C&R for trophy tog?

[ivanputski]

I was fishing with my father, and i thought he was going to have a heart attack right on the spot when he watched me release a legal blackfish!

he flipped out! "what the heck are we doing out here then!!!" and on and on...

(He's from another era though... born in Europe during world war II... they were making cardboard soup at times to survive, no joke.)

We have some pretty interesting conversations about releasing fish.

[Got Stripers]

Wish I'd seen this before yesterday, I only started to target tog the last couple of years, I honestly had no clue that the 24" fish I caught yesterday would be 20+ years old. Good to know moving forward, because I'm a firm believer in letting large breeder stripers go, no reason not to translate that policy to this species.

My big tog will feed a large yearly xmas gathering, but in hindsight a few good pictures would be more than I needed. When I was young and thought trophies on the wall were cool, I was always after that smallmouth bass to fill a void on my wall of shame and 6 lbs was my minimum. I can still remember the day a 6.5lber turned me into an acrobat chasing him from one side of a 16 foot aluminum V-hull to the other, each time I someone managed get to one side, I'd turn my head in disbelieve watching her clear the air and tailwalk on the other. When I finally managed to slip a net under her, I quickly weighed her and slipped her back into the water with a Bill Dance kiss on the lips and a hearty thank you. My brother-in-law looked at me like I'd lost my mind exclaiming "that was the trophy you've been looking for are you crazy". I looked at him with a big ass smile and said she earned that release.

Gladly I never filled that spot on the wall, sold all my mounts a few years later, but the mental images of each battle won last forever, even with the pictures fade away.

[goosefish]

Originally Posted by ivanputski

I was fishing with my father, and i thought he was going to have a heart attack right on the spot when he watched me release a legal blackfish!

he flipped out! "what the heck are we doing out here then!!!" and on and on...

(He's from another era though... born in Europe during world war II... they were making cardboard soup at times to survive, no joke.)

We have some pretty interesting conversations about releasing fish.

My wife is the same way--she has Azores blood on both sides of her family. Meat is expensive at the grocery store. She can't fathom why I would come home without something for dinner. Maybe not a cooler full but a few fish at least for the family.

[goosefish]

largest anus for the fish's size in the animal kingdom.

That might be my first-ever addition to Wikipedia.

[hq2]

I think the current regs do have it about right. I caught a bunch a couple
of weeks ago, all under 16" (two or three 15"s too), and all went back.
The limit of 3 over 16" is probably O.K. for now. However, I think they
may have to raise it some because now that the striper population is
declining again, more folks will start targeting togs.

Makes me a little nostalgic for the tog fishing of 20 years ago. Back
then, you could take all you wanted, and we usually took home (and
happily ate) everything over 2 lbs. Went back to my favorite spot
from then recently, and fortunately, it's still just as good (and as
unfished!) as it was back then.

[RIROCKHOUND]

Originally Posted by goosefish

largest anus for the fish's size in the animal kingdom.

That might be my first-ever addition to Wikipedia.

If you had to s___ crab legs, you'd be pretty gaping as well...

[DZ]

Toby - here: http://njscuba.net/biology/sw_fish_tog_cunner.html

DZ

[tlapinski]

Thank you Dennis!