Hog Point 7/30/11, Sat

[tufnik]

Hit the water at Hog Point PAX just before 8 am. Nice weather. A bit choppy with 1-2 ft waves. A number of boats were out. Caught six croakers, two toadfish and a 8 1/2" spot using shrimp, squid and bws.

Took home three croakers (largest was 11") and the spot. Took me a while to filet them. Don't think I'll do this again. Too small.

The croakers caught at Clairborne and Romancoke are bigger.

I wanted to try the toadfish since I heard they're good tasting, but I released them b/c they were too small.

[ronaultmtd]

Hit the water just before 8 am. Nice weather. A bit choppy with 1-2 ft waves. A number of boats were out. Caught six croakers, two toadfish and a 8 1/2" spot using shrimp, squid and bws.

Took home three croakers (largest was 11") and the spot. Took me a while to filet them. Don't think I'll do this again. Too small.

The croakers caught at Clairborne and Romancoke are bigger.

I wanted to try the toadfish since I heard they're good tasting, but I released them b/c they were too small.

Blowfish but not toadfish

[kevinfry]

I would not give up on the spot. We caught horse croakers last night just down the beach from hog point (if you are referring to the hog point at PAX). so they are there. Wife had 3 doubles. Both had 16 incher on the bottom and a 12 incher on top hook. I lost the largest croaker I've had on, had to be a citation. I could not horse it over the gunnel in without a net.

[ronaultmtd]

The best croaker fishing is at night now with the heat-

[surfdog]

nice tufnik, did u launch from the foot bridge beach and go out of the little inlet? give me a shout next time its a haul but im game.

[tufnik]

Yeah. Put my yak on the cart and pulled it down the narrow rocky slope toward the small beach. Coming back up the slope was tough. As I pulled, got a push from someone and the yak made it back up.

If there are big croakers out there and I just happened to miss them, then I'll go back some day. Are you talking about Cedar Point beach, Kevin?

[kevinfry]

Actually a bit farther down the beach... about one mile north of Elms Beach park.

[ictalurus]

Tufnik--I didn't realize you were heading out that way. I would've given you a heads up for some croaker spots. The green marker 5 and the 3-legged marker 3 are usually good spots for croaker and flounder, but the flounder haven't really shown up there yet this year. There are some pretty steep drop offs there. Jigging a Gulp grub in that area can sometimes produce some really horse croakers. The area along the drop off near the #5 marker is worth jigging (on the line between the marker and the Drum Point marker), too. There are often suspended stripers there, but they can be hard to pick up since they're in the middle of the water column.

I usually only keep croakers that are about 14" or bigger. That's one reason I prefer spot to croakers. A 9" spot has more meat and is easier to fillet than a similarly sized croaker. As for oyster toads, I've heard they were good to eat, too, but a pain to get the meat off of. The local gourmet grocery once had a big bunch of them in the seafood counter, which really surprised me.

[tufnik]

It was a last minute change of plans, so I went there instead of PLO or SPSP. I have a base sticker for NAS Pax. There were a lot of marked fish there. I was several hundred yards northwest of Hog Point. The drop off is pretty quick from about 10 to 20 ft. Several boats were catching fish. I tried to hold position with my anchor, but it couldn't grab the ground.

Will have to try there again some time. Let me know when the flounders are in.

[J.A. Veil]

When I stayed in Wachapreague two weekends ago, the local restaurant (Wachapreague Inn) offered a Sunday night special of "swelling toad platter". I tried it, and enjoyed the flavor. The platter included about 7 small toadfish that had been skinned and gutted, dipped in batter, then deep fried. Each one looked and tasted a lot like a fried chicken drumstick (I picked them up by the backbone and started eating away). I got tired of eating around the backbone by the 6th and 7th one. Just like a lot of other white meats, the toadfish prepared this way tasted much like chicken.

[tufnik]

Kevin,
Where do you launch from? Is it on NAS, a mile north of Elms Beach Park? I take it the horse croakers are straight east from shore maybe several hundred yards.

Would like to get some big toadfish too.

[kevinfry]

Toads here are super small. but irratating. One had both hooks from my hi/lo rig in its mouth!!! ARGH.

You can launch at Elms beach but be back by sunset. Fish south from the break waters. the bottom is hard there. start outside last crab pots and work way deeper. Strangly I have caught nothing on the deeper channel edges. more in 12-16 ft.
OR.....PM me and you could launch from our very primitive community beach access....have to have me tag along though!