Went out and got the bait, now we just need the weather. I consider baby whites to be "tog crack" here on the mid-South Shore.
Post up up your 2019/2020/2021/2022 Blackfishing Pix/Reports/Adventures/Musings
- Thread starter Leprechaun
- Start date
captmike28
Well-Known Angler
Way to go Lep! Can't wait for a shot at the South shore tog with you.
Here are my results from yesterday:
So, the “real Tog season” opened for the Scott party on the Captain’s Table yesterday with a fresh 15-20 kt. SW breeze! I really wanted to work some of my CT drops since they have been very hot lately so we crossed the Sound with the 3’ rollers sliding broadside under the keel! Fortunately, once we got to a shallow jig spot the wind seemed to back off just a little and we were given about a 3-hour window on the ebb to get things done.
Down go the jigs on the spinning rods and soon the drags began to sing! Right out of the box Scott set the pace with a nice 3# keeper quickly followed by the best fish of the day a healthy Tog very close to 6#. All the members of the crew began sorting through the many shorts inhaling the crab baits to start building a catch of nice keepers with most being thick fish in the 16-18” class. Rocky managed to find a sweet 5# fish to take second place honors mid-morning after being frustrated for a while with a lot of unanswered “crab donations”! By 11 am the guys had boxed their 5-man limit and my plan was to give them one more shot at a trophy fish out on the nearby reef. However, as the ebb tide started to die the wind decided to freshen even more with 4’ rollers now sliding through.
I thought we could catch a break by making one last drop just north of Plum but the wind direction once we got there was decidedly much more from the west, so no place to hide there either. Finally ran back into the bay so the guys could play a little C & R with a few small Tog while I cut the fish and produced some healthy bags of tasty Blackfish fillets.
So, it looks like the typical fall pattern has begun, a decent day or two followed by several days of howling winds. As always, flexibility in your days to fish will minimize the number of postponed or cancelled trips you have to deal with.
Have fun, catch the Tog when you can, and by all means stay safe while out there this fall!
Capt. Mike
Matts
Angler
I have not fished much with whites. Sure, every day is different, but do you typically pop off the back of whites, crush the back, cut the crab in half, or none of the above?
HighHook4Hire
New Angler
Well my 2 day trip in Rhodie was a blast. Fished Newport Mon/Tues with Cap Mike on the ArchAngel and we had easy limits to 8# both days. Weather was not our best friend and that kept us inside, but wow what a great tog habitat that place is with rocks everywhere. Cap's got spot lock and was jogging us around (amazing feature for tog). My biggest were about 6# on both days and one of our cohorts managed an 8# beauty the end of day 2. We tried hard for a DD on a 140' wreck at slack, but besides a couple nice 4-5# class tog, we mainly got bomber seabass. Ended up with a small striper and a few cod as surprises. Great times had by all.
Attachments
Looks like Capt. Mike and HH4H had a rip-roaring start to their seasons! Very nice!
Matts - So, whites come in various sizes and I believe there are two species (at least). Maybe "rock" crabs and "Jonah" crabs? Anyway, for the above pictured little bite-sized morsels I put them on whole, legs uncut, with a little bit of a top-shell cracking. The somewhat larger ones I cut in two. For those, the big decisions are top shell on or off? Legs cut? Not? Really not much different than fishing greenies.
The real difference between baby whites and small greens is that the baby whites are a bit softer, shell-wise, and so you have to be a bit quicker on the strike - or they'll dust you for sure. Think of a true green-colored green crab, that's about how the shell of a baby white is. Way less tough than the orange-colored greens. So "be quick or be cleaned" is the mantra.
The other difference is that the fish seem to genuinely HATE the baby whites and so the resulting hits are usually pretty ferocious, so you've got to be ready. They seem to want to really kill them quick. This is unlike the smaller greens, which they will hit that way at times, but generally there's a bit more of a pre-strike diddling of the greenie bait, before the big bite.
Not usually so with the baby whites. I recall one trip that the fish were trying to literally rip the rod out of our hands using the baby whites. That was many years ago on breezy day at 17 on my boat, with my old friend Capt. Rick Smith of the gorgeous charter boat Miss Beryl. What a trip that one was. Killer thumping bites from really nice-sized deep-water fish. In fact now that I think about that trip, I believe he was the one that first introduced me to the use of baby whites. I've looked for and prized them ever since. Rick knows his blackfishing, no doubt about that!
