Saw my buddies bro today. Yes the blackfish weighed 23# and was caught at the end of May. This was a shore fish. He's waiting to get the pictures developed. My friend who caught it never brought it to a baitshop, he weighed it then filleted it. His brother found out later that it probably would have been the Rhody record which I believe is 21#. Others might know better than me. I could shoot him for that blunder. I'll try to get my hands on the pic and if I can figure out how to scan, maybe I can put it up.

That is a monster Tog. I fish for Tog's a lot and my best is 10 lbs. I have rarely seen Tog's in the teen's but they do exist. Big Mama's come to spawn in May in the river mouths . He should of mounted it for sure. It is the equivalent to a 50 lb. Bass.
In Mass. a Tautog of 8 lbs. or more is considered an exceptional catch and you can fill out a weigh master affidavit at a bait & tackle shop and recieve a brass pin from the state .
Bass -35 lbs or more
Bluefish -10 lbs or more
Tog - 8 lbs or more
Blues are easy to collect pins. I have three pins for togs.

Wow. The largest specimen I saw landed on a party boat was in excess of 15 lbs. It was whitish in appearance.

The thing must have been 70 years old or something like that.

We work closely with a ri biologist, he had the rack of a 14+ we took a few years ago, he estimated 28 years, so who knows, 23lbs... 50?
Thats a hog of a blackfish....

That is a shame he cut it up...clearly a near world record. As I page thru my IGFA 04 book... 24# (VA) is the record (30#class line) and 21#(RI...jamestown)(on 20#class line)

That is a big tog...I would love to see a photo.

I bet the flesh isn't even that good on such an old fish.

well 15lbs tastes as good as 17" so why not... just a bigger fillet

Arrrrggghhhhhhh.....blackfish fever.......that settles it, I know where I'll be tomorrow morning :ss:

Nice 'tog, dude - Chipwood, ya gotta post some pix!