BrainL, heretofore known as "B", and I made our annual tog trip yesterday. After much contemplation (5 seconds) on Friday afternoon whether to bass fish or jump in the boat, I called my bro back and accepted the tog invite. We agreed to meet up at his place @ 4am, or so I thought. My pounding on his door at 4am woke up his wife while he was soundly asleep on the couch with the T.V. blaring and every light in the downstairs on.:laugha: Not to worry though as we were on the docks in Westerly, RI by 6 AM loading up on freshly potted green crabs...

After loading up on bait, we trailered the 19' lema skiff over to Quonny and dropped her in. What a perfect morning...light wind, slack tide, and the surf fishermen lining the jetties were kind enough not to cast across our bow as we made it through the very tricky Quonny entrance and headed out just as the first light of day appeared. We were on anchor in minutes and the only boat on the water..

The bite started alomost instantly. We fed a few freebies to the fish while attempting to get dialed in, then started filling the box pretty quickly....

We had a good bite for about two hours. As the tide really picked up it became more difficult to hold the very small piece of bottom with all the fish on it...

Mikey, thanks for the invite. Wish I could have gone.
Gonna be out of town a lot this week so I needed to play nice with the bride on Saturday.

Alas, it began to get crowded on the water and the bite really slowed. From a boating perspective, things looked to be very busy on the shore as gaggles of four wheel drive vehicles zipped back and forth chasing birds. I noticed several boats in tight too in addition to scads of surf men. Wonder what was going on? Anyways, we headed in to clean some fish and wrap things up..

Nice photos. I went yesterday too, but it wasn't calm when I went (afternoon) blow about 20 with a 4-5' swell, shoulda went in the morning. However, the bite was fierce with some quality fish. They were really chewin. it was short attention span theater, drop it down and you were on before engaging the reel many times. I didn't stay long but had a fantastic dinner, tog and fresh bay scallops. I had 2nds and 3rds. :rolleyes:

What is the limit in RI?...we are at 3 @16"+ /pp/pd here.

PS what kind of fishermen has a bucket that shiny and new?:tooth:

While we were hosing the boat down, this little fella appeared from behind a white bucket. I can only imagine WTF was going through his mind....
After a couple shots, I plunked him over the side and watched him settle to the bottom....

Nice photos. I went yesterday too, but it wasn't calm when I went (afternoon) blow about 20 with a 4-5' swell, shoulda went in the morning. However, the bite was fierce with some quality fish. They were really chewin. it was short attention span theater, drop it down and you were on before engaging the reel many times. I didn't stay long but had a fantastic dinner, tog and fresh bay scallops. I had 2nds and 3rds. :rolleyes:

What is the limit in RI?...we are at 3 @16"+ /pp/pd here.

PS what kind of fishermen has a bucket that shiny and new?:tooth:

The RI limit is 8 fish @ 16". We had 15 total, mostly modest sized fish, say 3-5#. Bro had one that went 7#.

Nice Mike looks like you had a great day!

Sweet, I bet dinner was good. I had cod last night.Pan seared with a fennel ragout.

TOGumentary.. LOL!

The freezer is officially stocked! Wooohoooo!

Good times, Bro.. We still bringin' the kids this afternoon?

And it was 4:30.. I woulda been up! LOL!

I've always felt.. why limit yourself to just bass. Even catchin choggies or scup or what ever is good. Why limit your self to just water? Get in the woods too. Some would say yourself thinning yourself out but imo your not. being a hunter/fisherman will make you better at both.

Nice Job 'Brothers L'
No photo worthy tog yesterday (didn't bring the camera anyways:smash:).
I do love those fish, and what a nice day out there for November!!!

These are from late last season. Courtesy the elusive Goosefish.
I think the fish went 11. Nebe in the background....

Great writing, great pictures, great story, great day! Great job Gentlemen.

Looks like fun..While the striper season winds down here in NJ I also switch it up to tog..Nothing like em..My brother took our little center console out sat and had a similar outing here in NJ...All catch an release as it's one fish till Nov-16th..
Get yourself a pair of shears to half the crabs..We don't want ya to have any accidents..

