a beautiful Crappie |
Tuesday, December 24, 2013
Have a Crappie Christmas
Friday, December 13, 2013
Transformation of a Fisherman: Part 2
Looking back on that first fish experience, it is easy to see my shortcomings as an angler. No, not in regards to the fish I caught, the shortcomings have to do with me. My attitude towards other's fishing abilities were extremely critical without ever saying a word to them. These thoughts circled in my head constantly. By the age of 6, I was catching way more bluegills than my cousins. In my 6 year old opinion they were terrible at fishing. I hardly even fished the pond that they all lived around. I lived an hour away and all I had to do was show up and fish were caught. Life was good.
As an arrogant 6 year old my summer's were always split between Connecticut and Vermont. I was a lucky "Little Shit" as my mom would say, as my Grandfather had purchased a house on the Lake Champlain Islands before I was born.
If I remember correctly we had an unpainted 14' sylvan or grumman deep V tin boat with a 9 horse Merc. on the back. It was an adventure every day on Lake Champlain. My dad would come up every weekend and my brother and I would stay all week with my mom and grandmother. I don't think I ever had the chance to fish with either of my grandfathers, but the thought of doing so today is something I think about often. Anyways, my dad had fished with both of my grandfathers and learned their techniques. Old school, proven, techniques not realistic for the 6 year old. Thankfully those ways were skipped for my brother and me. My dad had also been fishing his entire life and learned from his cousins about spin fishing. It was more convenient for pond fishing in CT, while the trolling gear was set up for walleyes and salmon on Champlain in VT. So what I learned was a combination of the two. Spin casting and trolling using spin gear.
My dad did so much of what makes up who I am today and some key things as to what I know as a fisherman. He worked long hours in construction, chasing jobs all around CT. He always scouted the surrounding areas for potential fishing spots, and would bring my brother and I along on weekends. The other thing he did was to reinvent fishing for himself, a break in tradition. Breaking the molds that had made him. Which would set the foundation for myself to eventually break the boundaries of my own fishing career.
At the Hartford, CT fishing show (when it used to be good) small vendors sold baits, the little guys who think up ingenious things were present and trying to make a buck off their inventions. My dad was kinda stingy when it comes to money and buying "things" but he also has an impulsive gotta have it now attitude. We were on our last aisle where it seemed as though we were headed to the car to go home. Two booths that I will never forget, Penn reels and some weird guys with a lot of soft plastic baits for sale. My dad bought me my first spinning reel, a nice light penn reel that I would use for a long time. Then the worm guy had lead jig heads and mister twister style grub tails in boxes. At least a hundred thousand of them in all colors. My dad saw the smoke with salt and pepper flake and I had thought he found a gold coin on the floor. He bought a bag of baits none of which he ever used before, and after that disappeared from being my fishing partner for awhile...
As an arrogant 6 year old my summer's were always split between Connecticut and Vermont. I was a lucky "Little Shit" as my mom would say, as my Grandfather had purchased a house on the Lake Champlain Islands before I was born.
If I remember correctly we had an unpainted 14' sylvan or grumman deep V tin boat with a 9 horse Merc. on the back. It was an adventure every day on Lake Champlain. My dad would come up every weekend and my brother and I would stay all week with my mom and grandmother. I don't think I ever had the chance to fish with either of my grandfathers, but the thought of doing so today is something I think about often. Anyways, my dad had fished with both of my grandfathers and learned their techniques. Old school, proven, techniques not realistic for the 6 year old. Thankfully those ways were skipped for my brother and me. My dad had also been fishing his entire life and learned from his cousins about spin fishing. It was more convenient for pond fishing in CT, while the trolling gear was set up for walleyes and salmon on Champlain in VT. So what I learned was a combination of the two. Spin casting and trolling using spin gear.
My dad did so much of what makes up who I am today and some key things as to what I know as a fisherman. He worked long hours in construction, chasing jobs all around CT. He always scouted the surrounding areas for potential fishing spots, and would bring my brother and I along on weekends. The other thing he did was to reinvent fishing for himself, a break in tradition. Breaking the molds that had made him. Which would set the foundation for myself to eventually break the boundaries of my own fishing career.
At the Hartford, CT fishing show (when it used to be good) small vendors sold baits, the little guys who think up ingenious things were present and trying to make a buck off their inventions. My dad was kinda stingy when it comes to money and buying "things" but he also has an impulsive gotta have it now attitude. We were on our last aisle where it seemed as though we were headed to the car to go home. Two booths that I will never forget, Penn reels and some weird guys with a lot of soft plastic baits for sale. My dad bought me my first spinning reel, a nice light penn reel that I would use for a long time. Then the worm guy had lead jig heads and mister twister style grub tails in boxes. At least a hundred thousand of them in all colors. My dad saw the smoke with salt and pepper flake and I had thought he found a gold coin on the floor. He bought a bag of baits none of which he ever used before, and after that disappeared from being my fishing partner for awhile...
