Tog Time
 

Went fishing with Backbeach and Tony O last night, and we agreed that the fall linesides run is starting to wane. Tog started entering the discussion, and I'm sure many of us are starting to think that way. I've been seeing some Tog pics starting to show up, and I'm sure there's a bunch of us who switch our efforts over to them around this time of year. Caught my first bunch last weekend and probably heading out Sunday for more of the same.

What's better than smashing a green crab in half and feeding it to the toughest, nastiest, tastiest fish on the bottom of the ocean? Any good tog pics, stories, techniques, etc..? Here's a bunch from the spring, hoping to repeat on Sunday!

like I posted above my friend who works at WHOI has been hitting them real good at lunch time on the pier he works on. Nice fish.

I wish striped bass tasted as good as blackfish... mmmm....:drool:

You ain't kidding! Beer battered, deep fried..

How do you guys make your rigs? I've seen multiple different ways to tie them. The way I learned was to tie three dropper loops on a single line. Two loops get the hooks, one loop gets the weight(bottom loop), end of the line gets a barrel swivel. Weight sits on the bottom with two hooks above it, and I find I get a really good feel for the fish. This has served me pretty well, though I fished next to a couple of Montauk boats over last weekend and saw some different ways of doing things.

We outfished them on Saturday, but they cleaned up on Sunday, while we were struggling. They were using green crabs, as we were, but rigged differently. Looking at the thread with Clammer's fish, the rigs they were using looked a lot like the Montauk guys. Single dropper loop (I think) with the weight on it, then a foot and a half or so of line after that with the hook on it. Looks like with that rigging technique that the weight sits nice on the bottom, as does the bait, yet I wonder if you lose some feeling of the fish, since the bait end is swinging freely. Fish has to start off with the bait before you feel it hit, but again, those guys did pretty well with it on Sat. while I was struggling just 15 yards away from them(and I was marking piles of fish). Most of the store bought tog rigs I've seen work that way. I would guess that if the fishing is slow and the fish aren't aggressive, it presents a cleaner look to the bait(without the doubled up line from the dropper loop). Could anyone comment on that?

I have always used rigs very similar to yours. Plain loop on the bottom with two dropper loops above. I use a single bead and 3/0 circle hooks on the droppers. Haven't experimented much with other rigs aside from using a single hook/bait to hold easier when the tide is really ripping.

I like to stick to one hook on my rigs. It seems the second hook just leads to way to many hang ups, particularly with a hooked fish. But other than that just a dropper loop above the weight.

I keep it simple. As little hardware as possible as I do with all fishing. I use 30# PP main line then tie on a long mono leader with an albrite knot, tie on a hook (been using 6/0 Gami) to the end of line with a snell knot or if I'm in a real hurry, a Palomar knot, then tie a loop a foot or so up the line where I loop a sinker on....

So in your case, the sinker is above the hook. Can you still feel the fish hitting when it's rigged like that? Again, I saw a boat 15ft. away from me the other day catching a few more than us and the only difference was they were rigged the way you're mentioning. I was thinking of trying that method, as I like that there's one strand of line going through the hook vs. two.

As long as I keep my line in contact...I have no prob. feeling the hits...

went diving off beavertail on friday saw some pretty good size fish. managed 3 in the 5-7 pound range. with saturdays opening of 8 fish per person im pretty excited to get back out in the water and stock up for the winter down time.

Mmm...
blackfish...

what a great time of year...

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