? on tog fishing in a boulderfield

[Jim in CT]

I was tog fishing last week with friends near New Haven, CT, near the harbor breakwaters, which are made with boulders about the size of a dorm-room fridge. I'm not much of a bottom-fisherman, but I do enjoy it.

Anyway, the bottom underneath us had all these boulders thrown together, with cracks in between. We did noticably better when we were able to get our bait into a crack in between the boulders, than when our bait was sitting on top of the boulders.

Is that normal? What's the theory here? Are the tog lying in wait between the cracks? Or do they go down into the cracks after I get my bait down there?

I found one crack between 2 boulders, it felt like a very small space, that I pulled 4 keepers out of. Were all those fish possibly in there, befoire we got there?

I have to get down there with my SCUBA gear and check it out, I think that would really help me be a much better fisherman if I could visualize what's going on down there.

Made blackened fish sandwirches with the filets, and some drunken tog stew with the racks. Unbelievable stuff, thanks to those here who posted the stew recipe..