OC Tog

[Slobber Bob]

Ryan (shady) put the tog bug in my head earlier this week, and even though he had to back out, I decided to take a day off anyway and try the inlet. The wind was blowing hard SW and to my surprise the water was still pretty clear when I got out there, so I was optimistic the tog would be biting. After a quick stop to gather bait, I tried around Martha's Landing. It took one or two adjustments after I got anchored up to find a good hole, but once I did, it was steady fish for a couple hours.

The bite eventually slowed down, so I moved out to the jetty. The current had just started in, and with it came really dirty water. Basically nothing was hitting when the water got dirty. So I tried moving to another spot but there was too much current to fish effectively, so I made my way back to the jetty to hope for the best. And to my surprise, about an hour later, the water cleaned right back up. And the tog bite fired right back up as well.

I ended up pulling a limit of two 17"s and two 18's, a couple that were borderline keepers, and a lot of shorts. A pretty good day overall. I'm really liking using tog jigs too. I started using them this spring and I don't think I've used a traditional rig since. Tog fever is setting in...
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[Hemingway]

Nice job, Brian. Looks like dinner is taken care of for quite a few nights

[RavensDfense]

Nice job, Brian. Looks like dinner is taken care of for quite a few nights

The family will be happy they don't have to eat rock crabs and sand fleas for dinner!

[Slobber Bob]

No eating the bait this week

[mike o]

Sounds like a great day. I'm going to try to get my first legal tog this fall.

[yakscientist]

Great fish! Did you get those tog jigs at a local spot or online? I got one and caught a few ribbonfish on it at CBBT but have yet to catch any "targeted" species yet on it.

[gliebig]

Those jigs look like an easy alternative to the rig I usually tie up, especially in a yak. Do you lose a lot of them?

[Slobber Bob]

I guess it depends on what you'd consider a lot for tog fishing. I think the most jigs I've lost so far was 3 in a single trip. I typically anchor up tight or wedge my kayak into the structure so that I'm not really moving around much. I feel that helps cut down on lost rigs. Using the lightest jig possible you can get away with helps too. 1/2 oz, 3/4 oz, or 1 oz seems to work best for me so far.

Yakscientist, I've been buying those ones locally. They're some generic brand I can't even remember the name of. They seem decent so far; no major complaints. They're half the price per jig of the popular brands you can find online too which is probably the main reason I use them. I can't understand spending $3 - $5 on a popular brand tog jig that I'm intentionally sending down into snags.

[Slobber Bob]

I fished again yesterday (21st) and except for some lulls around slack current, the tog bite was pretty steady. Short fish a plenty with a lot just short around 15.5". I did eventually find a 17" keeper and another borderline keeper that went back to fight another day.

If anybody is going down and needs bait, but sure to call ahead or have a back up plan. I went out with some leftover, frozen Asian crabs knowing full well I'd need more bait mid-morning. I planned to just hit Atlantic Tackle, Oceanic Pier, or Sunset Provisions from the water when it was time to get more bait. The only problem - nobody had any bait! And I wasn't pulling the kayak out to drive somewhere to find it. I eventually was able to flip rocks and find enough crabs and a handful of clams to cover me for the rest of the day, but it took a long time to gather and I wasted at least an hour-and-a-half of fishing. Next time I think I'll just carry some cheap shrimp with me just in case.

[rob-kayak]

Glad you had success... I've found those Crocs you are wearing are pretty good..
and a lucky omen to my fishing

[ronaultmtd]

I guess it depends on what you'd consider a lot for tog fishing. I think the most jigs I've lost so far was 3 in a single trip. I typically anchor up tight or wedge my kayak into the structure so that I'm not really moving around much. I feel that helps cut down on lost rigs. Using the lightest jig possible you can get away with helps too. 1/2 oz, 3/4 oz, or 1 oz seems to work best for me so far.

Yakscientist, I've been buying those ones locally. They're some generic brand I can't even remember the name of. They seem decent so far; no major complaints. They're half the price per jig of the popular brands you can find online too which is probably the main reason I use them. I can't understand spending $3 - $5 on a popular brand tog jig that I'm intentionally sending down into snags.

Do-it makes a banana jig mold for $30.00....you can buy pure lead at hardware or plumbing supply stores...Mustad 2/0 cad and tinned jighooks and you can have an unlimited supply of “tog” jigs...

[ComeOnFish]

No eating the bait this week

I usually eat both bait and tog at home. Sometimes I ate bait (cold spicy shrimp) with a can of beer while togging. That was a treat to me . When togs bite, they bite cooked shrimp

joe

[Slobber Bob]

Late report from this past Saturday the 1st.

I only had a few hours to fish, having to be off the water by lunch, but gave it a shot with a buddy who had never fished the inlet by kayak before. We did okay with a few brief flurries of hot action, but for the most part it was more of a slow steady pick of fish. We caught only a little more than a dozen or so each. My buddy had 2 keepers, but none for me. I'd imagine with the colder weather we've had so far this week and forecast for next, water temperatures are going to start slowing down the inshore tog bite.