Togging Cape Henlopen, DE - May 5, 2012

[ComeOnFish]

Some of us went to Cape Henlopen State Park, DE. The weather wasn't ideal.
Though we had a very good time fishing with the members

Since I got there little late, I didn't have all details. Since the fishing spot wasn't discovered by me I limited video scenes.

]

Thanks,
Joe

[tufnik]

"..weather wasn't ideal." Boy, is that an understatement. Forecast was temp in 70s, winds 5-15 mph and partly sunny. I dressed light, so it turned out cold for me. No sun. Mucho fog.

HokieDJ and I hit the water at 0830 hrs into some dense fog. We pushed forward toward the long north jetty anyway. After five minutes dragging flounder rigs, we were totally disoriented. At some time we could not see beyond 50 ft. We went in circles a few times. Fortunately, HokieDJ had his iphone (with GPS access) and used it as a compass to lead us to the jetty. Cutting through the fog we saw Pinch, Redfish, Grilled Sardines, and Yakfisher fishing for togs in the fog.

I did some bucktail jigging for flounder as well as casting BKDs for striper in the deep water. Nada. Got a bunch of nibbles though, from togging.

When we called it quits in the afternoon, there was no sun, some fog came back, chops were about 2+ feet splashing into our faces, wind had picked up considerably, and some sprinkles came down. I had the wettest ride ever. Was that fun or what?

[Grilled]

yeah, weather did a turn for the worse. windy, choppy and foggy.

Fishing was ok...ended up with 2 keepers and a couple shorts. was nice fishing with the mkf group.

[HokieDJ]

Lessons learned:

1) Pack a jacket regardless of what it was predicted
2) I suck using shrimp as bait for togs
3) 5 kayaks can fit in a small eddy fishing 1 hole for endless togs
4) When you think there's no togs left, keep fishing. I was surprised
Joe came back with 2 nice togs at the same hole.

[tufnik]

Lessons learned:

1) Pack a jacket regardless of what it was predicted
2) I suck using shrimp as bait for togs
3) 5 kayaks can fit in a small eddy fishing 1 hole for endless togs
4) When you think there's no togs left, keep fishing. I was surprised
Joe came back with 2 nice togs at the same hole.

Yeah, I was surprised too about his togs. I thought the spot was "depleted." Good job, Joe!

Those rocks are not easy to fish for togs. Lost a bunch of rigs.

[mytmouse]

Dang I so wanted to join you guys... I love the vid with you all on the same spot!! LOL That's what Kayaking is about... I'd like to see those guys in skiffs do that. What was that coil coming from Redfish12's yak?

[ComeOnFish]

Dang I so wanted to join you guys... I love the vid with you all on the same spot!! LOL That's what Kayaking is about... I'd like to see those guys in skiffs do that. What was that coil coming from Redfish12's yak?

Michael left the coil thing, but I picked it up. Michael can explain...

[Redfish12]

Coil thing is one of my rod leashes with a clamp on the other end... It allows me to clip onto ropes and other things that are stuck in the rocks and should I need to ditch it I can either give it a hard tug or unclip it from my anchor trolly. Worked pretty well.

I caught a bunch of 13" inch tog and two over 14/15". One of them I lost while Joe was filming as you saw above. Here's my 17.5" and Jack's 16". It was a lot of fun fishing with the mkf crew and I wish I could make it back out there before the season closes!

[ComeOnFish]

Michael,
I dropped off your coil thing and the splash guard yesterday.

To all,
Regarding baits and setting the hooks, I learned few things that day. Fresh/good baits will attract fish. It is all up to the anglers holding rods. I put my observations randomly below:

• On the video, Pinch said “super drop-off”. We all under stood his words as “deep cleavage”.
• Some people like Redfish, Grilled Sardine and Pinch have more tendons than soft-tender muscle tissues (I am kidding). In other words, their durations of concentrations and reflexive actions are different from that of mine.
• These anglers tend to expect every cast/drop of lure/bait is possible a big bite. So they are always ready. Me? Perhaps 25% time
• A quartile of a blue crab is forgiving – meaning, it give me the second chance after the first rapid subtle double taps. I used to expect the second double taps and I could set the hook right on the second double taps.
• Fiddler crab don’t give us the second chance
• Shrimp give us a few second chance compare to Fiddler crab – though there is almost no second chance
• Green crab give us a few second chance
• I was so used to using blue crab.
• I found the tog in other spots, in cleavages between big rocks. And the cleavages in the Rock Pile area were 3-4 feet deep usually.
• I brought only 12 shrimp even though I had at least 6 pounds of shrimp at home. I knew always baits were the cheapest. The time was the most expensive commodity in my fishing. MKF members offered me green crab. But I accepted only 7 stupidly.
• When I was alone, togs were biting. I felt only one subtle tap immediately often each time the sinker hit the bottom of the cleavage. And the bait was gone.
• Later I knew the exact location of the two cleavages. My reel was locked with 8-9’ of line out. As soon as the sinker hit the bottom, I was ready to set the hook.
• But after two keeper togs, I ran out of bait.
• HokieDJ’s kayak was right above one of the cleavages on the video
• At the rock pile, any deep cleavages hold togs I think

joe

[tufnik]

Thanks for the useful lessons learned. I do prefer the terms "cracks" and "crevices." The term "cleavage" sort of refers to a woman's you-know-what.