https://www.flseagrant.org/fisheries/venting/
Good info on venting. Not ideal, but better than certain death.
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why go deep until you have too ???????

That's what she said!!!.... :humpty:

Attachment 67473

Got out this past weekend. Waking up my five year old at 4:45Am is special, rub his back and whisper, "it's time to go fishing." It's like the exorcist watching him go from completely asleep to wide awake in 0.02 seconds. We use circle hooks for fresh water fishing so I didn't deviate here for blackfish, cut crabs with the shell removed was sufficient.

I knew the first hour or so would be hot, I was literally net man until just before slack tide. My son put the first fish in the box, his best tog at 17.5" my dad and I got our limit before the tide turned. Nothing stellar and the other tide yielded shorts. Maybe one more trip and then got a bunch of work lined up for the boat.

That's awesome!

That's GREAT Linesider.... 3 generations sharing some tides,,, CAN'T get better than that!!! :kewl::kewl::kewl:





IMO-Sidenote: I often read of guys peeling the shell off...???
I never saw the advantage??...In fact, I feel just the opposite
> Even if just slightly, it will retain some of the juices until removed
> It will also fend off cunner bites from that side of the bait
> All this is momentarily of course, as it doesn't take long for it to come off on it's own anyway, if not during the decent itself....so why bother with the extra step of removing it yourself?
> I also see guys leaving the legs on? That's another no-no for me...by leaving the legs on, you get a lot of missed hooksets, Tog grabs a leg or two, runs with it or chomps...you set, but strike out cuz there's no hook there.
I like cutting a bunch of crabs once I'm set up on the spot...then I'll grab handfuls of legs, quickly mince and toss over the side.

Good point. Just started fishing for these this year ... this month. I think I’m 15:1 short to keeper if not worse, but fun and delicious fish, a blast on light gear.
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Very jealous up here on the north shore,,,,,

bloocrab,

Thank you! Yes I had asked my dad first every trip and finally he wasn't busy and it happened to line up on the best conditions day of all the trips. I 100% agree with everything you said and that is how I fish for them, cut legs off and keep the shell on, it is great advice. If you have a good crew of guys onboard they can cut some legs before getting underway or during an approach and have some chum ready before anchoring.

------------------------------------------

No shell crabs:

My son at 5 is a good fisherman already, some of our goals this year were to spend a lot of time working on casting and retrieving various lures and jigs.
Billy D (PBAdad) built him his first surf rod and we spent some time fishing bucktails, shad bodies and eels. He did fatigue a bit from the heavier surf setup vs. using a 2k or 3k sized freshwater outfit but I also limited those trips in regards to duration. He did well for seabass and scup from the boat but we could get away with lighter setups for those fish. For tog, I handed him a St. Croix tidemaster med heavy with a 4000 sized reel which I felt was a good choice because it has enough play to allow a fish to take a crab, turn and load the rod enough to engage the circle hook, and enough backbone that if he even got a turn in might save some hardware ...even if he was asleep at the reel or had too much slack line, my thinking was the fish might just hook itself, for him I used a 2/0 or 3/0 thin-wire circle. I also thought that if the fish could just engulf the offering without chewing (removed shell) he might hook more fish. He won't accept help during fishing so we talk a bit about previous trips on the way down and I ask him what went good / bad and use both as opportunities to teach. He caught 6 tog and lost 2 rigs due to fish burying them in the rocks on our last trip, if you ask him how many fish he caught he'll tell you "only one" because that was the one in the box. As he develops in strength and continues to fine tune his reaction time (especially considering tog) I'll switch him back to some type of J hook.

I'm very fortunate that he loves fishing as much as he does, under any conditions, and complains when we leave after 8 hours. Ice fishing is on deck, this will be his first Champlain ice trip this year, he might love ice fishing more than all other types of fishing.

Feed that habit, nurture it...he too, will be fortunate to be taught this way, not to mention strengthening the father-son bond that is often hard to navigate... With my boy, I always loved explaining what I was doing while fishing, but more importantly why I did it and how it made the most sense to me. Thought it would help encourage data-processing the old fashion way. He learned the mechanics quick, but never developed the liking to it (although I remain forever hopeful)...he'd no sooner catch a fish and simply want to dissect it, regardless of how hot the bite was?? Maybe I got a doctor in the making...or at least a good chum guy.....:gorez:

A gallon of crabs went pretty quick yesterday.... only 2 fish saw the box, but the bite was non-stop when the tide swung right.
Guy on the side of me landed a 2' cod...nice to see.
Visited by the police last three times out,,, Although it's inconvenient, always good to see them actively doing their job, especially during the tog movement :kewl:...yesterday they only asked questions, wind/water moving too much to safely board anyone....he asked if I had any 'shorts' on board, and that if I did, he'd have to board me regardless of water-conditions (tongue-in-cheek, I'm sure)

Crab guy says he's done this week...:musc:...good thing we have a backup plan -

Got a few hundred max in the box too... made quite a few families very happy. Kept a few of the larger ones to make my own Mack-salad. Could be healthier than tuna!

Although the hunters are fewer, the prey are still there. Much of the larger fish have started moving offshore although I still saw the charter guys up-n-close. Probably wrap up my season next week,... yesterday morning, secretly wished I was done...but the action keeps feeding the desire to return. Always a tough choice for me to make come this time of year... jealous of those who already pulled, winterized and covered, while they may think they're jealous of us still getting wet

Gave it a little time two days ago .... not a touch... shallow...

Another week or so for clammin and that’s it.... DONE

steady pick yesterday once I got to 45’, I tried 25’ nothing, 35’ slow pick, at 45’ non stop chew. Gotta be 20:1 short to keeper.
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lET THE ASIANS SWIM TODAY .replaced with mummies …...if no one goes in a week . the greenies get their freedom :shocked:

You guys still fishing? I’ve been raking leaves who’s the dummy
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Yes. When I was young we would fish till Christmas with some good days. Less fish around now and shorter season. Couple of more trips though...
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You still do the Christmas parade of boats????

Kill them better me thinks


https://youtu.be/8-PTtmvvAS8

No, not usually.

Ray ……….If I let them go in a very small area ….its a real good chance they will be there & more . next year .

I would rather have frozen squid & pogies ….I don,t have room for all ><><>:huh:

Mine go in the compost. Invasive bass-turds.

:agree:


Odd how the RI-DEM site doesn't show a Tautog season from 1/1 - 3/31
Guessing it should read "CLOSED" as it hinges upon opening day?

I don,t know why so many guys are quitting ………………. the water iss till warm & the fish [havn,t moved deep .

I had a guy call me this afternoon .asking if I wanted his bait . he said hes pulling his boat tomorrow .
He said they had there boat limit today & didn,t leave the bay . I also know two other boats that havn,t left the bay all this fall .
& the boat that had that 19.98 a few weeks ago came in the other day .with a real nice mix of cod & tautog & he didn,t go to BI .

We’re going tomorrow....
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Fish are still so hungry, they're willing to share the hook!!!

This.......


I keep my trap next to a marsh mud bank and have seen a portion of the bank receding over the years..... the banks look like Swiss 🧀 cheeses..... I suspect they’re the reason for the demise of the chubs (mummies? ) in that marsh...... ( best bait evah:-) )

I know a guy down that way who I fish with called it just to rake leaves..... :wave:

fu ck that .the leaves will be falling way after hes dead >><:wid:

:laugha:

Lots of shorts today but picked a few plus a double digit cod for dinner....
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