Jump to content

Early Fall Tautog/ Black fish Fishing

Rate this topic


Juz1ish

Recommended Posts

I'm a boatless fisherman but I know come fall the tog will come inshore to hug the shoreline and jetties. So armed with small crabs and the will power to land these elusive fish. Tips, reports and fishing rod recommendations are always welcome in thread. Please share your speicals rigs if your consider yourself a tog sharpie.

A Wise Man Once said Preserve the old and Learn the New
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Don't have the leader stronger than your main line. At first it might make sense since you'll be fishing a rocky bottom with many chances to seriously abraid your line and that 50lb mono can take a beating and getting hung up is inevitable. The leader shouldn't have more muscle to it than your main line.Better to lose just the lead or just the hook (depending on which is stuck) and not both if you can help it.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Don't have the leader stronger than your main line. At first it might make sense since you'll be fishing a rocky bottom with many chances to seriously abraid your line and that 50lb mono can take a beating and getting hung up is inevitable. The leader shouldn't have more muscle to it than your main line.Better to lose just the lead or just the hook (depending on which is stuck) and not both if you can help it.

 

Bad advice. With all those rock, barnacles and shells around your leader is going to take a beating and you'll be lucky if its at half strength after a few minutes of laying on the bottom.

====Mako Mike====
Makomania Sportfishing
Pt. Judith, RI
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Don't have the leader stronger than your main line. At first it might make sense since you'll be fishing a rocky bottom with many chances to seriously abraid your line and that 50lb mono can take a beating and getting hung up is inevitable. The leader shouldn't have more muscle to it than your main line.Better to lose just the lead or just the hook (depending on which is stuck) and not both if you can help it.

 

This is how most my rods are setup as well. My Main line is always stronger than my leader line esp. if I'm bottom fishing where you know you will get hung up. But for Tog fishing I always have a break away on my rig so I’m not worry about fighting my main line since the sinker will break off or I'll just bend a hook.

A Wise Man Once said Preserve the old and Learn the New
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Bad advice. With all those rock, barnacles and shells around your leader is going to take a beating and you'll be lucky if its at half strength after a few minutes of laying on the bottom.

 

50 lbs in my opinion is a little on the stiff side for tog since most of my rigs I use consist of a dropper loop and sometimes the hooks I use won't fit through the eye with thick line. Of course I could invest in big eye hooks to compensate that problem but lighter leader is easier to work with. 50 lbs might be suited for fishing on a wrecks but everyone has their own method but as long you catch the fish that all its matters.

A Wise Man Once said Preserve the old and Learn the New
Link to comment
Share on other sites

50 lbs in my opinion is a little on the stiff side for tog since most of my rigs I use consist of a dropper loop and sometimes the hooks I use won't fit through the eye with thick line. Of course I could invest in big eye hooks to compensate that problem but lighter leader is easier to work with. 50 lbs might be suited for fishing on a wrecks but everyone has their own method but as long you catch the fish that all its matters.

 

Who said anything about 50 pound test?

====Mako Mike====
Makomania Sportfishing
Pt. Judith, RI
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Walmart has nice circle hooks for sale. The pack has about 75 hooks for 7-8 bucks. As for rods and tying I would suggest a medium or heavy 9ft rod. Definitely try to find one that's light so your arm won't get tired. I use 30lb mono for the leader and hooks. A friend of mine caught 8 togs at a jetty last week. 3 were over 20 inches.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Keep it simple, no hi lo rigs etc. Simple fish finder rig for me when fishing crab pieces, dropper hook length when using whole live crab, keeping bait a few inch above the bottom. I find live crab right on the bottom picks up weed and gunge. I use 50 braid mainline, 3ft of 50 mono leader, and 50 lb hook lengths.When using a dropper, my sinker connection is weaker mono than the mainline, and fishfinder rig sinker also attached by weak soft wire. Hook lengths are big game green, camoflauged with dot/dashes of magic marker, see photo.Hooks are Gami Octopus 1/0 and 2/0, depending on location and bait size. Chumming most important, crab legs,pieces of chopped up crab. Personally. I prefer half a crab with the shell removed to the whole thing, but this attracts choggies, so then I go to whole crab. Hold the rod at all times maintaining direct contact with the baited hook.Timing of setting the hook is critical, you work that one out depending on the mood of the fish, usually a steady pull after the first nibble then nail him.10001000 After a couple of minutes,if no activity, raise and lower rod tip to move your baited hook a couple of feet, then reel in slack again for direct contact. Sometimes moving the bait like this just stimulates the fish to take the bait,they've already seen it but now think it's escaping is my theory. although unless there is a lot of competition for the bait, they will not hit a moving bait, must be stationary. Don't spend too long in one spot if not getting bites, location is important, although a spot can turn on at different stages of the tide. hope this helps.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Wet a line this weekend with a few buddies around Mt Hope Bay. Its official tog is on board for target species if you can get the past the cunners. Like saxon59 noted half crabs are preferred but it does attract choggies thus giving a false hook set. Also the area I fished has more barnacles than usual so I was losing sinkers like crazy. Fluke, Scup and Black sea Bass was all caught during our outing.

A Wise Man Once said Preserve the old and Learn the New
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I went fishing two days in a row just for tautogs. First day nothing, second day same place, fish were biting like crazy at around 12pm. Caught about 8. I should have kept track of the tide but I'm sure it might have been just random. I put a half crab on and a small green crab to top it off. It was the early season , this late season skunks.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to register here in order to participate.

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now


×
×
  • Create New...