Bio
CTF name: O-BASS
Real name: Mike O'Mara
Age: 27
Current city: Woodbury
Hometown: East Haddam
Family members: My beautiful girlfriend of 8 years, Jill
Occupation: Musician

1. You recently won the CTF Fall Blackfish Bash. What are some of the techniques you used that day? What are some of your overall tips for successful tog fishing?
I've only been blackfishing for about 3 or 4 years now, so I've still got a lot to learn. The rig I used during the bash is the same rig I always fish, 2 feet of 50-60 lb mono leader with a heavy swivel on one end and a 5/0 Mustad octopus hook on the other. I use a fishfinder rig for weight, and go as light on the lead as conditions allow.


O-BASS and Coverfyre at the Fall Blackfish Bash 2007

My blackfish stick would be some people's noodle rod! I mainly use a 7-foot Falcon flipping stick and an Abu-Garcia 5500. I get some weird looks, but it allows me to enjoy the fish with minimum arm fatigue, and does the job up to 30 feet deep. I've taken tog to almost 11 pounds on it, and prefer it to the heavier gear I have.

For tips, the best thing you can do is have fresh bait, keep trying new spots, and bring company. Dead crabs don't work. Scout around and look for the worlds most obvious places. ANYWHERE that has rocks/mussels is going to have fish on it, and you won't know unless you try. I know it's difficult to do, but the next time you're on a good bite and alone, that's the time to move to that new spot you've been wondering about. Having backup plans for your backup plans will pay off in late season, when the local spindle/reef have been fished out, those extra spots put fish over the rail.

Toggin' is best done with a friend and the two of you are gonna want to catch fish; having those extra spots can turn a slow day into a bail job!. Also, let some fish go, especially the big ones. Keep what you need and stop there. Blackfish grow slow, and disappear quickly when the bite is hot- those 7 pounders taste the same as a 3 pounder, but drop a lot more eggs. The fishery relies on us as individuals to protect it, not the feds, state, or the guy next to us. Besides I can only eat 14 pounds of blackfish in one day anyway!

2. Your screen name is a play on fishing and music, correct? When did you get interested in music?
Yes, it's a tribute to two of the things I love most in life. My family on both sides are musical, but none have pursued it as a career other than myself. I've been told by family I had picked out songs on piano when I was 4, and dabbled in a few instruments as a child like most do, but I didn't really start to play an instrument until I was about 15.



3. What grade/ability students do you teach music to? What is the most rewarding part about teaching?
I teach students of any age from 5-75 and depending on the instrument, all ability levels. I study to this day myself and still take lessons; music is a life long study and there is always something to be learned, improved or enjoyed. The rewards of teaching are very different than that of playing and it wasn't until I actually taught my first student at 19 that I realized how enjoyable it was. For me, it's the positive difference I can make in a person's life. The smile on a student's face after they accomplish something musically, no matter how big or small, that's the reason I get up each day and look forward to my "job"!

4. How many instruments can you play?
I can play almost every instrument enough to have a working knowledge of it and instruct beginners, but proficiently, 5. Bass, Saxophone, Drums, Guitar and Voice. I'll play the violin for you, but only if you have the desire to claw your eyes out and bleed from the ears. If not, enjoy my bass playing instead.

5. What is your favorite kind of music to play?
My roots, like most of us are heavy rock and metal. I believe the only time I've met you Mitch, you saw the long hair and the first thing you said was "You must be into metal, right?!?" I've moved beyond the days of Primus, Slayer, and Soundgarden from a technical standpoint, but still enjoy my beginnings. I've become a big fan and performer of jazz; standards from the crooner era are tough to beat!

6. Is there a way for people to check out music you have recorded or perform?
Sure is! Since I'm usually a hired gun (backup musician for a featured performer) it's tough to pinpoint live performance, but shoot me a pm and ill let you know what restaurant/nightclub /bar/venue/cousin's wedding I'm playing at. You can also hear me on Sugarfists album
“Ja Mi Vous”, Pedro Avila's latest self titled, and on WCSU's alumni compilation “Free nights and Weekends”.


The O-Jazz Trio.

7. What is your favorite kind of music to listen to?
Eclectic and swingin' jazz. Anything out of the ordinary, with interesting rhythmic or chordal structure does it for me. Most of the world listens to the words in a song; being a musician I listen to the notes you're singing rather than the words your saying.