Wednesday, December 11, 2013
The Transformation of a Fisherman: Part 1
At first I did not know why my grandmother had led me to the garden to dig up worms. A chock full o'nuts coffee can sat in the moist garden soil by her side. I remember scraping my knuckles on the stones as we dug, then following my Gram while pulling dirt from under my nails. For some reason, it always seemed as if the most big worms were always near the string beans, and the little ones in the compost. Gram led me to the water's edge and I watched water rings disappear slowly in the pond. It was a plastic red and white bobber with something holding a slimy night crawler beneath it. She handed me what seemed like a stick and told me to hold it and watch. I wasn't sure what I was watching for, maybe the geese, a bullfrog, I knew what those things were. Then I heard some excitement, "Matt you've got one, reel it in!" Then I felt it in my hands, the same excitement. Something got me. The bobber was darting around, left and right, under and up, it was pulling and so was I. I cranked and cranked until the bobber was stuck at the end of my stick, and my Gram pulled it in. She said it was a bluegill, she showed me the colors, its gills, and took the hook out. She let me touch it and then said it's time to let it go. Gram placed the bluegill back in the water and it sped away fast. It was incredible.
Saturday, December 7, 2013
2013-14 Ice Season
It's that time of year to have your ice fishing gear at the ready. The week ahead has one rain day in the forecast for Connecticut and it is Monday. More importantly the ice-cast is looking very good for safe ice by next weekend with overnight temps hitting the 20s and teens, and even earlier for high elevation and northern portions of the state. First ice often provides the best possible fishing as does last ice so making sure you can get out and do so safely should provide some great results.
Last weekend I dusted off my tipups, respooled them all with new line, swivels, and florocarbon leaders & hooks. I started using hi-visibility main line in lime green and blaze orange, it is extremely helpful to see which direction the fish is moving after a take. Black main line or dark red are difficult to see. I tied the main line of the tipups to swivels using a double cinch knot, then made my leaders to single hooks using #4 crimps on 50 & 60lb florocarbon. In my sled I will store a box with the crimper, extra crimps, hooks and swivels. This will serve to speed up the time necessary to get another bait in the water if a break-off occurs. One lake in particular comes to mind in terms of a high chance of breakoffs due to an incredible amount of standing timber and sub-surface log snags. This structure is a double edged sword because fishing near it is key to seeing flags pop, however watching for flags is just as critical because the fish will head back into that same cover along with the line in tow.
Last season my brother purchased an underwater camera. Yes it is cool and we noticed it had little to no effect on the fish caring that there was a fake bluegill "swimming" up and down and doing 360's like Shawn White. The question for me was is it worth it? It's expensive, time consuming, another thing to charge, and lug around the ice... and for myself and the limited time I had to use it especially on the type of lake described above, yes it is a game changer. Locating and seeing structure that could not otherwise be seen above the water was now available to us. Also it give you a depth reading, temperature (cold) and direction of view as it has a built in compass. The images are crisp and can be focused/zoomed on the model my brother purchased. What it also allowed us to do is those areas where we had setup close to structure we could determine if it was going to be a productive setup. Let's say we dropped a bait down, then sent the camera in for a look and found that a single log was blocking the bait from a better chance of being seen. We were then able to decide if a different hole a few feet away would better our chances.
Just remember every trip on the ice should have safety as the number one priority. Black (clear) ice is the strongest, if snow is mixed in the strength dramatically decreases. Be aware for underwater currents as well as areas that are tidal. Keep a lookout for streams, spillways, and the like as these areas will have much thinner (less safe) ice. Ice picks that you wear in your coat sleeves or around your neck can save your life. In remote areas always pack a change of clothes and fire starting materials. Leave a plan of where you are fishing and when you plan on returning with someone on land, or keep in touch via cell phone to update them if possible.
Last weekend I dusted off my tipups, respooled them all with new line, swivels, and florocarbon leaders & hooks. I started using hi-visibility main line in lime green and blaze orange, it is extremely helpful to see which direction the fish is moving after a take. Black main line or dark red are difficult to see. I tied the main line of the tipups to swivels using a double cinch knot, then made my leaders to single hooks using #4 crimps on 50 & 60lb florocarbon. In my sled I will store a box with the crimper, extra crimps, hooks and swivels. This will serve to speed up the time necessary to get another bait in the water if a break-off occurs. One lake in particular comes to mind in terms of a high chance of breakoffs due to an incredible amount of standing timber and sub-surface log snags. This structure is a double edged sword because fishing near it is key to seeing flags pop, however watching for flags is just as critical because the fish will head back into that same cover along with the line in tow.
Last season my brother purchased an underwater camera. Yes it is cool and we noticed it had little to no effect on the fish caring that there was a fake bluegill "swimming" up and down and doing 360's like Shawn White. The question for me was is it worth it? It's expensive, time consuming, another thing to charge, and lug around the ice... and for myself and the limited time I had to use it especially on the type of lake described above, yes it is a game changer. Locating and seeing structure that could not otherwise be seen above the water was now available to us. Also it give you a depth reading, temperature (cold) and direction of view as it has a built in compass. The images are crisp and can be focused/zoomed on the model my brother purchased. What it also allowed us to do is those areas where we had setup close to structure we could determine if it was going to be a productive setup. Let's say we dropped a bait down, then sent the camera in for a look and found that a single log was blocking the bait from a better chance of being seen. We were then able to decide if a different hole a few feet away would better our chances.
Just remember every trip on the ice should have safety as the number one priority. Black (clear) ice is the strongest, if snow is mixed in the strength dramatically decreases. Be aware for underwater currents as well as areas that are tidal. Keep a lookout for streams, spillways, and the like as these areas will have much thinner (less safe) ice. Ice picks that you wear in your coat sleeves or around your neck can save your life. In remote areas always pack a change of clothes and fire starting materials. Leave a plan of where you are fishing and when you plan on returning with someone on land, or keep in touch via cell phone to update them if possible.
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