Quick OC Tog Report 11/4

[Shady]

Good bite on Tog (and giant Toads) yesterday in Ocean City. I used 3/4-1oz wreckjacker jigs tipped with quartered blue crab and shrimp for bait and both worked equally well. All were caught in structure 10-15' deep. Find the holes in the structure and you'll find the tog. Getting them out, well that's another story.

I experimented with using a loop knot instead of clips and/or regular knot and I think this accounted for several lost fish... It seems the loop knot it not nearly as strong, I won't be doing this anymore.

Another note, I had a few fish that picked up the bait and immediately screamed drag for about a second or two only to break-off. They could have been tog and just broke me off on the structure or they could have been something else... The only thing that I've caught that's pulled like that is drum...

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[Jman]

Thanks for the report! Good to know about the different knots. I’d like to learn a few more over the winter for common knowledge. That mystery fish could have been a sheepshead that hasn’t head out yet too.

[FishMoken]

Looks like a good size toad! What kind of rod class are you using for tog fishing?

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[Slobber Bob]

You had a good day and I'm bummed I couldn't take off from work to join you. It would have been nice to catch up. I plan to go Thursday - hopefully you didn't give them all sore lips!

Your experience with the loop knot is interesting. They were clean breaks at the knot or the loop part broke? What lb leader? If the loops fails, you would expect to still have the knot on your leader with two small tags from the loop. If you didn't still have the knot at the end of your line, I suspect you were cut off.

I connect with a loop knot when I fish a jig for sheep and togs and haven't had any break off thus far. The only tog jig I've lost to a fish thus far was with 15lb test, which I don't normally use but that was the only rod I had that particular day when I was just dropping down experimentally in an area. It broke off on a sheep too. But it was a clean break above the knot. I believe it was structure that cut me.

Normally I have 30lb leader for tog or sheep. If it's in an area with lots of snags, or a place that chaffs leader quickly, I bump up to a 50lb leader. Neither of those leaders with a loop knot have given me any problems despite some heavy chaffing on the leader by the time I get the fish up sometimes.

[Shady]

I had Steve Fogle from backyard customs build me a custom rod specifically to jig for tog. It's a medium heavy, super fast action, super sensitive, 6'10. I also have a 7' Penn battalion inshore in medium heavy super fast, which also does well for this, but the custom rod has just a little bit stiffer tip and more sensitivity.

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[Shady]

I always used to use 30# big game in the past for leader, but last fall I started using 20# pline flouroclear for the leader. I started going to lighter leader and feel like I'm getting double the bites. Before this past trip it didn't seem like I was breaking off a lot, but the bite may just have been so good this time that I caught a lot more (but also lost more). So maybe the line was mostly just chafed off. Maybe I just need to get some 30# flouroclear leader.

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[Clubhorned]

Thanks for the post Shady, good to know the Tog are in.

I was thinking of switching over to a conventional set up for sheepshead/tog/trigger. thnking a Siegler SMN on a Star Seagis. what are your thoughts?

[Slobber Bob]

Sometimes the bite is so good you neglect to check the leader. I don't know if that's a good problem or a bad problem?

[Shady]

Thanks for the post Shady, good to know the Tog are in.

I was thinking of switching over to a conventional set up for sheepshead/tog/trigger. thnking a Siegler SMN on a Star Seagis. what are your thoughts?

I have no experience with Siegler or Star, but that looks like a nice setup. I started out using conventional, but have gone to spinning.

[moc]

Nice job on the Togs Shady. I see the big toad fish on your stringer, I can't wait to see how you prepare it.

[Shady]

Nice job on the Togs Shady. I see the big toad fish on your stringer, I can't wait to see how you prepare it.

I've skinned and gilled them, blackened them, and cut into nuggets and fried. They are amazing as fried nuggets! I'm experimenting with this one... It was skinned, filleted, vac sealed and into the freezer. We'll see how it holds up. One big toad provided about 7oz of fillets.

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[mike o]

Thanks for the report Shady good to see you got some. Im going to try to get my first legal tog in the next couple of weeks. Loop knots are weaker than regular knots like the clinch and palomar.