Sounds like a great day, nice pics, my wife and kids love tog fishing. It's a ball when the fishing is hot and everyone is hooking up as fast as you hit the bottom.

awesome photos and I'm sure dinner was even better

sounds like a good time mike. I think i might be chasin those creatures this weekend. Hopefully we make out half as good.

I agree, when the action is hot it is a blast. And they fight like hell too. Seeing a 10+lber come up is thrilling. I can't imagine something 2X that size.

I hope to go later today and again tomorrow. The worst thing is that I find it hard to get the kids and wife into it as this time of year it is hard between the weather and school and work stuff.

Mike, looks like a great time!

Nice goin'//:claps:
Luv Toggin'

Never been. I'd love to try it sometime.

Went yesterday and again this morning. WHAT A DAY!!! You can see how rough it is ;). Big numbers, strong bite with some decent size, no super tog today.

Saw SMAC testing some new wood on the dock. He has got some lathe and painting skills, let me tell you.

Nice pics, Sandman and RIRockhound.. 11lb'er is a bomb!

Nice pics, Sandman and RIRockhound.. 11lb'er is a bomb!

I hear the old man 'Tautog01' put an 11.9 on the deck yesterday....

I'll be out looking for 15 this weekend if the weather cooperates :heybaby:

Just curious, my kid caught one last year that taped out at around 25"long . We never weighed it. Any educated guesses what it may have weighed?

Does anyone fish for tog in Nantucket sound? I'd love to try for them in some of my sea bass spots after they head south.

Find a rockpile in 20-30 feet of water and you will find them.
Years ago I was snorkeling off the Bass River jetty and there were some monsters swimming around. Good Luck

Find a rockpile in 20-30 feet of water and you will find them.
Years ago I was snorkeling off the Bass River jetty and there were some monsters swimming around. Good Luck

Go deeper than that. Big numbers are coming from 30-50ft right now....

cleaning tip...
A friend told me about this and it REALLY WORKS!

Generally, most times I clean the catch right after I return and sometimes this results in blood stained fillets, yes you can bleed them but still they stain, and to get the blood off you need to overly rise them something I don't care to do...further the fish fillets are not that firm and it makes for more difficult handling when cleaning.
A better way and as it turns out even tastier way is to "chill the meat on the bone"... pack the entire catch real well in ice, let sit overnight clean the next day. The fillets are firmer well chilled and no blood stain. Further they seem to even taste better . I tried this and it works out great.

Sandman, I get the same results just tossing them in the fridge overnight. The blood congeals. Works for bass and cod too.

Never bothered with blackfish, but I usually do that w/ bass.
Gut them at night, bury in Ice and clean the next afternoon.
Much cleaner, whiter fillet!

I'll have to try that, usually we just soak the fillets in a bucket of saltwater as we are cleaning them and that seems to remove a lot of the blood but not all.

I find when I bleed the fish, gut it, and ice it overnight I get the absolute best results. I don't always do it this way, but when I do, it's fantastic.

Find a rockpile in 20-30 feet of water and you will find them.
Years ago I was snorkeling off the Bass River jetty and there were some monsters swimming around. Good Luck

When does the tog bite usually start up again? Late April? I'm definitely going to have to put the boat in earlier and try this spring.

I am never seem to get in the water early enough to know how the bite is in the early spring, my guess would be good. I can tell you that I have done well during the last week of may into the 1st 2 weeks of June.

When does the tog bite usually start up again? Late April? I'm definitely going to have to put the boat in earlier and try this spring.

We've done very well in Late April/Early May the last few years, Mike.

Just watch where you are fishing, and when.
RI: 15 April to 31 May, 3 fish. June closed

Awesome I'm definitely going to try to get out on the sound in late April

The fish, not me.
12.0

Way to go.... that's a beauty!!!

I see visions of an oiled baking dish and 2 nice big fillets, seasoned to perfection and surrounded by gobs of crab meat stuffing.

I just made myself very hungry.

When does the tog bite usually start up again? Late April? I'm definitely going to have to put the boat in earlier and try this spring.

look for the first dandelions