The big white "Soup Crabs" are a different matter. Those things are tough as hell. So tough in fact that when I use them (typically very late in the season is when I can get 'em) I end up with sores on the area just above my thumb from the crab shears wearing out my skin. It really hurts after a long day of cutting those monsters - and the sores stay raw longer than one would think. Anyway, I like the monster whites in deep water, at the very end of the season (which is now a month earlier than I used to fish them, in places like 17).
Oh well, even though I always felt that the deep bite didn't really get going 'til the week or two before 'Xmas, and peaked in early Jan., we can no longer do that fishing, right? Just as well, power washing the Lep with icicles hanging off the hull (and me) is no longer so appetizing as it once was. And shoveling snow out of the cockpit is really nothing I ever looked forward to. Not to mention being an "Arctic Ice Breaker" coming out of my canal. That sound of crunching ice on the hull is not very comforting, I'll tell you that . . .
Oh, and just in case you might think "small crabs, small fish," these were victims of Lep-caught baby whites:
A true DD, at a bit over 10lbs:
And a nice 17lb Baccala that I pulled off a piece in 45', right off the beach (of all places):
Matts - So, whites come in various sizes and I believe there are two species (at least). Maybe "rock" crabs and "Jonah" crabs? Anyway, for the above pictured little bite-sized morsels I put them on whole, legs uncut, with a little bit of a top-shell cracking. The somewhat larger ones I cut in two. For those, the big decisions are top shell on or off? Legs cut? Not? Really not much different than fishing greenies.
The real difference between baby whites and small greens is that the baby whites are a bit softer, shell-wise, and so you have to be a bit quicker on the strike - or they'll dust you for sure. Think of a true green-colored green crab, that's about how the shell of a baby white is. Way less tough than the orange-colored greens. So "be quick or be cleaned" is the mantra.
The other difference is that the fish seem to genuinely HATE the baby whites and so the resulting hits are usually pretty ferocious, so you've got to be ready. They seem to want to really kill them quick. This is unlike the smaller greens, which they will hit that way at times, but generally there's a bit more of a pre-strike diddling of the greenie bait, before the big bite.
Not usually so with the baby whites. I recall one trip that the fish were trying to literally rip the rod out of our hands using the baby whites. That was many years ago on breezy day at 17 on my boat, with my old friend Capt. Rick Smith of the gorgeous charter boat Miss Beryl. What a trip that one was. Killer thumping bites from really nice-sized deep-water fish. In fact now that I think about that trip, I believe he was the one that first introduced me to the use of baby whites. I've looked for and prized them ever since. Rick knows his blackfishing, no doubt about that!
The big white "Soup Crabs" are a different matter. Those things are tough as hell. So tough in fact that when I use them (typically very late in the season is when I can get 'em) I end up with sores on the area just above my thumb from the crab shears wearing out my skin. It really hurts after a long day of cutting those monsters - and the sores stay raw longer than one would think. Anyway, I like the monster whites in deep water, at the very end of the season (which is now a month earlier than I used to fish them, in places like 17).
Oh well, even though I always felt that the deep bite didn't really get going 'til the week or two before 'Xmas, and peaked in early Jan., we can no longer do that fishing, right? Just as well, power washing the Lep with icicles hanging off the hull (and me) is no longer so appetizing as it once was. And shoveling snow out of the cockpit is really nothing I ever looked forward to. Not to mention being an "Arctic Ice Breaker" coming out of my canal. That sound of crunching ice on the hull is not very comforting, I'll tell you that . . .
Oh, and just in case you might think "small crabs, small fish," these were victims of Lep-caught baby whites:
A true DD, at a bit over 10lbs:
And a nice 17lb Baccala that I pulled off a piece in 45', right off the beach (of all places):
Last edited:
HighHook4Hire
New Angler
We used some of big white “soup crabs” and cap was using a knife and hammering it down to cut through. Was working pretty well. He also had spiders and they were working but those things were like armadillos. I was using greens mostly just because the spiders were a pia to cut. In nj the spiders I have used were always spongy and soft.
I can catch all the spiders I can ever use for the rest of my life in a single night. Even plenty of tiny little spiders. I have repeatedly tried them, and have never gotten so much as a single tap on them, ever. I guess I should try again.
Snapprhead27
Well-Known Angler
You mean Long Island King Crab
captmike28
Well-Known Angler
Fabulous weather on Friday and Saturday really encouraged the North Fork Tog to put on the feed bag. Friday’s 3-man split charter found us first on my favorite CT reef with instant action on the end of the flood for about an hour. Initially all the Tog were short but as the tide began to slow and shifted to the ebb the big fish really turned on. In a little more than an hour the full boat limit was reached with several quality fish including 2 in the 5# class, a solid 6# fish, and the largest we have seen so far this season, a beautiful 8# specimen.
