Michael Tougias Presentation

 

Google Image of Michael Tougias

    For years I have wanted to go to a presentation by author Michael Tougias. When I was young I used to read his column in the Sun Chronicle (our local newspaper) every week. His articles were not so much about fishing as they were other outdoor pursuits such as daytrips, state parks, and canoeing local rivers. Though thirty years ago, I vividly remember reading his piece every week and learning about new places in the area.

   Somehow I got wind of Michael's books. He wrote multiple books about the area. He lives in Mendon, MA.  Back then his books were about local history or nature. I bought a book about King Philip's War. King Philip was the son of the famous Massasoit that befriended the Puritans. By King Philip's time the colonists were busy stealing the land from the natives and spreading disease decimating the native population. King Philip (whose real name was Metacomet) lead a war against the colonists. Per capita it was the bloodiest war in American history. Both sides were responsible for some despicable atrocities. 

   Another book that I bought is called "Exploring the Hidden Charles". The book is about the Charles River. It breaks the river down into sections starting in the town of Franklin all the way to where it dumps into Boston Harbor at the Museum of Science. In each section is information about entering tributaries, scenery, and most importantly access points. I took multiple scouting trips to sections of the Charles with my book and notes looking for places to fish. Because of this book I caught Yellow Bullheads in Sherborn and fished for carp in Needham. 

  Later on Michael decided to expand to a more national audience. He found a niche in extreme survival. He found stories where people survived all kinds of historical disasters. He has also dabbled in young adult books. Some of these are more stripped down reader friendly versions of his more detailed disaster books. These books certainly expanded his readership. To date, Michael Tougias was written thirty books. 

   Michael Tougias does multiple speaking presentations based on his books. Last night he spoke at Seekonk Library. I put it on my calendar and was getting excited as the day approached.  Last night's presentation was called "The Finest Hour". It was about a Coast Guard Rescue off of the Cape Cod Coast in 1952. There was a terrible winter storm so powerful that two oil tankers split in half about twenty miles from each other. The Coast Guard rescued most of the seamen but there were some deaths. The book was made into a feature movie by Disney. Two of the actors in the movie were Casey Affleck and Chris Pine.

   The presentation lasted almost an hour and was excellent. I hadn't read this book or seen the movie. So everything I heard was history I didn't know anything about. The meeting room was completely full and Michael was very happy with the turnout. After the presentation and Q &A was over Michael sold books in the back of the room. He signed the books and answered some more questions. 

   Seeing a Michael Tougias presentation was something I have wanted to do for decades (as usual I dragged Laurie along). It was definitely on my bucket list. He is doing a presentation in Middleboro, MA on October 2. The talk will be about King Philip's War. I plan on going to that. To find out when he is speaking go to his Facebook page and scroll down. You can go to his website to buy books and other info (I don't know why he doesn't have his speaking engagements on his website). The presentations are free. He obviously does them in hopes of selling some his books. None the less, a very enjoyable hour. 

https://www.michaeltougias.com/

Fishing Tackle Part 2 Buying the right stuff

   In part one I covered the mistakes I made buying gear for freshwater bass. I also went over how little you really need to catch fish. The key is to find lures that you are confident in. Confidence is brought on by success. In this post I plan to explain to you how how I took what I learned and applied it to other types of fishing. Though Largemouth and Smallmouth (collectively known as Black Bass) are the number one gamefish in North America I feel I covered that topic enough in the last post.

   Striped Bass are the number one species on the East Coast and trout are located in just about every state. I fish for these species a lot. I catch fish and do not need to carry around a sixty five pound tackle box to do it. More on stripers after the trout.

   Before I go on, I have to tell you how awful some of the fishing departments are in some stores. I can't tell you how many times I've gone to Dick's hoping for a specific lure only to walk out empty. This even happens at Bass Pro Shops to me so I do have to buy much of my tackle online.