8. Are there any musicians or groups that people might never have heard of, but you think they should check out?
I can't recommend anything or anyone specific, but I would like to encourage everyone to go out and see a show, any show at all and to do so frequently. Take your kids to see Fall Out Boy, your wife to hear me and my trio O-Jazz over dinner and fine wine, your parents to hear the Berkshire Big band. Supporting the arts in any way enriches and enhances the life of yourself and others, weather it's the Boston Pops Gala scoring points with the in-laws, or the local cover band with a cold black and tan and 3 of your best buds belting the words to “Piano Man” at the local bar-that's what enjoying music is all about!

9. In your opinion, who is the best guitarist ever?
Squeegeeking and I have pondered this over bass and blues many a night, and never has either of us settled on an answer. With all the Jazz and Fusion monsters out there there's just too many ways to look at it; chops, showmanship, feel. But I know what you're asking me -- who is the best rock guitarist out there? And for that there is no question of “Who is the best rock guitarist of all time”? There is only an answer, and to disagree only tarnishes the soul and angers the rock gods who will punish us with more commercial rap on every radio station!!! Say it with me, guys……
Eddie…………Van…………………Halen!

10. How and when did you get interested in fishing?
My first memory, at 2 years old was catching a bluegill at my uncles' cottage in East Haddam and putting sand on it. Seemed like the right thing to do when I was 2 years old, and that was the first day of a life long passion. My interest in fishing trumps all other things combined, and I owe a lot of it to my father, my uncle and great grandfather, all of who fished and took me fishing as well.



11. What is your most memorable fishing experience?
Oh, man there's so many. It could be the first large surf caught fish I took, an 11-pound bluefish on a chunk off Saybrook town beach; I yelled so loud into the setting October sun I'll bet Montauk could hear me! It could be this year on my yearly trip to Maine with Doubleheader and This Side Up, catching 80 smallmouth bass between 2 and 3 pounds in 45 minutes while standing at the base of an old dam; I had dreamt about doing that very same thing night after night, formulating a plan all year long. I dream about those trips to Maine constantly, so that might be it.

12. When and how did you contract Lyme Disease, and how are you doing with it?
Thanks for asking, it's been tough. This is the 3rd time I've had it, each time different than the others. I'm sure I got it while hiking and fishing smallies on the upper Housy, and that it bit me on the head which led to full facial paralysis. I've recovered about 80 percent; to the point where if I don't show you what isn't working you're not going to notice. The fact that I can't smile like I used to or close my left eye is difficult to deal with, but it's the inability to play the saxophone any longer that gets me the most. I've lost control of the upper left corner of my lip, and without this I can't close my mouth and form a seal to play the sax. Its like losing a good chunk of my soul. Some days are better than others which gives me hope it will come back 100% and I could have been worse; the next step was bacterial meningitis in my head, but I'm not gonna lie, I get up many days and curse my face. Please, check yourself, your spouse and your kids every day, no matter where you live or what you do outside. If you have any doubts, get to a doctor immediately. Do whatever it takes to get the antibiotics and take them all; better safe than sorry…

13. Besides music, what do you think is the most important thing a kid needs to learn in school to make it in the world?
Believe it or not, I've never thought music was the most important thing a child can learn in school. I've always thought it was respect and self confidence, which seem to go hand in hand. My mother and father taught me to say please and thank you, hold the door for people, and respect for my elders. It was also taught to me at school, and it made an impact on me I didn't come to realize until I began teaching myself. I thought everyone said "bless you" when you sneezed, helped you pick things up when you dropped them; man was I wrong. I've noticed a huge connection between students who respect themselves and others, and success in and out of school. I'm not talking about being a kiss up or a teachers pet -- I was a pain in the a$$ in school and got in trouble for scootchin' around like all young men do(and are SUPPOSED to do)- but I never though about hurting my fellow man or being a punk; even as a kid I knew right from wrong and it's because of my parents and teachers.

14. What was the toughest challenge or adversity you had to overcome in your life?
The Lyme Disease has been difficult, but honestly I've been so lucky and fortunate to have people around me who care and given so much opportunity in life, I haven't had to face any serious challenges that the next man hasn't dealt with before me. I'm very fortunate, and try not to forget it.