With an early limit under our belts, we moved into the shallows to play C&R for a couple more hours on the light jigging tackle. Once again, a solid bite was had the entire time we spent on this piece. Many shorts were landed here but we did manage to boat and release at least 4 more keepers during the spree. Even the Capt. Got a shot at dropping the jig for a little while and decked a healthy keeper who was safely returned.
Saturday found my long-term customers, the John party, looking to repeat our success of Friday as well as many previous season trips. Back to the reef and interestingly the keeper Tog were a lot more cooperative on the end of the flood this time. With an extra hour of tide to work the guys put 8 keepers in the 16-18” range in the box before we began to swing into the ebb tide cycle. Based upon Friday’s results I expected another good showing of real quality fish. Unfortunately, the real big guys seemed to change their pattern much to my surprise. Don’t get me wrong, the guys still caught a ton of fish and easily limited the boat by 11 a.m. but the top 2 fish were only in the 5# class that day. Still nothing to be upset about, but I guess sometimes I get a little spoiled. With an early finish I let the guys do some C&R jigging while I cleaned the catch before cruising home on a flat calm Sound.
With an early limit under our belts, we moved into the shallows to play C&R for a couple more hours on the light jigging tackle. Once again, a solid bite was had the entire time we spent on this piece. Many shorts were landed here but we did manage to boat and release at least 4 more keepers during the spree. Even the Capt. Got a shot at dropping the jig for a little while and decked a healthy keeper who was safely returned.
Saturday found my long-term customers, the John party, looking to repeat our success of Friday as well as many previous season trips. Back to the reef and interestingly the keeper Tog were a lot more cooperative on the end of the flood this time. With an extra hour of tide to work the guys put 8 keepers in the 16-18” range in the box before we began to swing into the ebb tide cycle. Based upon Friday’s results I expected another good showing of real quality fish. Unfortunately, the real big guys seemed to change their pattern much to my surprise. Don’t get me wrong, the guys still caught a ton of fish and easily limited the boat by 11 a.m. but the top 2 fish were only in the 5# class that day. Still nothing to be upset about, but I guess sometimes I get a little spoiled. With an early finish I let the guys do some C&R jigging while I cleaned the catch before cruising home on a flat calm Sound.
OVERBORED
Well-Known Angler
I agree. Never had too much success with as spider crabs.
I rate my tog bait as follows:
Calicos
Hermits
Whites
Greens
Asians (can I call them that?)
Fiddlers
Blue claws work great but I'd rather not use them for bait.
Small shrimp work in the bay if scup,bergalls aren't around...
BennyV
Well-Known Angler
Jig bite has been savage on CT side
Matts
Angler
Lep
Thanks for the input. Under the category of every day is different, I was on a late season trip out of RI last year. The boat supplied plenty of baby and cut-in-half size whites. You had to pop off the whole back with both, or spend your time staring at the water. Maybe its a water temperature thing?
So its a funny thing - there are times that they ONLY want the whole baby whites with the top shell cracked. And other times they want ONLY crabs with the top shell popped. Or ONLY with the legs removed. Or some days they will take anything you drop to them. And some days they go thru phases at different parts of the tide. A very frustrating fish, that's for sure. Especially so on the inshore South Shore reefs, where they're pounded all to hell, from opening day to the last bell.
Case in point - our inaugural trip on Saturday, with near-perfect conditions. Headed out to a local reef with fellow NYAngler, Kevin/Longcast. The new (to me) Jones Inlet channel behind the West Bar was easy to follow and find coming back from the West, but looks to be a potential nightmare with any kind of sea running. I can hardly wait for that eventuality. Not.
Anyway, got there early and set up on the bottom drop that I like best, and had them coming quickly on the outgoing. A very good bite with many, many almosts. We culled through for 5 keeps and a fat trigger out of 40+ fish - until 11:00 or so, when it completely dried up. A few scratches and lost baits but no real bite from then on. The weakening outgoing and subsequent slack was terrible.
Shifted to more "aggressive" bottom on the other end of the grounds and more nothing. Actually saw maybe 2 fish taken on the other boats from around 11:30 on. By 1:00 I had had enough and we pulled up and headed in.
Ran in 35-40' all the way back, but never saw a bird or read anything of consequence on the sounder. Did see the huge fleet to the East, when we got to the inlet and I understand it was slay city bass fishing for them.