   My trout box fits into my pocket. It is six inches long and about 3.5 inches wide. It has compartments. each compartment for the following; Rooster Tails, Kastmasters, Sinking Minnow, flies, Terminal Tackle (split shot, swivels)

  I carry four Rooster Tails. I have a White Coachdog and Yellow Coachdog in sizes 1/8 and 1/16 ounce. I have not fallen for the hype that I need every color of Roostertail. When they go on sale I buy two or three of each size and store them in a shoebox. I also don't use Mepps or any other brand. I'm not going to waste money when I have lures that work for me.

   Spoons- I carry a silver and a gold Kastmaster in 1/8 size. When there is a sale I'll stock up like I do with spinners. 

I take a small sinking Rapala in the color silver. Again, other colors and brands probably work, but I', sticking with what works.

   I take flies along for the casting bubble/fly combo. Since flies are cheap, I do take a small assortment. I could easily get by with using Wooly Buggers size 10 in either black or olive. For years I only used those two colors. However, I've thrown in a Size 12 Hares Ear and a big gaudy Royal Coachman for fun.

Along with the lures I bring a couple of clear casting bubbles and six pound Vanish for leaders for the bubbly/fly combo. I am sure (for example) Thomas Buoyant work just fine as does Little Cleo, but I do not need anymore gear just to "experiment"

Surf Bag-

   Fishing gear for stripers is big business for tackle shops from Maryland to Maine. Thousands of jobs and millions of dollars are spent on Striped Bass. To the credit of the shops, the gear sold at them is specific to their location. Cape Cod Canal shops sell to a different crowd than those in New Jersey. The baitfish is different, the canal has huge powerful tides, and much of NJ fishing is off of beaches and jetties as opposed to a seven mile long river with rock banks on both sides. 

   However, you would be surprised at how many different places I need to shop to buy the gear needed for New England. Like my trout box, I try to keep the amount of gear I need to a minimum. Stripers are not hatchery raised and can swim thousands of miles a year. I can find them on sandy beaches, rocky ledges, or the aforementioned canal. I use the same strategy as I do for Smallmouth. I try to cover each life zone.

  The topwater fishing for bass and blues is fun. I carry a couple "walk the dog" type lures such as Rebel Jumping Minnow and two poppers. Both poppers are homemade and painted white. The difference is, one of them only has one hook on the tail in case I run into blitzing blues. This way I only have to take a nasty blue off of one single hook

For the middle layer I carry a Cordell Redfin and a Daiwa SP Minnow. 

For the lower layer near the bottom I carry bucktail jigs from 3/8- 1 1/2 ounce. I find myself using the half ounce most of the time. I carry jigheads of 3/8 and 1/2 an ounce for use of soft plastics. The plastics are Zoom Flukes in albino color, Queen Cocahoes in a pearl color. I take along three and four inch shad bodies in black back. Notice I don't have multiple colors for each lure. Lastly I use white colored grubs as a trailer on my bucktail jigs. Sometimes I'll use the grub on a plain jighead when stripers are fussy. This has saved my bacon in the past.

  Along with the lures, I carry leaders that I make at home. So I need to buy swivels, leader material, and Cros Loc snaps. I carry a couple wooden egg floats, a headlamp, and a pair of pliers.

   You can clearly see that my bag is not overstuffed. I don't waste money on multiple colors of soft plastics or for that matter plugs. My bag is homemade and can't believe anyone would pay a couple hundred dollars for a surf bag. 

   At the beginning of this chapter about surf fishing I did say that striper gear is not the same everywhere. This is true in New England. What you have just read is my RI bag. However, what I take to the Cape Cod Canal is totally different. Since the main baitfish is mackerel and much bigger than the bay anchovies of RI my gear is much bigger. To the canal I bring one box that fits in my backpack that I wear while riding my bike. In the box are a couple SP Minnows, a slow sinking Sebile Swimmer, a popper I painted blue mackerel, a big pencil popper, big jigheads, and green mackerel soft plastic. I d bring a few smaller jigs in case I run across small bait and schoolies.

