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Toggin' w/ the SOL
crew
December 18, 2000:
Friday was part two of the ongoing tog saga. The SOL representatives
present were Alberto, Prefessa, BrianZ, and myself. Al and I opted for
some rest the previous evening rather than torturing ourselves hunting
the elusive unicorn...when I say "previous night", that's
not real accurate. Actually, by the time we got done BS'ing, it was
2:30am...we crashed on couches till 4:15am...I guess one could call
that "rest"? Anyway...up and at 'em, we grab the gear and
head off to Pat's Diner for some breakfast and much needed coffee.
Nothing like a few eggs and home fries to get yer motor running on a
cold morning....oh, and lots of coffee! From our seat in the diner, we
could watch BrianZ and Prefessa pacing nervously around the boat...I
dunno if they were trying to keep warm or perhaps wondering if we were
gonna make it. After the chow, we beat feet to the boat and boarded
her with gear in hand...Al has lots of gear...I bet he's the guy in
the Express checkout line with 15 items instead of 10 ;^) I just bring
necessities...and being outta the togging game for 8 or 9 years, my
necessities are few...couple sticks, couple reels, loads of hooks,
extra rigs, leader material, and plans. Of course the snacks, never
forget the snacks! For our snack Al and I did quite well. I opted for
the Entamen's donuts with the little crumb like things on them...a
treat for the palate of even the most hard core dessert freak. Al
chose, with a little guiding on my part, the cheese filled crumb
cake...and excellent choice...poor finger food, but a culinary
delight! One day I'll wise up and start bringing a thermos full of
extra java.
So, we're all together on a party boat out of the Belmar Marina....all
mentally prepared for the ensuing battles that would undoubtedly take
place. On the way out the inlet, we watched helplessly as the birds,
bass, and bait mixed it up for the length of the inlet...it was nice
to see anyway. The swell made the ride feel like any proper boat ride
should...the boat should move and groove under foot...just enough to
make sure your sea legs are working. The ocean is a living thing, it
should feel like it when you are plowing through it in a 100' boat ;)
So now we're all rigging up, choosing the right crabs from among the
wrong crabs, cutting and trimming baits...more planning and more
preparation...this toggin' thing is not to be taken lightly! As soon
as we stopped Al from "testing" the bait orally...something
I wouldn't recommend...we had enough in our little plastic buckets to
begin the waiting till the anchors were spread and the toggin' would
begin. Yea, Al's kinda funny that way...I think he just likes
the way those stone crabs taste...he swears it had something to do
with the right taste for the tog...somehow, I don't doubt it ;^)
The anchors are barely set and we're in the water...and the bite is
almost immediate...being rusty, I do the swing/miss/surprised look
move...I'm quite adept at that one ;^) Next time, I'm ready and stick
the first of the small tog that our SOL crew got to greet. Lil'
feller, but none the less, a tog...buck teeth and all. So the day
goes...we're all picking away...small tog, some decent tog, a few real
good ones that didn't make it outta the junk yard bottom we were
fishing. Alberto, besides being as Crazy as they say, is quite a
peculiar fella sometimes. This being my second tog trip with him, I
was a veteran of his "moves" if ya will. I don't miss
much...I watch everything...'specially when someone's as adept as the
Crazy One when it comes to putting the metal to the white chins! Al
has only a few moves. There's the "point the rod at the water and
crank like mad" move - this means he's had his hooks polished and
needs to rebait. Then there's the "point the rod at the water and
reel up slowly" move - this means the hook has hit home and he's
now removing said tog from it's watery lair. And lastly, there's the
"point the rod directly at the water, nearly immersing the tip
and reel slowly" move - this means said tog is now almost to the
surface and is about to be flipped discretely into his waiting mitts,
unhooked and released...either into the cooler or back into the drink.