Strangely, though the tide was relatively weak, the blackfish just would not respond to the jigs. But put on a regular "old school" rig and fish o'plenty. 'Splain that, if you can because I cannot. There was even a period of time that they wanted the two-hook rig over the single hook version. A two-hook rig can be a real PITA on sticky bottom, but that's what they wanted, so that's what we gave 'em. And dealt with the much more frequent hang-ups. Such a frustrating fish for a captain to deal with. . .
Case in point - our inaugural trip on Saturday, with near-perfect conditions. Headed out to a local reef with fellow NYAngler, Kevin/Longcast. The new (to me) Jones Inlet channel behind the West Bar was easy to follow and find coming back from the West, but looks to be a potential nightmare with any kind of sea running. I can hardly wait for that eventuality. Not.
Anyway, got there early and set up on the bottom drop that I like best, and had them coming quickly on the outgoing. A very good bite with many, many almosts. We culled through for 5 keeps and a fat trigger out of 40+ fish - until 11:00 or so, when it completely dried up. A few scratches and lost baits but no real bite from then on. The weakening outgoing and subsequent slack was terrible.
Shifted to more "aggressive" bottom on the other end of the grounds and more nothing. Actually saw maybe 2 fish taken on the other boats from around 11:30 on. By 1:00 I had had enough and we pulled up and headed in.
Ran in 35-40' all the way back, but never saw a bird or read anything of consequence on the sounder. Did see the huge fleet to the East, when we got to the inlet and I understand it was slay city bass fishing for them.
Strangely, though the tide was relatively weak, the blackfish just would not respond to the jigs. But put on a regular "old school" rig and fish o'plenty. 'Splain that, if you can because I cannot. There was even a period of time that they wanted the two-hook rig over the single hook version. A two-hook rig can be a real PITA on sticky bottom, but that's what they wanted, so that's what we gave 'em. And dealt with the much more frequent hang-ups. Such a frustrating fish for a captain to deal with. . .
movetheboat
Well-Known Angler
Went on a blackfish trip out of point view marina in Rhode Island Saturday on the Sound Bound Escape limited load 16 peeps. The morning had a nip in the air but it quickly warmed up and we shed down to t-shirts eventually. The owner Brendan was the Capt and Anthony and Jimmy did a great job on the deck. We had fish in the 7-8-9 lb class plus an eventual boat limit with a few seabass and cod mixed in. The people on board were a great group and knew what they were doing blackfishing. Most used conventional rigs, we were not very shallow. Keys that day seemed to be a claws off shell cracked crab and leave a little slack in the line. I thought they ran a great trip and they also have another boat in that marina, the sound bound II if you are thinking Rhode Island.
whos that handsome guy in the back sticking his head in the pic,,,,,,,,,,,,MTB great report there catching them tog!!!!!!! keep it up,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,><)))):>
><))):>
movetheboat
Well-Known Angler
you know how shy I am lol
Fishscale
Angler
movetheboat
Well-Known Angler
one besides me is a member...my old goat of a brother on the rightGet these men in uniform
Crabman
Angler
Exact same thing happened on Saturday on the FI Reef. Hot fishing until 10:00 and then the light switch was turned off at approaching slack. Couldn't buy a fish until 3:00 with many spots tried.
Since your tide occurs roughly a hour before mine, here to the West, that timing makes perfect sense.
📱 Fish Smarter with the NYAngler App!
Launch Now
Launch Now
Latest articles
-
The Great Return: Hard Clams Stage a Remarkable Comeback in the Great South Bay- A Marine Biologist's Deep Dive George, my friend, you've hit upon one of the most...- george
- Updated:
- 7 min read
-
IS THIS THE END OF FISHING AS WE KNOW IT?There’s a new piece of technology making waves, and it’s got the entire fishing community split...
- george
- Updated:
- 2 min read
-
Fishing is About to Change ForeverThe Future of Fishing is Here: Utechwear's U-Track AR Glasses Revolutionize Angling Forever By...
- george
- Updated:
- 14 min read
-
Okuma Introduces the Tesoro Lever Drag Jigging ReelOkuma Introduces the Tesoro Lever Drag Jigging Reel: A Game-Changer for Saltwater Vertical...
- george
- Updated:
- 13 min read
-
Mastering Summer Surf Fishing: Advanced Techniques for Fluke, Stripers, and MoreMastering Summer Surf Fishing: Advanced Techniques for Fluke, Stripers, and More A comprehensive...
- george
- Updated:
- 6 min read