Much of this stuff can be bought at local tackle shops and at Bass Pro. However, not all of it. I need to change out the weak hooks of the SP Minnows and Jumpin Minnows. I buy strong saltwater hooks along with big unpainted jigheads at NJ Tackle. They also supply wire and split rings for making poppers and wiring my wooden eggs.

   At home I do have boxes of spare saltwater gear. However, unlike my Tupperware bin full of freshwater soft plastics, it will eventually get used assuming I live long enough. The reason, when I find a good deal or Bass Pro has a sale, I buy in bulk. Every year Bass Pro has their Fishing Spectacular in March. Zoom Flukes always go on sale. So I buy a few bags to replace ones I used the prior year. I try to keep ten bags on hand. 

  A few years ago, they had a nice sale n saltwater jigheads. I bought five or more bags of each. I'm still living off of them. The same is said of four inch white grubs. I bought so many that when I need to restock my surf bag I just go into my spare room and pull some out. 

   I hate paying for shipping so when I bought my stuff from NJ Tackle, I made a big order. I still have unopened bags of multiple sizes of treble hooks, split rings, wire, and one ounce jigheads. The same goes for my fly gear. When I buy flies I spend enough so I don't have to pay for shipping. So I do have more flies than I'll need but I'd rather spend money on flies that I own than shipping.

I could go on and on about each species I fish for but I'm hoping you have the idea not to spend money on lures you don't need. I promise if you think ahead, buy smart, use sales and online companies to your advantage, you can save money and space. You'll catch more fish because you'll use lures you have confidence in. Don't get sucked into the illusion you need every color of every size lure. This is what the manufacturer's want you t believe. It is their job to sell their product. It is not your job to buy all of their gear. It is your job t catch fish. 

 

Photo Upgrade- Stilt Sandpiper

 I went to Charlestown yesterday and birded with my friend Scott. There were a lot of shorebirds but they were almost all Semi-palmated Sandpipers. The best bird there was a Stilt Sandpiper. They are a fairly rare shorebird. I've only seen them about four times. I got some decent photos of the ones yesterday. It came much closer than the others I've seen.  

Fishing Tackle-Part 1- Learning the hard way by spending too much money

   Here is one of the most important tips I can give you when it comes to fishing tackle. Most fishing gear is designed to catch fishermen not fish. Read that again because it is important. Companies that produce fishing gear spend a lot of time, money, and effort to convince you that you need to buy their stuff. Ask yourself this, is there any possible way you could possibly need forty colors of plastic worms? Do you need fifteen colors of crankbaits in three different sizes?

Lets start with the biggest money maker in the United States...largemouth bass. For the purpose of this post I looked up how much is spent on largemouth bass fishing alone. The answer...1.25 BILLION. Now, that number includes things such as vacations, fishing guides, tackle shops, etc... This post is going to concentrate on fishing tackle. 

   We have all been to Bass Pro Shops and there are aisles and aisles of gear aimed at Largemouth Bass. I am not one to talk. I was seduced by the lure of needing all sorts of gear. One example was after watching a fishing show I went out and bought multiple sizes and shapes of purple plastic worms.  My reasoning was that I could experiment and figure out which sizes worked during each "application". Maybe the curly tailed worm might be more affective in muddy water. Maybe the short straight worm would work better next to cover. You know what, I still have most of those same unopened bags of different purple worms in my storage box! I fell for the advertising.

   My tackle box for bass fishing must weigh well over forty pounds. It is loaded with dozens of topwater lures, crankbaits, jerkbaits and spinnerbaits. I have tons of soft plastic worms, lizards, grubs, tubes, and flukes all in at least five or more colors.

