captmike28
Well-Known Angler
In between this falls nasty windstorms I finally enjoyed a 4 day stretch when we could hit the Tog grounds consistently. My four excellent crews all did their best to put very respectable catches in the boat each day.
Starting last Friday, Matt and his 3 friends Anthony, Nick, and Mike joined me on my second trip out to Fishers for this season. First drop my favorite jig spot saw lots of action but mainly smalls and only 2 keepers despite a few anchor adjustments. Next shifted over to a 55’ drop that was solid last week but this time also had a lot of short life and just 3 more Tog in the 16-17.5” range. Also nailed a couple of keeper Sea Bass in this area. Finished off nearby in a slightly shallower 48’ drop and added 4 last keeper Tog and 2 more nice Sea Bass. Anthony had top fish of the day at a healthy 5.25#
Saturday found us on the CT side of the Sound with more northerly winds. My longest-term regulars, Sal and Frank were joined by Don and Hank from NJ who have done a few trips the last couple of years. The action on my favorite reef was solid with a little better keeper ratio. On the end of the ebb the guys put 7 nice Tog in the box to 5# plus 4 really nice keeper Sea Bass. The big excitement of the morning was the surprise 36” Stiped Bass that grabbed the crab on Frank’s hook and was quickly returned to the water. As the tide started to build, we moved shallow for some jigging, but bite was pretty slow. Sal did nail a nice 4.5# Tog on the spinner but the short parade started again after that for about 90 minutes. Went back out to the reef for the change of tide and managed to fill out our 4-man limit of Tog and also added 3 more nice Sea Bass.
Sunday had the venerable Chef Nader, his friend Will, and Matt and Anthony retuning for another crack at the Tog. Based upon our prior results and a north breeze, the CT side seemed like the best choice for our plan. Once again, the 50' drop had solid life and the crew quickly went to work on putting solid keepers in the box. Dring the 2-hour window of this tidal stage the Cherf boated at least 2 Tog in the 5# class while the rest of the crew also contributed to putting a total of 11 keepers in the box. The guys also added 6 nice Sea Bas to the catch during the hot bite before the tide got too strong. Moved into my shallow jig spot and once again the action was slow with lots of short life. However, patience eventually paid off as Will finally nails a nice 5# fish on the jig. Shortly after Anthony follows with another 16.5” fish. Still a slow bite but Will finally finishes the day off with our best fish of the season so far, a fat 7# fish giving him all he could handle on the spinning rod!
Following 2 straight days of solid catches on the CT side made my game plan for Monday simple. With the Chef back for more we also added long time customers Frank, Mitch and Bill to the crew of experienced Toggers. The tidal stage gave us a full 3 hours to work the 50’ drop and the action was very steady the entire time. Mitch led the way with a couple of nice 16-17” fish right off the bat. Next Nader adds one close to 5# and pretty soon everyone was contributing keepers in the 16-18” range to the box. Since our excellent mate, Alex, was covering the deck I had a chance to drop a line myself and help build the take home haul. Following a fat 17” keeper, I dropped down a sexy looking whole crab and was immediately whacked by a serious contender. Following a very spirited battle with several drag stripping runs for the bottom, Alex slips the net under our new best fish of this season tipping the scales at 8.2#. The guys continued to work hard through the end of the tide and by the time we had to move shallow, we already had 15 keeper Tog in the box along with a couple of nice Sea Bass. The shallow jig spot was very difficult to work with an extremely light breeze pushing just against the ide and all we could do was swing a bit too much on anchor and play with some short fish. So, when the tide backed off, we went back to the reef to cap off the day with 3 more keeper Tog making a full boat limit as were throwing back more shorts and a keeper or two.
So, naturally as the Tog bite starts building, we now have a week of strong winds on tap to curtail our activities again. Hopefully things will settle down by next weekend as I have several anxious crew members all waiting for a shot at our wonderful North Fork Tog fishery.
