OC Inlet Report

[Slobber Bob]

I too took a day to tog the OC Inlet. I wasn't able to take off from work Monday to join Shady, but was bale to get out yesterday (Thursday) for a solo trip before this blow came in. I launched around 10 and fished until about 2:30 using what frozen blue crabs I had left in the freezer and live Asian crabs. Like Shady's report, once you found a good hole or rock, it turned into a fierce bite pretty quickly. I was there for meat and told myself I was keeping a limit with the first four legal fish I caught. Within about an hours time I had a limit of 16", 16.25", 17", and 17". I caught and released several more keepers up to 18" and lots, and lots of short fish. At times you could barely get to the bottom and engage your reel without robbed.

One spot I was fishing was really tough and you had to get fish out quick or risk losing them to the structure. I started with 30lb leader and had to bump up to 50lb, and even then I had to replace it several times from chaffing on rocks. I did break off one strong fish that I couldn't get out of the rocks quick enough. I could feel the fish pulling me deeper into the rocks despite my best efforts to yank it out and it cut my braid above my leader, which is about 40" long.

Frozen blue crab and Asian crab on 1/2 oz - 3/4 jigs seemed to work equally as well. There were only 3 other boats out trying for tog that I could see, but it'll get more crowded soon, so if you want some space to yourself, now is a good time to go.

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[Shady]

Man do I hope I can find time to get out there again...

[brianisoutside]

I’ve never fished for them. What’s the basic setup people use?


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[Shady]

4' of #30+ leader to tog jig or a standard dropper loop bottom rig

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[brianisoutside]

4' of #30+ leader to tog jig or a standard dropper loop bottom rig

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What weight are the jig heads? Assuming a medium heavy weight rod?


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[Shady]

3/4 oz is my go to, but sometimes I go up to 1 oz

[mike o]

Thanks for the report, going to try to get my first legal tog in 2 weeks when I can go to Delaware.

[gliebig]

I would LOVE to see a video of how many fish are down there. Sometimes it's almost unbelievable how crazy the bite is.

Here's my best back bay tog from a few years ago when I used to fish there a bit. I think it was around 11#, but I don't remember exactly.

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[Slobber Bob]

Man do I hope I can find time to get out there again...

Ditto. And I live 5 minutes away, lol.

Shorting days and the time change kill any chance to go after work. I'll give you a heads up if I'm able to take a day off anytime soon.

[Slobber Bob]

What weight are the jig heads? Assuming a medium heavy weight rod?


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I prefer 1/2 - 3/4 oz. I'll use up to 1.5 oz around vertical structure in current. If I need a weight heavier than that I switch over to the standard dropper loop rig.

[mchottie]

Shorting days and the time change kill any chance to go after work. I'll give you a heads up if I'm able to take a day off anytime soon.

Yeah I completely forgot about that, and was a quick reminder when it gets dark at 5:30 now. Us "9-5" guys have only weekends now.

[Slobber Bob]

Yeah I completely forgot about that, and was a quick reminder when it gets dark at 5:30 now. Us "9-5" guys have only weekends now.

Yep. Or at least until tog evolve to bite at night

[Slobber Bob]

I spent most of the day this past Friday out looking for tog again in the inlet. The weather was spotty at best; winds of 15+ most of the day and a couple hours of afternoon showers with a few heavy downpours mixed in. Fortunately the air temperature made the conditions tolerable with highs in the upper 50's.

I launched with no bait on me as I expected to flip rocks to gather plenty of Asian crabs once I got out into the inlet. But it looks like I'm not the only one that has been doing that. I could tell other people had been flipping rocks gathering crabs too from the spot I do so it took a lot longer than usual to gather a days supply. And the ones I did find were mostly small. Although the small Asian crabs work plenty well, but you sometimes have to put 2 or 3 on the hook at once. If I make it out again I'll have to acquire bait beforehand it looks like from now on.

The bite was fair to good. Once I found some tog and got them chewing I was able to keep a good steady bite going. But if I was off the spot by just a couple feet, the number and frequency of bites went way down. I really had to pay attention to where my jig was settling on the bottom to stay in the zone. I tried along the rocks at Martha's Landing, the south jetty (I didn't fish there as long as I had planned because the wind and rain were really beating me up there), and along some other dock structures inside the inlet and each spot produced keepers. I caught a limit of tog up to 18" and released several more legal sized fish. There were quite a few boats out togging as well despite the weather.

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[mike o]

Nice to see you had a good day. I fished the outer wall at Cape Henlopen Saturday but only got one toad fish.