    When I went to New Hampshire in May and July I did really well fishing for Smallmouth Bass.  I took a box of lures I thought I would actually use with me. So I selected the lures out of my forty pound box that would fit into a plastic storage box. I did very well fishing for Smallies. My worst day I caught six fish. I had two days were I caught twenty eight, and twenty respectively. The rest of the days I caught over six but less than twenty. By any standard, fishing was very good. You know how many lures I caught fish on...three. I used my Zara Puppy for topwater fishing and a jighead for bouncing off of the bottom. On the jig I used two different color grubs. They were a four inch purple grub and a four inch Kalin's green pumpkin. That's it. I caught around a hundred Smallmouth Bass on three lures. Most of the hundreds of lures I own stayed at home while I was on vacation. And even eighty percent of the stuff in the box stayed in the box!

   So, the question becomes, what should you buy. If you are a bass fishermen that started out as a kid, then you probably don't need anymore gear. But for the sake of argument here is how you should break down what you need. Look at a how you would break down the pond. You need a few lures for each layer. You need topwater lures, lures for the middle layer and lures for the bottom. I love topwater fishing and by far my favorite topwater lure is a Zara Puppy. Other good ones are Jitterbugs, PopR, SkitterPops. Middle layer lures would be jerkbaits and spinnerbaits. Also very popular are Senko Worms fished like a darting/dying baitfish.  Bottom lures would be crankbaits. Also needed would be plastic worms, grubs, jigheads and worm hooks. This sounds like a lot, but I assure you, you do not need the amount of gear in my box. Get yourself two or three lures for each level of the water. Get a couple grubs you feel confident in. Get a light and dark colored worm such as Tequila Sunrise and salt and pepper. 

Don't get caught up in all of the combinations of blades and colors of spinnerbaits. Get a white spinnerbait and a white/chart one in either 3/8 or 1/2 ounce. A combination of a suspending jerkbait and one that floats at rest will fill your needs. 

  What about colors? I usually go with baitfish colors for hardbaits. I do have perch colored crankbaits and even Fire Tiger. But overall, two or three colors is plenty for each level of the lake. I am positive, you do not need purple worms of five different shapes and sizes. 

   I once heard a fisherman say to bring five lures with you for a day of fishing. He promised "you will catch fish". You will learn how to use them because you will concentrate harder than if you change lures every five casts. You will also build confidence in the lures.  I believe this fishermen was right. If I take my favorite five lures covering the water column with me fishing, I know I'm going to catch fish. As I said, I only used three lures fishing for smallies. 

  On the other hand, I once heard a fisherman say "they are only hitting motor oil colored worms today". Ignore an idiot that says that. And worse, don't be the idiot that goes out and buys motor oil colored worms because someone said they work. Lets look at this logically. Bass are a fish with a simple brain. Last I checked there isn't any natural prey called "motor oil worm". So the bass will not be "keying on" that particular lure and they won't hit anything else. Sure, that color worm may be working for that guy. It is a color he feels confident in. But I promise, the bass will hit other lures/colors also. A lethargic bass may not be willing to chase a spinnerbait but if you drop a Senko in front of a bass, even if it is not hungry, it's going to suck it in. 

   There is probably more gear designed for bass fishing than all of the other fish species in the US. The companies that make it want you to believe you need every color of every size. Do not fall for it. The advertising is designed to catch you. You will want more, but as I said, if you go fishing with five lures you feel confident in, you will catch fish. 

   Part 2 of this post will be about taking lessons I've learned from buying bass gear and applying them to other species. 

I finally saw Royal Terns

 

Sue's photo of yesterday's Royal Tern

   I wrote a long post about Royal Terns for the Ocean State Bird Club so this will be very short. I finally saw a Royal Tern in Rhode Island Friday. Royal Tern has been the toughest species that shows up in Rhode Island every year. I've never seen one one in RI despite seeing them in three other states. See my post "Royal pain in the ass". 

   I went to Quonny on Wednesday after reports all week. I got there early and looked for three hours before I had to leave to meet my friend Sue. That night, one was seen at 6 pm! Thursday morning my friend Barbara Seith saw them but I couldn't go down that day. So Friday I made a pilgrimage to Quonny determined to stay the day if I had to.