Many thanks to all my solid crew members on this last stretch of trips!
Capt. Mike
Starting last Friday, Matt and his 3 friends Anthony, Nick, and Mike joined me on my second trip out to Fishers for this season. First drop my favorite jig spot saw lots of action but mainly smalls and only 2 keepers despite a few anchor adjustments. Next shifted over to a 55’ drop that was solid last week but this time also had a lot of short life and just 3 more Tog in the 16-17.5” range. Also nailed a couple of keeper Sea Bass in this area. Finished off nearby in a slightly shallower 48’ drop and added 4 last keeper Tog and 2 more nice Sea Bass. Anthony had top fish of the day at a healthy 5.25#
Saturday found us on the CT side of the Sound with more northerly winds. My longest-term regulars, Sal and Frank were joined by Don and Hank from NJ who have done a few trips the last couple of years. The action on my favorite reef was solid with a little better keeper ratio. On the end of the ebb the guys put 7 nice Tog in the box to 5# plus 4 really nice keeper Sea Bass. The big excitement of the morning was the surprise 36” Stiped Bass that grabbed the crab on Frank’s hook and was quickly returned to the water. As the tide started to build, we moved shallow for some jigging, but bite was pretty slow. Sal did nail a nice 4.5# Tog on the spinner but the short parade started again after that for about 90 minutes. Went back out to the reef for the change of tide and managed to fill out our 4-man limit of Tog and also added 3 more nice Sea Bass.
Sunday had the venerable Chef Nader, his friend Will, and Matt and Anthony retuning for another crack at the Tog. Based upon our prior results and a north breeze, the CT side seemed like the best choice for our plan. Once again, the 50' drop had solid life and the crew quickly went to work on putting solid keepers in the box. Dring the 2-hour window of this tidal stage the Cherf boated at least 2 Tog in the 5# class while the rest of the crew also contributed to putting a total of 11 keepers in the box. The guys also added 6 nice Sea Bas to the catch during the hot bite before the tide got too strong. Moved into my shallow jig spot and once again the action was slow with lots of short life. However, patience eventually paid off as Will finally nails a nice 5# fish on the jig. Shortly after Anthony follows with another 16.5” fish. Still a slow bite but Will finally finishes the day off with our best fish of the season so far, a fat 7# fish giving him all he could handle on the spinning rod!
Following 2 straight days of solid catches on the CT side made my game plan for Monday simple. With the Chef back for more we also added long time customers Frank, Mitch and Bill to the crew of experienced Toggers. The tidal stage gave us a full 3 hours to work the 50’ drop and the action was very steady the entire time. Mitch led the way with a couple of nice 16-17” fish right off the bat. Next Nader adds one close to 5# and pretty soon everyone was contributing keepers in the 16-18” range to the box. Since our excellent mate, Alex, was covering the deck I had a chance to drop a line myself and help build the take home haul. Following a fat 17” keeper, I dropped down a sexy looking whole crab and was immediately whacked by a serious contender. Following a very spirited battle with several drag stripping runs for the bottom, Alex slips the net under our new best fish of this season tipping the scales at 8.2#. The guys continued to work hard through the end of the tide and by the time we had to move shallow, we already had 15 keeper Tog in the box along with a couple of nice Sea Bass. The shallow jig spot was very difficult to work with an extremely light breeze pushing just against the ide and all we could do was swing a bit too much on anchor and play with some short fish. So, when the tide backed off, we went back to the reef to cap off the day with 3 more keeper Tog making a full boat limit as were throwing back more shorts and a keeper or two.
So, naturally as the Tog bite starts building, we now have a week of strong winds on tap to curtail our activities again. Hopefully things will settle down by next weekend as I have several anxious crew members all waiting for a shot at our wonderful North Fork Tog fishery.
Many thanks to all my solid crew members on this last stretch of trips!
Capt. Mike
,,,,,,,,,,,that's how you do it. ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,