15. Do you have any funny or embarrassing stories surrounding fishing that you are willing to tell about yourself?
Yeah. I've gone to shore more than once after a breakfast that didn't sit right in the gut, but in Maine if you expose any skin to the air black flies are on you in seconds. I could hold it one morning, and let me tell you I couldn't sit down my butt was so bit from those damn flies. I had welts everywhere. I put a rattletrap into the back of my head, then pushed the hook out thru the skin myself clipped the barb and went back to fishing, head covered in blood. Anglerman drove a 7/0 treble in and out of his thumb (the worst I've ever seen), Gio stuck a circle in his palm, The Avid Angler took one in the palm blackfishing and Coverfyre grabbed the line on a blackfish but forgot about the top hook on those BeyondBait rigs-OUCH! I also had a smallie take a rattletrap boat side, leap into the air, and snag the crotch of my pants. I screamed like a girl trying not to drive the hook attached to this green fish into my goods-man how I got away unscathed is a miracle!

16. Tell us a memorable experience about meeting or fishing with someone from CTF who you never knew before.
Two stand out above the rest. I met Coverfyre the morning of the Bash 3 years ago, I'm rigging up my boat and notice a guy pacing back and forth with a CTF sticker on his truck. Half an hour goes by and his partner isn't there, neither is mine. We started talking and sure enough he was fishing the bash, and didn't know a lot of people (the same as me). My partner canceled out, and the other got seasick, and his partner (turns out to be Stars&Stripers) boat wasn't going to work that day. We tried my spare battery, but it wasn't happening. I'm left fishing alone and he's stuck on shore-screw it-lets fish together. Me and a guy I've known for 10 minutes are now heading out to catch fish we hardly know about in an area we hardly know. We bailed fish non stop all day, took 5th place with his 8+ pounder, and talked about everything from family to food. It was like I knew Ron since grade school.

Last year, in late august I met Squeegeeking on Short Beach in Stratford at about midnight. No one hooking any fish, we got to talking, him and his buddies busting my stones about the Sox and the dismal 2006 season, fishing chat and the website. Next thing I know, I'm following him spot to spot, getting coffee and its 4am. I don't remember giving him my phone number that night, but the next day the phone rings. “Hey what are you doin”?” “Who is this?” I say. “Its Jim, we fished last night, you wanna head out again tonight…” It took me a minute to figure out who it was, but a year later, Jim is the go to guy on speed dial when its 11pm and the tide is right, and a great friend. He introduced me to Milton E.S. (another great guy on this site) and taught me a ton about the area.



17. What do your friends say is your best quality?
My Chicken Bacon Corn Chowder recipe.

18. What piece of fishing gear or equipment in your arsenal is the most useful? What is the most useless that you spent the most money on?
I have a Penn 6500 spinning reel sitting on an 7' Ugly Stick Custom that has seen more stripers, blues and blackfish in one day than the average man will catch in his lifetime. I spent $150 on a Pinnacle Tetra bait casting reel, the most I'd ever spent on a reel, and the gears and thumbar have never worked right, plus the spool is so shallow I can only hold about 80 yards of line on the damn thing. The drag is terrible and the reel finish wore off a little on day one. I've hardly used it in 5 years. Of course I just laid down for a new Tacoma to pull my boat, only to have the engine on the boat break. I saved for years for this truck; what's the point if I can't use it to pull my boat to fish?

19. Describe your dream fishing trip.
There are so many trips that I would like to go on, so many places and people I'd want to fish and fish with. I hear about This Side Up and Doubleheaders' trip to the Amazon for Peacock Bass, and my heart pounds just listening to their stories. I'd love to go to Alaska with my dad, and just see what it's like up there, fishing all the while. Really though, a dream of mine has been to get in my truck, hitch up my boat, and travel the east coast, fishing the whole way up and down, sleeping in my truck, and enjoying the world as I go. For me, fishing has become more about the adventure of the trip than about landing that 10-pound bass.

I recently read this quote from “September 18” by W.D. Wetherell that sums up my feelings about my favorite fish, the smallmouth bass, and fishing in general: "The bass fights with frantic and uncompromising purpose, and I share a portion of that quality myself, at least when it comes to the passion with which I approach my time out on the water. Yes I want a gentle, relaxed sport, one that involves myself, the river, the fish in a sometimes complicated, sometimes simple symbiosis, but how fiercely I want this, want this still. Bass and fisherman tug on opposite ends of the line, and yet on a ninety-nine and nine tenths perfect September afternoon like this one, they end up striving towards the same kind of rebellious freedom, racing to see who gets there first…"

20. What is the best piece of fishing advice you have ever received?
"You should go fishing today, Mike." Whoever said it, thank you. You were right!