   That is exactly what I had to do. I got there at 8:40 am and spent the day staring at the pond. I did have to go into my car for about an hour because of lightning. I also left to get food at 3:15, but other than that I spent the day looking for Royal Terns. My friend Sue came to give me support and an extra set of eyes at 4:15. Around 5 pm a tern showed up that Sue spotted to the north. Sure enough it was a Royal Tern. We took some distant photos. Finally chasing this dam bird was over. As I guessed, my reaction was not of joy, just happy to be finished with this quest. The emotion was the same as finishing wrapping your last Christmas gift. No satisfaction other than you can move on and do something else. 

My favorite kind of snake

  I went herping today. I only saw one snake but it was a Black Racer which is my favorite snake species. I got lucky and it was in a place where I had an open view of it and it couldn't make a beeline to the water. I got to watch it for fifteen minutes. I took a lot of photos of it before it did make a break for the water. None of the photos are enhanced or cropped.

Dirty Deeds AC/DC Tribute Band

    In a span of less than fourteen hours I did two things on my bucket list (which I am trying to refer to as my "to do" list more often). Saturday I saw Copperheads which was really exciting. However, I was a little groggy on the drive down because I did not get a full night's sleep. Before making plans to go herping, Laurie and I had bought tickets to see the AC/DC tribute band for Friday night. The cover band played at the Stadium Theater in Woonsocket.

   I had wanted to see Dirty Deeds for nearly ten years. They are out of Boston and through the years have played clubs and bars in the area. Sometimes I'd forget to look up their schedule for months at a time only to find out they played in Attleboro two weeks before. Sometimes I knew they were playing but too far away. Dirty Deeds had been the entertainment version of Royal Tern for me.

   Last year, on a whim, Laurie and I bought tickets for the Queen tribute band "One Night of Queen at Bold Point. As we were walking in, we heard AC/DC music. Dirty Deeds was the opening band. There wasn't any mention of this on the tickets or the websites. It was bittersweet. Finally, I got to see Dirty Deeds, but we arrived after they played a couple of songs. 

   When I saw the lineup for this year's Stadium Theater shows, I saw Dirty Deeds was playing and basically gave Laurie no choice on if we'd buy tickets. The show was for Friday night July 7. I was pretty excited. AC/DC is my favorite band of all time. I know and love more songs by them than any other band. They have retired and I never saw them live. Seeing Dirty Deeds is probably the closest I'm going to get to the real thing.

   We got pretty good seats about twenty rows back but realized before the concert even started we would be squished in our seats. The guy next to me could have played guard for the Pats. So we moved up closer to the nosebleeds where there were less people. We asked an usher if the show was sold out and he said no. So we sat as far from others as we could..

The show started at 8 pm without an opening band. The band opened up with "Shoot to Thrill". They played about twenty songs. I knew all but three. They rocked with energy for two plus hours. They took a twenty minute intermission around 9 pm then played another hour. The show ended at 10:40.

Telling you all of the highlights would just be like reading off the back of an AC/DC greatest hits album. Some of my favorites were "Who Made Who", "Back in Black", "TNT", "High Voltage", "You Shook me All Night Long", "Highway to Hell", "Dirty Deeds", "Hells Bells", and others.

   Dirty Deeds ended the show with fan favorite "For those about to rock, we salute you". This is how AC/DC ends their shows. This always confused me because we already rocked. Now everyone is going home. It would make sense to play "For those about to rock" as the first song. I don't think I'm wrong about this. None the less, it was cool because they had canons on stage and they did fire smoke and confetti. 

   As for the authenticity, they are great. The guitarist jumped around all over the stage just like Angus Young. I dare say, he could play the guitar like Angus too. The lead singer wears the scally cap and looks an awful lot like Brian Johnson the lead singer for AC/DC. He sounds like Brian too. They were in every sense the second coming of AC/DC 

Below is a sample of the beginning of "Hells Bells". The visual isn't very good because we chose to sit pretty far back. However, the audio is good enough where you can tell you talented Dirty Deeds was.