A Wrap on Tog

 Got out last week with my grandson and gave him a nice birthday present trip for tog

Yesterday, the weather cooperated for an absolutely fantastic day on the back bay where my nephew and brother in law and I got out to net some of the nicest bay tog you will find. It was probably a wrap for the year, although we will have to see what the weather does next week after today’s front and cold snap.

Tog are in

 as always, I just need time and weather to cooperate.

on this particular day, the water clarity was excellent, air temps mild, weather had been stable for days, and it was "drop and reel" conditions with over 50 fish caught (and between 4 of us, that would make OVER 46 of them released... we kept 1 for each of us)

End of the Backbay Tog

In our home waters, blackfish season is determined by ocean and backbay water temps, as one might expect... but the structure of our backbays is such that a cold spell really speeds up the migration of tog to deeper waters, unlike some of our Northern New Jersey waters, where deep water maintains a more constant temperature throughout the end of the season... mirroring the ocean, more than the air, temperatures

Tog come into our backbays for 2 reasons:

1. In the spring, to spawn
2. In the summer and fall, to eat

They seem to have a preferred temperature range in the mid-50s to low-60s F.

As such, our backbays are impacted by the Ocean temperatures closer to the inlets
and air temperature because of the extensive flats. On the incoming, an Ocean water temp greater than 50F, on the outgoing, extended air temps greater than 50F.  A deep dive in either (usually air, of course :)) spells the end of our backbay tog bite.

New Jersey has, in its wisdom, deemed that November 16 is the day that the limit of tog is raised from 1 (during the summer and early fall) to 5, minimum size 15" (as of this writing).

This almost guarantees that tog shut down in our backbays right around that time, unless we have an extensive warm spell in the weeks prior. This year did not disappoint the NJ biologists, as we've had a drastic cooldown after an all-too-warm early fall.

The result of the warm waters in September and October was that tog (aka blackfish) fishing was relegated to an abundance of small seabass, and very small tog.

The water didn't cool down to optimum temps until the end of October, and then we've had a series of coastal storms, wind storms, and general miserable weather, with a few short streaks of optimal conditions.

One other aspect of shallow backbay fishing is the impact of wind. At low tide, heavy winds muddy up the waters to a degree that tog either cannot find your offering, or (more likely) go off the feed for a while until the water clears.  This fish seems more dependent on clean conditions than any other we face in our area, with the exception of small pelagics like false albies and bonito.

All in all, my last backbay trip for tog was enjoyable. There were a few mishaps, more on that in a subsequent blog post.

Reel Therapy

Have been a bit stressed on the job, lately.

So, I decided last week I needed to take a visit to my Therapist... the outdoor kind

The tog didn't disappoint. Only wish the limit was higher.

Final Tog Of The Year

Well, a cold and a couple of weeks later, i got out with my friend Pat,

newly indoctrinated into the addiction called tog fishing.


We had a good time once the tide started moving and could have limited out.


Well, we did limit out on 1 each, but we were 1 day before the limit "opened" to 6


DOH!  life happens :)

Spooky Toggin'

It did take 4 trips to finally connect with a keeper sized tog

  

I'd love to say that I got out every day for the past week (with the exception of the big blow we had on Monday), except that would be lying.

Funny thing, work ... and sometimes health .... keeps getting in the way

I had tried for tog from behind Brigantine on down to Somers Point a few times, with the results being fairly consistent: a few small tog, loads of sea bass, and when slack a junkfish or two (the oyster toadfish aka oyster cracker).

When the water cools off, the sea bass pretty much skedaddle, and indeed all the tiny ones went into hiding this last trip. Did manage what might have been a keeper (12.5") sea bass, but not remembering and not wanting to look it up, back in the water went our sole volunteer.

Thankfully, there were lots of near keeper sized tog to at least keep the rods bent for a while, though we had to wait out the slack tide to finally get a good bite going.

Unfortunately, this was day 2 of what's turned out to be a week long (+) cold and I'm waiting it out before venturing for tog again.

Life happens ... doh! :D

In the meantime, striped bass are kickin' in gear, and I'm waiting, waiting, waiting..... 

Welcome to "old age"... Bah, HUMBUG! 

The tautog or blackfish, Tautoga onitis, is a species of wrasse native to the western Atlantic Ocean from Nova Scotia to South Carolina. This species inhabits hard substrate habitats in inshore waters at depths from 1 to 75 m (3.3 to 246.1 ft). It is currently the only known member of its genus.^[2]
Barlett (1848) wrote, "[Tautaug] is a Native American word, and may be found in Roger Williams' Key to the Indian Language." The name is from the Narragansett language, originally tautauog (pl. of taut). It is also called a "black porgy" (cf. Japanese black porgy), "chub" (cf. the freshwater chub), "oyster-fish" (in North Carolina) or "blackfish" (in New York/New Jersey, New England).

November Tog

A warm spell, a southwest wind, plenty of fish, and the biggest on the
last bait left for the day, all combined to another great outing of
catch and release (with 1 keep) togging in the backbays of the
Grand State of South Jersey:

Brants are in the backbays, Herring gulls, Terns, Sunshine.

A great way to kick off November!  All we need is the warmth to stick around until the 15th when the limit bumps up to 6!

Time for tog

Open wide!

><((((*>

Tog

 
Backwater 16" tog that took a chunk of blueclaw (aka "blue") crab!