I can appreciate Al's moves, they are certain signs of a grizzled
party boat veteran. Not one of these moves draws the slightest bit of
attention...unless the fact that he's not trying to draw attention to
himself draws your attention...that's where I fit in ;^) While still
on the first wreck, I noticed Al doing the "point the rod at the
water and reel slowly" move...so I watched from my vantage point.
As he was reeling slowly...he suddenly stopped, I'm guessing the tog
was about half way up...and as I'm waiting for the slow reeling to
resume, I notice the spool on his reel is going the wrong way...not
fast, not jerky, but a nice, steady pace. That's when I realize he's
gettin' his butt kicked by a real bucktoothed white chinned bastage!
Sure enough, 25 feet of the spool going the wrong way and the big
white chin is safely nestled back in the wreck...Al's still not trying
to draw any attention...but he's got mine. We make eye contact and I
said "I saw that". He just groans and shakes his head as the
realization that this behemoth has bested the Crazy One and he's now
firmly and permanently hung up on the wreck. Al and I made a lil
additional side bet on the pool, just between us...so when he breaks
off and says "very big tog"...I teased him by reminding him
about the pool and asking if that's an exact weight? <Insert grin
for me, no grin for Al ;-)
The day rolls on, many more tog are landed yet nothing as LARGE as the
one Al let get away (I'm gonna pay for that one later, I'm sure!)
Prefessa and Brian are both doing the steady pick on the tog, I'm
plucking away as well. There's an amazing togmeister fishing to Al's
right...I'm picking up tips from him without his knowing it...thanks
togmeister! Funny thing about the mentality on party boats...I'm not
one for unnecessarily killing a slow growing fish like a tog, so I'm
releasing a good number of legal to nice sized tog...and the looks
from people were like I had two heads! It's sad, you'd think if a
fella wanted to release fish others would think that was a good
thing...it's not, one lady even told me so! Bastages, all of 'em! The
togmeister turned out to be working for the boat, filling a garbage
can with far over his limit in 3-6# tog which were then sold en masse
to one angler who parted with $150 for the whole mess....so now two
separate people had been in possession of an illegal amount of tog. No
one cared, no one said a thing...it's extremely sad that this is
apparently ok with the whole world. Laws are laws, paying to go on a
boat doesn't make you suddenly exempt from the law, people shouldn't
be made comfortable enough to think so! Again, bastages, all of 'em.
To make a long story less long, I ended up taking all the pools,
including the lil' additional cabbage from my tog-tutor...ain't that
extra sweet? ;-) On the ride back, the mates were busy at work
filleting piles of blackfish...and probably 10% of them were obviously
shorts...and again, I took immediate offense to this. Yea, it's a job,
you're a mate on a party boat, does that give you the right to fillet
obviously short fish? Shouldn't the mates and captain be pillars of
the party boat community and throw shorts back or at least refuse to
fillet them? Perhaps they should notify the game warden so he can meet
them at the dock and distribute the appropriate fines? Nope, not when
the almighty dollar is at stake! If these kinds of conditions exist on
a party boat, what in the world to commercial fishermen feel it's ok
to get away with? Just seems so stupid, compromising ones principles
for a couple bucks...why not be known as the boat that doesn't
tolerate people killing illegal fish? For one, that would be a boat I
would seek out to give my business. Instead, I'm now making a list of
boats that I wouldn't go out on again for tolerating obvious
poaching...that's what keeping over your limit or keeping small fish
is - it's poaching, 100% poaching. Right now I'm 0 for 2, neither of
the boats I gave my money to this past month will ever see my business
again. Hopefully others will feel the same way in the future and the
party/charter boats that not only tolerate but encourage poaching will
suffer, wither, and go under - literally.
So, next time out, I'll try a third boat....hopefully they'll be the
one that won't tolerate poachers, won't encourage or turn a blind eye
to thieving of our collective resource...and, of course, I hope they
have lots and lots of people in the pool! ;^)
Sincerely,
Tim Surgent
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